Biennale Architecture  11th International Architecture Exhibition  Aaron Betsky to curate the next Biennale Architecture Exhibition 

Venice, 16th January 2008
Aaron Betsky, an American who trained in the Netherlands and was thrice curator of the Dutch pavilion in the latest Architecture Biennali, as well as winner of the Golden Lion for best national participation in the 2002 edition, has been appointed as curator of the Venice Biennale's 11th International Architecture Exhibition.

Aaron Betsky, former director for six years of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) of Rotterdam, one of the most important architecture museums and centres in the world, and since last year director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, will be the curator of the 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Out There. Architecture Beyond Building, which will open to the public on Sunday 14th September and close on Sunday 23rd November 2008 (vernissage on 11th, 12th and 13th September).

These days –in Betsky’s vision– buildings are not enough, or too much, to answer to the call of making ourselves at home in our modern world. We must be willing to use all forms, shapes, images and tactics to help us frame, figure out and order a world that is continually changing. The worlds of art, interiors, landscapes, projected media and literature can and must be mined for such elements. We must not let buildings be the tombs of architecture, but must make an architecture that helps us to feel at home in, figure out and represent the world we live in.

The 11th Architecture Biennale Venice will present site-specific installations, manifestos, landscapes and scenes of an architecture beyond building. It will also exhibit experimental architecture from around the world and highlight experimental aspects of current practice.