16th Venice Architecture Biennale 2018
The Arts Council of Ireland congratulates Grafton Architects in advance of the public opening of FREESPACE, the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale 2018, which previews on Thursday 24 May 2018, in Venice Italy.
Irish architects, Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects were appointed as the overall curators of the Biennale, one of the most prestigious architectural events in the world. The overall exhibition will include 71 international participants, taking place throughout Venice with the main venues attracting over 260,000 people from all over the world. The appointment of Irish architects as overall curators has never taken place before and it is an enormous honour for the creative community in Ireland, recognising the exceptional international standard of architecture and architects emerging from this country.
Orlaith McBride Director of the Arts Council said:
“The Arts Council is so proud of the Venice curators, Grafton Architects. The scale of this achievement is unprecedented in Ireland and it brings such national pride to us all. These architects are at the pinnacle of their international careers and the Council’s direct support of the mentoring initiative for Irish architects is aimed at creating a lasting legacy for Irish architects.”
As part of the Biennale programme, the Arts Council has supported the Venice Mentoring Initiative. This initiative involves 16 Irish architecture practices, at various stages of their careers. They will participate in the Biennale, with Grafton Architects providing a mentoring programme in curatorial practice and in communicating architecture to a public audience.
Yvonne Farrell and Shelly McNamara, the curators said:
“This will have a lasting impact on the creative practice of the architects and fundamentally increase the skills and capacities among a large number of architects in Ireland who will, in the future, be in a much stronger position to mediate and communicate architecture to an audience and in exhibitions.”
The curators titled the 16th International Architecture Exhibition FREESPACE,and explained their choice with the following words: “FREESPACE describes a generosity of spirit and a sense of humanity at the core of architecture's agenda, focusing on the quality of space itself. FREESPACE focuses on architecture’s ability to provide free and additional spatial gifts to those who use it and, on its ability, to address the unspoken wishes of strangers. FREESPACE celebrates architecture’s capacity to find additional and unexpected generosity in each project - even within the most private, defensive, exclusive or commercially restricted conditions”.
The exhibition is open to the public from Saturday 26 May until Sunday 25 November 2018.
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