On the occasion of the 2012 Architecture Biennale and on behalf of the Flemish government the Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi) will produce the exhibition in the Belgian Pavilion in the Giardini, which will be curated by Joachim Declerck (Architecture Workroom Brussels) and a multidisciplinary team including Dutch graphic designer Joost Grootens, French urban planners GRAU, Flemish architects De Vylder Vinck Taillieu and Flemish/German artist Ante Timmermans.
Ms Joke Schauvliege, Flemish Minister of Cultural Affairs, announced the decision for this curatorial team and their project ‘The Ambition of the Territory’ at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday 8 February 2012.
In May 2011 the VAi and the Flemish Government Architect’s Team published a call for proposals for the development of outlines of the exhibition, which was to examine the future potential and scenarios for Flanders within its European context. In doing this the two institutions which are jointly responsible for promoting the quality of the built environment depart from the document ViA (Flanders in Action) of the Flemish government setting out an ambitious economic and social programme for the region. In their call for proposals the VAi and the Government Architect had posed the question, how this ambition is to materialise in the future planning and urban models that take into account the social, cultural and economic dynamics in a densely populated region in North-West Europe.
In a process of two selection rounds an international jury selected the curators from a total of 31 participants who had submitted proposals. In their proposal Architecture Workroom and their partners introduce the Flemish territory as a laboratory for the transition of contemporary metropolitan Europe. The team invites different guests to discuss the current social, economic and cultural dynamics in numerous workshops. The exhibition design by de Vylder Vinck Taillieu proposes the organisation as a series of cabinets of curiosities set into the beautiful space of the pavilion building.
The International Architecture Biennale of Venice 2012 is a momentum. The organisers and curators wish to use the opportunity to explore the development of the architectural culture in Flanders and as a particularly European contribution. Reflecting ‘Common Ground’, the theme of Biennale curator David Chipperfield, the Belgian pavilion will expose the influence of the economic and cultural dynamics on urban planning in Flanders and in Europe, but also to examine the possibility of thinking a part of Europe as a ‘collective work (possibly of art)’.
Date : 29 August, 2012 - 25 November, 2012
Organisor: VAi and the Flemish Government Architect’s Team
Location: Belgian pavilion at the Architecture Biennale Venice 2012
Contact: Axel Clissen
Info tel: + 32 3 242 89 70
Info e-mail: axel.clissen@vai.be
