Why the Architecture Biennale?

It is with great pleasure that CRAFT will be represented at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition, since on this occasion La Biennale di Venezia has offered a special opportunity to us – a Session – where we can perform our result of work from a 5 days long workshop in Venice.

This year’s Architecture Exhibition titled ‘HOW WILL WE LIVE TOGETHER’ is curated by architect and scholar Hashim Sarkis, who state: “We need a new spatial contract. In the context of widening political divides and growing economic inequalities, we call on architects to imagine spaces in which we can generously live together”.

The program Craft has developed for the workshop will exemplify this kind of approach, testing aesthetic, behavioral and social conventions in a wide range of events. Our focus will thereby be both on Hashim Sarkis’ theme and on Cultural Heritage.

We are in our work in Craft aware that the aim of the European Year of Cultural Heritage (2018) was to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe’s cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space.

All over the world a lot of cultural heritage is available, but especially in Europe there is a common cultural heritage worth remembering, discovering (again) and be aware of. In relation to the assignment for the workshop in Venice 2021, we have decided to focus on 4 specific locations which involve 4 artists/architects and part of the extremely interesting cultural history of Venice and work with the theme: ‘HOW WILL WE SIT TOGETHER’. Our Partner Hans Thyge & Co. has chosen 10 CHAIRS that will be transformed by the students within the theme.

We recognise that in a world where the cultural diversity is increasing, the shared cultural heritage is a tool to promote intercultural understanding and create relations between identities, representations and performances of history, this by connecting higher educational institutions with cultural institutions and companies to working an interdisciplinary, new and innovative way.

See you at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice!

Anna Marie Fisker