Articles by Maria-Cristina Florian

The Kingdom of Bahrain announced its participation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia with a pavilion exhibition titled “Sweating Assets.” Curated by architects Latifa Alkhayat and Maryam Aljomairi, the exhibition highlights the relationship between the extreme heat and humidity that characterizes Bahrain and the inherent need for comfort. The curators aim to show how the necessary cooling infrastructure can be maximized through adaptive means and resource management while reducing its negative impact on the environment.

The National Pavilion of Ireland will present an exhibition titled “In Search of Hy-Brasil” at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The pavilion set out to explore diverse cultures, communities, and experiences of Ireland’s remote islands in the search for new ways of inhabiting the world. A team of five architects has been selected as the curators of the exhibition: Peter Carroll, Peter Cody, Elizabeth Hatz, Mary Laheen, and Joseph Mackey. The pavilion will be open to the public from May 20th to November 26th, 2023; afterward, the installation will tour Ireland in 2024, bringing voices from peripheral locations into mainstream conversations around our global future.

For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the national pavilion of Latvia will be transformed into “TCL,” a supermarket that gathers architectural ideas and products of different origins. Commissioned by Jānis Dripe and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia, the exhibition is curated by Uldis Jaunzems-Pētersons, and designed by a team comprising Ernests Cerbulis, Ints Menģelis, Toms Kampars, and Karola Rubene. The Pavilion will be open from May 20th until November 26th, 2023.

The Canada Council for the Arts has chosen the curatorial collective Architects Against Housing Alienation (AAHA) to represent Canada at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2023, with the Not for Sale! exhibition. The pavilion, open from May 20^th until November 26^th, 2023, aims to draw attention and encourage dialogue on potential solutions to the challenges generated by the housing crisis in the country.

The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.

Architect Tadao Ando has been commissioned to design this year’s Costume Institute exhibition highlighting the work of Karl Lagerfeld. The opening of the exhibition titled “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” was marked by the world-renown Met Gala, a fundraising event attended by celebrities and personalities perceived to be culturally relevant in the fashion scene. Perceived as a thematic and conceptual essay on Lagerfels’s work, rather than a traditional retrospective, the exhibition aims to illustrate the designer’s method of creative expression and its significance in the industry.

Yasmeen Lari, recognized as the first female architect in Pakistan, has had a significant impact both in her home country and internationally due to her innovative and socially conscious approach to architecture. Through a systemic approach, Lari’s work takes into consideration local culture, site-specific opportunities, and challenges. Born in Pakistan in 1941, Yasmeen Lari moved to London with her family at the age of 15. After graduating from Oxford Brooks School of Architecture, she returned to Pakistan at the age of 23 to establish Lari Associates with her husband, Suhail Zaheer Lari. The couple settled in Karachi. Here, she began to study Pakistan’s ancient towns and the vernacular architecture of earth buildings, igniting her interest in the architectural heritage and traditional techniques of her country. In 1980, she co-founded the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan with her husband, becoming instrumental in the preservation of her country’s rich cultural heritage.

The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of its 42^nd cycle of the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. The theme for this edition of the competition was “Uncomfortable,” asking young designers to contemplate their position while wrestling with many uncomfortable responsibilities, like challenging traditional paradigms, dismantling architectural legacies, grappling with the costs of comfort, or responding to rising ecological concerns.

Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, a new building for Istanbul Modern, Türkiye’s first museum of modern and contemporary art, will open to the public on May 4th, 2023. The official opening ceremony of the museum is set to take place at a later date. The museum, measuring over 10,500 square meters, is located on the Karaköy waterfront, a historic district at the intersection of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. The new building offers spaces for temporary exhibitions, interdisciplinary educational programs, film screenings, and an extensive art collection.

For the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Albanian Pavilion set out to respond to the theme “The Laboratory of the Future” with the exhibition “Untimely Meditations or: How We Learn to Live in Synthesized Realities.” The project seeks to introduce and understand new typologies of civic spaces by repurposing the rendering engine as a mechanism for exploration. The curatorial team is composed of architects Martin Gjoleka, and Era Merkuri, exhibiting together with architect Ani Marku and 3D digital artist Geraldo Prendushi.