Venice, 8th April 2008
For the 11th International Architecture Exhibition Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, presents, with Telecom Italia, the international online competition, Everyville 2008. Communities beyond Place, Civic consciousness beyond Architecture, curated by Aaron Betsky and Francesco Delogu and open to students of all disciplines from Italian and foreign universities, who have not graduated within January, 1st 2008.
Everyville 2008 is an initiative made possible by the collaboration between the Biennale di Venezia and Gruppo Telecom Italia, which makes available the most innovative technology for the realisation of the contest and for the display of the winning projects. Software powered by newitalianblood.com in collaboration with domus.
The presentation of Everyville 2008 on 8th April at the Auditorium of Santa Marta in the IUAV University in Venice, saw the participation of the Biennale’s President, Paolo Baratta, the Rector of the University of IUAV, Carlo Magnani, and the Director of the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture, Aaron Betsky, with an open lecture.
By vocation, the Biennale di Venezia believes in the young, in their creative ability, the strength of their ideas. This is a conviction that over time has taken material form in dedicated initiatives and projects and which, for the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture (14th September - 23rd November 2008), will take the form of the Everyville 2008 competition.
The competition invites participants to elaborate an idea or a project on the basis of a theoretical and critical text by the Director of the 11th Exhibition, Aaron Betsky. The new feature, which provides an element of challenge and the great stimulus in the contest, lies in the fact that the work of the first 10 in the rankings and 40 honourable mentions –as selected by the international jury, chaired by Paolo Baratta and comprising Aaron Betsky, Francesco Delogu, Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Luisa Hutton, Flavio Albanese and Luigi Centola– will become an integral part of the 11th Exhibition and will be displayed in a special section in the Artiglierie of the Venice Arsenale. For the inauguration of the 11th Exhibition, an official awards ceremony for the 50 groups will be held in the presence of the President, Paolo Baratta and of the Director, Aaron Betsky, with the conferment of the diplomas and certificates of merit.
Competitors can register online from 8th April 2008 and must do so by 1st July 2008 (10 a.m. Italian time), filling in the form available from http://everyville.labiennale.org. Participation can be effected individually or through the formation of a group. Interdisciplinary and multicultural collaborations are encouraged. A payment of euro 10 will be requested for every individual registering for the competition, or for every component of a group intending to participate. All participants will receive free entry to the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture.
In the text describing the competition, Aaron Betsky illustrates an imaginary and at the same time real city, Everyville, and observes it in the future; the theme he proposes working on is the constitution of a sense of community beyond physical space and – vice versa – the imagination of an architectural system able to create a sense of belonging. Students are invited to explore the contents and methods of experimental and innovative architecture, and at the same time to reflect on the concepts linked to technology and communications.
