Changing 'Business as Usual'

The Biennale opens to the public on Saturday after a two-day preview for the press and other invited guests; it runs until 27 November 2016. This year's Biennale consists of four main components: the exhibition Reporting from the Front, which includes 88 participants from 37 countries; 65 national participations in the Giardini, the Arsenale, and venues throughout Venice; 20 collateral events in locations around the city; and, for the first time, three special projects, on waterfronts, applied arts, and 21st century urbanism. It will be a busy six months!

Aravena's exhibition comes two years after Rem Koolhaas's Fundamentals exhibition, which looked at architecture through its component parts, and four years after David Chipperfield's Common Ground exhibition, which tried to find such between the architectural profession and the wider public. Reporting from the Front is more aligned with Chipperfield's exhibition than Koolhaas's, but it is much less vague: Chipperfield's theme gave free reign to the participants, but Aravena challenged the 88 participants to focus on challenges toward architecture's goal of improving people's quality of life. And with Aravena's own office, Elemental, taking strong social positions through its incremental housing projects, it's clear that "people's quality of life" applies to all, not just those who typically can afford to commission architects.

Baratta's remarks at the press conference were highly complimentary toward the clarity of Aravena's direction and addressing the "divide between the civil society and architecture." He spoke of the rediscovery of architecture as a tool for all, describing it as "the art by which we build our world." Further, he stated that architects cannot withdraw from the urgent problems to be faced, such as migration to cities, refugees, and climate change. Ultimately, Baratta viewed Reporting from the Front as a mix of urgency and hope, seeing the contributions as "tools for giving hope."

Aravena's remarks were short, consisting more of thanks (to the sponsors, the participants, the national pavilions, the Biennale team, his firm, and his wife, who "joined the Elemental family" for the exhibition) than explanations of the exhibition. Nevertheless, he did spend some minutes on explaining the three types of visitors the exhibition hopes to address: practitioners, who should be encouraged with what they discover; decision-makers, who should broaden the gamut of their references; and citizens, who should feel the desire the demand for greater quality. Binding these three visitors is the notion of changing "business as usual" – not accepting the normal responses when it comes to addressing the challenges facing society and architects today.