FREESPACE at #BiennaleArchitettura2018

text: Maria Mănescu

The Board of Directors of the Venice Biennale, led by Paolo Baratta, met on January 16, 2017 and decided that Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara will be the curators of the 16th edition of the 2018 International Architecture Exhibition, which will take place from May 26 to November 25, 2018, in the Biennale's traditional exhibition spaces, the Giardini and Arsenale, in the historic area and other iconic locations in the city.
At the press conference held with Paolo Baratta at Ca' Giustinian to launch the 2018 Biennale, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara were keen to explain the choice of the title of this year's edition, Freespace/Free Space:

"Freespace describes a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity that is at the heart of contemporary architecture's preoccupation with focusing on the quality of space itself;
Freespace focuses on architecture's ability to provide those who use it with gifts that are specific to it, free public spaces, and its capacity to fulfill people's unspoken desires;
Freespace emphasizes the power of architecture to uncover unexpected resources of generosity in every project - even in the most restrictive, individualistic, defensive, exclusive and commercial conditions;
Freespace opens the way to nature's free gifts - sunlight and moonlight, air, gravity, materials, natural and man-made resources - and puts them to good use;
Freespace encourages a revolution in ways of thinking, ways of seeing the world, innovative architectural solutions capable of ensuring the well-being and dignity of every citizen of this fragile planet;
Freespace can constitute the ideal space for the development of opportunities, a democratic, unprogrammed and free space for as yet unthought of uses. There are exchanges between people and buildings, even if not intentional or designed; long after the architect has left the scene, buildings find their own ways to establish relationships with their users; one could say that architecture has an active and passive life alike;
Freespace is about the freedom to imagine, about the free space of time and memory, linking past, present and future, building on inherited cultural layers, weaving a fabric that brings together old and new spaces.

The exhibition will have a spatial, physical presence, at a scale and quality that will have a powerful impact on the visitor, communicating the complex spatial nature of architecture; it will invite emotional and intellectual engagement with the public who come to the Biennale to better understand architecture, stimulate debate on the core values of architecture and celebrate architecture's proven and robust contribution to human history.

Jørn Utzon has conceived the concrete and glazed ceramic bench at the entrance to his family's Majorca home, Can Lis, as an object perfectly modulated on the human body, an element of comfort, of pleasure. From a spatial point of view, this piece of furniture is a 'word of welcome'.
Angelo Mangiarotti 'says' the same thing at the entrance to the building in Via Quadronno 24, Milan, where a stepped walkway with a bench at the entrance prepares you, greets you and welcomes you home.
Lina Bo Bardi erected an art museum on pillars in Sao Paolo to give citizens a "belvedere" from which to look down on the city.
The Medici palace in Florence is a symbol of power and wealth, but the stone bench that shares the facade initiates a dialog with the public space of the piazza. The solid wall of the building becomes the enclosure of the public space. What at first sight seems solid and impenetrable becomes open and generous.
We believe that everyone has the right to enjoy architecture and reap its benefits. The role of architecture is not only to shelter our bodies, but also to nourish our spirit. The beautiful facade of a building beautifies the street and gives pleasure to passers-by, even if they never enter the building. So does a peep into an inner courtyard through an archway; or a wall to lean against, a niche, an inlet in which to take refuge in the shade or shelter from the rain and wind.
We are interested in going beyond the visual, emphasizing the role of architecture in the choreography of everyday life.
The Earth is our Client, which brings with it long-term responsibilities. Architecture is the play of light, sun, shadow, moon, air, wind and gravity in ways that reveal the mysteries of the world. All these resources are at our fingertips.
The 2018 International Architecture Exhibition will bring together examples of generosity and care for people in world architecture. We believe that such qualities support architecture's fundamental ability to nurture and sustain meaningful contact between people and place. We focus our attention on these qualities that feed on optimism and continuity. Architecture that integrates these qualities with generosity and a desire to change for the better is what we call Freespace.
We invite all participants and each national pavilion to bring their "Freespace"/Freespace to Venice, so that together we can reveal diversity, specificity and continuity in architecture, always with people, places, time and history in mind, to sustain the culture and relevance of architecture on our dynamic planet.
"A society becomes prosperous when old men plant trees even though they know they will never stand in their shade," says a Greek proverb."

On the same occasion, President Paolo Baratta declared:

"Similar to previous editions of the Biennale, we continue our investigation into the relationship between architecture and civil society. The rupture between the two sides, caused by the increasing difficulty of civil society to express its own needs and find adequate responses, has led to dramatic urban developments whose main feature is the marked absence of public spaces and the growth of other areas dominated by indifference in the suburbs and peripheries of our cities.
The absence of architecture makes the world spiritually and materially poorer, diminishing the public wealth resulting from economic and demographic developments. To rediscover architecture is to reinvigorate the desire to live in quality spaces, which are a form of public wealth that must be constantly protected, renewed and created.
This is the path chosen by the upcoming Architecture Biennale".

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara

Summary Arhitectura Magazine nr.2-3/2017
Women in Romanian architecture