The 2018 Venice Biennale, set to open from May 26th to November 25th, revolves around a simple concept under the guidance of Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara: a new world is a free world. Founders of the Irish studio Grafton Architects, the pair are busy preparing for one of the biggest events of the year.

2018 Venice Biennale - The Theme

The theme of the forthcoming Biennale of Architecture, Freespace, looks to showcase and expand upon the idea of the generosity of architecture as a concept of spatial education. A gift for mankind that demands consideration and respect through intellect and construction.

Freespace is thus an anthem to liberty, to the necessity to communicate, and to feel connected in the world we share. It is a celebration of thoughtfulness through the three-dimensional and an aspiration to engage with the environment around us.

“We believe that everyone has the right to benefit from architecture. The role of architecture is to give shelter to our bodies and to lift our spirits. A beautiful wall forming a street edge gives pleasure to the passer-by, even if they never go inside.”

Those who remember Reporting From The Front, theme from the last Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2016 by Alejandro Aravena, will surely enjoy the cohesive development. While the Chilean architect took us to a world where architecture can be used as a means to fight the status quo, delivering solutions for better living conditions, Yvonne and Shelley look at architecture as a shared spatial concept that belongs to all. Invoking this idea of generosity to stimulate “new ways of seeing the world, of inventing solutions where architecture provides for the well being and dignity of each citizen of this fragile planet.”

There are just months to go and Grafton’s ideas prepare to take concrete form through the many exhibits here in Venice: a city familiar with the flexible requirements imposed on public spaces by the surrounding water. With constructions that connect innovation with a collective memory, it would appear Venice is the perfect backdrop for Freespace.

2018 Venice Biennale - The Participants

As always, beyond the principal exhibits, the Biennale will include the proposals from over 65 participating countries, 7 of which make their debut in 2018: Antigua & Barbuda, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mongolia, Pakistan, and the Holy See. Within the Central Pavilion of the Giardini and the Corderie of the Arsenale, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara play the conductor to 71 projects from the artists chosen to participate in the main event: Alvaro Siza, Amateur Architetcture Studio, Atelier Peter Zumthor, Aurelio Galfetti, EMBT Studio, BIG, David Chipperfield Architects, Cino Zucchi Architetti, Diller & Scofidio + Renfro, Elemental, Estudio Carme Pinòs, SANAA, Lacaton & Vassal Architects, Maria Giuseppina Grasso Cannizzo, Paulo Mendes da Rocha, Rafael Moneo Arquitecto, Sauerbruch Hutton, Souto Moura, Studio Odile Decq, Toyo Ito & Associates.

2018 Venice Biennale - The Special Projects

In addition to the 71 main works and 65 national pavilions, two special sections complete the lineup at the 2018 Biennale of Architecture.

The first, Close Encounter: meetings with Remarkable Projects is a series of 16 meetings curated by contemporary designers who will reinterpret famous pieces to extract further potential and transformations; the second, The Practice of Teaching is a demonstration of the importance of academia and teaching in architecture and design. Major figures in both worlds are set to speak on the contamination and fluidity between theory and practice, including Aires Mateus, Francis Keré, Mario Botta, Valerio Olgiati, Ricardo Blumer.

Meanwhile, the Biennale Sessions, a separate program remaining within the topic of education, has organized events dedicated to universities all over the world. Students here are invited to organize seminars, exhibitions, and roundtables to further critical debate and reflect on the themes present at the 2018 Biennale.

For the third consecutive year, the Venice Biennale together with London’s Victoria & Albert Museum will present a special project in the Pavilion of Applied Arts within the Sala d’Armi of the Arsenale. With Robin Hood Gardens: A Ruin in Reverse, by Alison and Peter Smithson, visitors are immersed in an authentic fragment of the Robin Hood Garden, a social housing project in East London from the 1970’s currently under demolition.

The large fragment, which was purchased and salvaged from demolition thanks to contributions from the V&A, will invite guests to reflect on the importance and potential of Brutalism, which today seems destined to damnatio memoriae.

The lagoon is calling and the 2018 Venice Biennale of Architecture just might be the event of the year.