La Biennale di Venezia - Press Release

The new Board of Directors of the Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, met for the first time today, 16th January 2008, in its offices at Palazzo Querini Dubois in Venice, and undertook the nominations for the Artistic Directors of the Architecture, Cinema, Dance and Theatre sectors, as well as for the post of Director General.

These are the posts approved for the periods shown below:

• Aaron Betsky, an American who trained in the Netherlands and was thrice curator of the Dutch pavilion in the latest Architecture Biennali, as well as winner of the Golden Lion for best national participation in the 2002 edition, has been given the post of Director for the 11th International Architecture Exhibition;

• Marco Müller has been nominated Director of the Cinema Sector for four years;

• Maurizio Scaparro, former Director of the Theatre Sector in 2006-2007, has been confirmed for the next two-year period of 2008-2009;

• Ismael Ivo, former Director of the Dance Sector in 2005-2007, has been confirmed for 2008;

• Andrea Del Mercato has been nominated as Director General of the Fondazione la Biennale di Venezia.

Aaron Betsky, former director for six years of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) of Rotterdam, one of the most important architecture museums and centres in the world, and since last year Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, will be the curator of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Out There. Architecture Beyond Building, which will open to the public on Sunday 14th September and close on 23rd November 2008 (vernissage on 11th, 12th and 13th September).

These days –in Betsky’s vision– buildings are not enough, or too much, to answer to the call of making ourselves at home in our modern world. We must be willing to use all forms, shapes, images and tactics to help us frame, figure out and order a world that is continually changing.

The worlds of art, interiors, landscapes, projected media and literature can and must be mined for such elements. We must not let buildings be the tombs of architecture, but must make an architecture that helps us to feel at home in, figure out and represent the world we live in.

The 11th Architecture Biennale Venice will present site-specific installations, manifestos, landscapes and scenes of an architecture beyond building. It will also exhibit experimental architecture from around the world and highlight experimental aspects of current practice