The new Board of La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta and composed of Giorgio Orsoni (Vice-President), Luca Zaia, Francesca Zaccariotto and Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, met for the first time on 27th December 2011 in the Biennale offices at Ca’ Giustinian and proceeded to appoint the Directors of the Architecture and Cinema sectors.

The appointments were decided as follows:

At the conclusion of the meeting, the President of the Biennale Paolo Baratta declared:

“The Board first wished to thank the Minister for the Cultural Heritage and Activities Lorenzo Ornaghi and the Parliamentary Commissions for having expedited the procedures and having thereby been able, just a few days after their designation, to reach a decision on the appointment of the President and the members of the new Board of Administration of la Biennale di Venezia. La Biennale could only reciprocate by proceeding with the same alacrity to take the decisions required to begin operations on the next four-year period, in particular in the fields for which the decisions were most urgent.

For Architecture, the Board of Administration knew that David Chipperfield had already been contacted, and that he had shown great interest in being appointed as Director of the International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale. We thank him for accepting and for having patiently awaited the official designation. Kazuyo Sejima’s appointment brought this Exhibition back into the hands of an architect, and Chipperfield’s pursues the same course. After a series of Exhibitions that illustrated the many different ways of approaching the theme of architecture in the contemporary era (sociological, technological, urban), it appeared useful to turn to an architect who demonstrates great interest in architecture as a discipline and raises questions about the elements of which it is composed, about the objectives it pursues, about the constraints that affect it, about the tools that it uses to shape places, spaces, buildings. The next Architecture Exhibition will be characterized by the emphasis on a series of relationships that connect great architects and younger generations that refer to them. This Exhibition will represent a major opportunity to bring both the general public and the world of architecture up to date. This is also why it has already begun to organize the program involving Universities from all around the world, entitled Biennale Sessions, successfully tested during the last edition of the Exhibition.

 

To continue to pursue the growth of the Venice International Film Festival, and to address the rising competition, the Biennale is committed to promoting the program to renovate the venues already begun last year, which will proceed throughout the next four-year period in the perspective of regenerating the entire Lido area.

To achieve this end, it is essential to create an intense harmony between the Biennale and the City of Venice, on which the completion of this project is largely, if not entirely, dependent; a harmonious relationship with the Lido, with its population, with its tourist facilities; a harmonious development with the city of Venice and with its administrative representation.

This commitment is important and must be steadfastly pursued. The Board of Administration has appointed Alberto Barbera as the Director of the Venice Film Festival for the next four-year period. Barbera will assist and advance this evolution with his recognized professional capacity, his intuition and his creativity. Venice’s position in the calendar of international Festivals must be developed to its fullest potential, along with the Venice Film Festival’s capacity to attract the finest international productions, which are actively promoted in the fall and winter that follow. In addition to his ability to attract quality films, Barbera adds the capacity to engage the many different artistic events related to the language of cinema, and the organizational capacity to develop the Industry Office into a ‘Light Market’ with realistic but significant objectives. Alberto Barbera has confirmed that he is willing to cultivate the possibilities of the Biennale College to develop permanent activities in Venice that will involve young artists. His work with the Museum of Cinema in Turin will undoubtedly prove helpful to this endeavour. Following the development of these activities in Dance, Music and Theatre, the Cinema and Architecture Sectors will also contribute to the instrument of the Biennale College, the growth of which will be actively pursued in the years to come. Just as it has acknowledged the extraordinary results of the International Art Exhibition and the other activities of the Biennale, the Board of Administration expressed its gratitude to Marco Mueller for having contributed throughout eight consecutive years to the growth and recognition of the Venice International Film Festival”.

 

David Chipperfield in particular says about his project that:

“Participants will be encouraged through a declaration of affinities to make connections with other authors and other works. These dialogues and collaborations may involve a common proposal or a dialogue between projects even as a dialogue of provocation. In this way we wish to demonstrate the existence of a rich culture of architectural practice and research, stimulated by the work of other disciplines but defined by shared enthusiasms and concerns at a time when the singular works of architects are celebrated but the role of the profession and our place within society is continuously challenged.”

 

David Chipperfield studied at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association in London. After graduating he worked at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers, and Norman Foster. He has taught and lectured worldwide, including as Professor of Architecture at the Staatliche Akademie der BildendenKuenste, Stuttgart from 1995 to 2001; and as visiting professor at schools of architecture in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. David Chipperfield is currently Norman R. Foster Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University.

David Chipperfield Architects was established in 1984 and currently has more than 250 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai. Amongthe practice’s major recent works are the renewed Neues Museum in Berlin; the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Alaska; the City of Justice in Barcelona; the Des Moines Public Library in Iowa; Ninetree Village, a residential district in Hangzhou, China; the new Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany; the Kaufhaus Tyrol department store in Innsbruck and the Peek &Cloppenburgflagship store in Vienna; a laboratory building on the Novartis campus in Basel; and in 2011, the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate and The Hepworth Wakefield, both in the United Kingdom.

Ongoing current projects include a new gallery for the ColecciónJumex in Mexico City; the luxury five star Hotel Café Royal on London’s Regent Street; the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia; the Marrakech Gallery in Morocco; Elizabeth House, a major new office and residential development near Waterloo in London; the James Simon Gallery, a new entrance building to Berlin’s Museum Island; a new wing for the Saint Louis Art Museum in the United States; the Ansaldo City of Cultures in Milan; and a new building for the Kunsthaus Zurich in Switzerland.

From the beginning of his career, David Chipperfield has also been interested in the design and function of interior spaces, including shop interiors for Issey Miyake, Joseph, Dolce &Gabbana, and Valentino,as well as a range of furniture, lighting, and tableware.David Chipperfield’s Tonale range of ceramics for Alessi received the Compassod’Oro in 2011, and the Piana folding chair has recently been acquired for the permanent collection at MoMA.

The practice has won numerous international awards and citations for design excellence, including RIBA and AIA awards, the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007, and the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011. In 1999 David Chipperfield was awarded the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an Honorary Member of the Bund DeutscherArchitekten in 2007 and he was awarded both the Wolf Foundation Prize in the Arts and the Grand DAI Award (VerbandDeutscherArchitekten- und Ingenieurvereine) for Building Culture in 2010. He holds honorary doctorates from Kingston University (2009) and the University of Kent (2010).

In 2004 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to architecture. He was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry in 2006, and elected to the Royal Academy in 2008. In 2009 David Chipperfield was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany – the highest tribute that can be paid to individuals for service to the nation – and in 2010 he was knighted for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011, he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture; given in recognition of a lifetime’s work, the Royal Gold Medal is approved personally by Her Majesty the Queen.

 

Alberto Barbera was born in Biella in 1950. After graduating in Modern Literature with a thesis on the History and Criticism of Film, he began his collaboration with the AIACE (the Italian association of Friends of Art-House Films) of Turin, for which he served as president from 1977 to 1989. From 1980 to 1983 he was the film critic for the daily newspaper “La Gazzetta del Popolo” and since 1982 has been a member of the Order of Journalists, on the list of publicists. He has collaborated with many magazines, and has curated or participated in many radio and television shows for RAI. In 1982 he began his collaboration with the Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani (now the Torino Film Festival), first as a press agent, then as the Secretary General and member of the Selection Committee, from 1984 to 1988. From 1989 to 1998, he served as Director. From December 1998 to April 2002 he was the Director of the Venice International Film Festival. From 2002 to 2006, he was the co-director of “RING! Festival of Film Critics” in Alexandria.

Since June 5 2004 he has been the Director of the National Museum of Cinema in Turin. Since 2008, he has been President of the Advisory Board of TorinoFilmLab.