Biennale of Venice 2000

The urban transformation occurred in the last thirty years has no equal both in terms of dimension of the phenomenon and the size of the areas involved.
The first idea was to use the 2000 Biennial as a workshop for analyzing and trying to give an intelligible shape to the new planetary dimension of urban behaviours and transformations. The considerations, investigations and intuitions over the evolution of the cities took shape as a need for “something else”. “Something else” from architecture – whose troubled life we try to prolong every day – which we share our entire life with, and “something else” from successful architecture schemes: it was about recovering the awareness according to which the quality of architects and works was no longer enough. At such point, the 2000 Biennial edition had a main theme.
“CITIES: LESS AESTHETICS, MORE ETHICS”, the theme of the seventh Biennial of Architecture tries to communicate the deep unease of fast-transforming societies, where the data and reference points of an architect have utterly changed.
The exhibition, set at “Le Corderie”, draws the visitor’s attention to the “big” 280 X 5 metre screen whose images posit questions about megalopolis, areas contaminated by contradictions, conflicts, pollution, refugees’ dramatic condition, about new social aggregation centres like stations, airports and shopping centres, as well as a series of interviews with fifty architects.
For the first time, the Venice Biennial of Architecture uses simultaneously l’Arsenale, that is le Corderie, le Artiglierie and le Gaggiandre, in addition to i Giardini, the exhibition’s traditional location.

BRIEF
BIENNALE OF VENICE 2000

SITE
Arsenale and Castello Gardens, Venice, Italy

DATE
2000

CLIENT
Biennale of Venice

ARCHITECTS
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas