With a special weekend full of events and meetings, the 13th International Architecture Exhibition – Common Ground, directed by David Chipperfield and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta, will close on Sunday 25th November.

 

Considering the visitors to date, we are certain to exceed 178,000 visitors with an increase of 4,7% (170,000 the total figure in 2010). During the 12 weeks and 4 days that it was open, the 13th Exhibition ranked first for attendance among Italian exhibitions with a daily average of 2,253 visitors. Young people and students represented 48% of total visitors. The students who visited the Exhibition in groups represented 27% of the public.

 

 “La Biennale of Architecture has become an important event for many unavoidable, – states Paolo Baratta – the presence of universities affiliated with us and youth, confirm it as the place of training, as well as the growth in the number of media and international publications confirm it also as a place of special and general interest for the whole world.”

 

“Since the beginning, by choosing the theme Common Ground we wanted to give emphasis on what we have in common and to reassert the existence of an architectural culture, made up not just of singular talents but a rich continuity of diverse ideas united in a common history - explains David Chipperfield. In the Arsenale and in the Padiglione Centrale at Giardini, visitors were able to see how several collaborative processes and discussions between architects, photographers, artists, critics and scholars have generated common themes, ideas and solutions. Architecture is collaboration and dialogue between society and architects, it is the commitment to share our Common Ground with others.”

 

The Biennale Architettura 2012 included the participation of 55 countries and 18 collateral events sponsored by international bodies and institutions and organized in various venues throughout Venice. There were 4 nations participating for the first time Angola, Kuwait, Republic of Kosovo and Peru. For the first time Argentina exhibited in its own pavilion in the space newly renovated of the Sale d’Armi at the Arsenale. 69 were the projects made by architects, photographers, artists, critics and scholars, a total of 119 participants were invited by David Chipperfield. Many of them have responded to the invitation of the Director with original proposals and installations expressly created for this Biennale, involving other colleagues with whom they share a Common Ground.

 

Great success also for the Italian Pavilion organized by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities with the General Direction for the Landscape, Fine Arts, Architecture and Contemporary Arts, and curated by Luca Zevi.

 

The 13th Exhibition was opened on August 29th in the presence of Minister of Culture Lorenzo Ornaghi, Minister of Interior Annamaria Cancellieri andthe Minister of Environment Corrado Clini. On September 6th was visited by the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano. Many were also the institutional visits of Ministers and Ambassadors.

 
 

In the wake of the last two year’s success, la Biennale extended the project aimed at Universities and Institutes of Higher Learning: 77 were the affiliated universities (+113% compared to 2010) with 28 Italian and 49 foreign universities from the following countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, UK, Ireland, Israel, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, USA, Serbia, Sweden, Switzerland and Hungary.

3,541 university students (+57% compared to 2010) from all over the world included the visit in their educational curriculum and considered the Biennale as a place for study and research. As a total, 53 seminars were organized by the participating Universities.

The Meetings this year have been conceived in two full days of dialogue and articulated in a series of roundtables in order to engage in a chorus of voices architects, critics, curators and journalists. Focused on the theme of the Exhibition, Common Ground, with the aim of reviewing the intentions and reactions, have faced topics such as "Common Ground: between Art and Urban Practice”, “Designing for Politics” and “Rethinking the Cultural Center”. The meeting that will take place today will see the presence of President Paolo Baratta and the curator of the exhibition David Chipperfield, together with Rafael Moneo, Luis Férnandez-Galiano, Wouter Vanstiphout, Liza Fior, Adam Kaasa, Elke Krasny, Michelle Provoost, Jane da Mosto e Michela Scibilia, Reiner de Graaf, Matthew Slotover, Oliver Wainwright, Bernhard Schulz, Alice Rawsthorn, Andres Lepik.

30,534 (1526 groups) is the total number of participants in the educational activities and in the guided tours, with a 23% increase over 2010. In particular, 22,288 (+21% compared to 2010) young people and students participated in the educational activities, including 1,114 groups. 8,246 (+27% over 2010) is the number of adults and visitors organized in groups who participated in the guided tours. Once again this year, the Biennale was able to provide 23 educational specialists who accompanied the visitors through the two exhibition venues.

Also this year the Biennale Bus was organized to respond to the many requests from the schools that in increasing numbers reserve their visits to the Educational activities from the Veneto region, to assist the more distant schools with less access to railway service. The Biennale Bus – organized by la Biennale for the 13th Exhibition as part of the Educational activities, which are also made possible by the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Venice – made 189 trips and transported 9,220 students. For the third year in a row, the Biennale Vap guaranteed free shuttle service from the station to the Giardini and vice-versa, totaling 230 trips and carrying 8,605 students.

The Biennale's institutional website (www.labiennale.org) was seen over the duration of the exhibition by 685,225 unique visitors.

The Biennale Facebook page is extraordinarily successful counting 102,054 Likes on November 24th. On the same day, the followers on Twitter numbered 107,989.

A total of 3,153 journalists visited the exhibition, including 1,724 from the foreign press and 1,423 from the Italian press (compared to 2,408 in 2010, of which 1.229 were from the international press and 1.179 from the Italian press) with a 30% increase. The press coverage was extensive, totalizing to date 1,504 articles in print and on the major websites compared to 1.055 in the past editions (an increase of 35%). The television stations accredited during the exhibition totaled 95, including 57 foreign stations and 38 Italian. The 13th Exhibition was also covered by over 50 reports on the national television news and by the most important news and events programs on foreign television stations including: ARD, RSI, BAUWELT, Euronews, France 3, ORF, ZDF, DEUTSCHE WELLE, TSR, SF, BBC, CNN.

 

The 13th International Architecture Exhibition was also made possible by the support of Foscarini, Telecom Italia, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, Japan Tobacco International, Happy Business to You, Egi – Gruppo Poste Italiane, Vela-Hello Venezia, Rolex,  Moroso, Volume, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Charta and Best Union Company, Gi Group and Bellussi Valdobbiadene.

We would also like to thank Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

 

La Biennale would like to thank everyone who worked on the Exhibition, the sponsors and all those who in their various capacities contributed to its realization and those who made it possible to maintain the high quality of the event, first and foremost the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities.

 

The videos of all the events that distinguished the 13th Exhibition (Preview and Meetings on Architecture) may be viewed on the website www.labiennale.org at the following link: http://labiennale.org/it/mediacenter/architettura. The videos have been made by Ultrafragola Channels TV.