ROME, May 3:
Kuwait is one of the five countries that will be taking part for the first time in the 13th Venice Biennale for Architecture, curated by British architect David Chipperfield, organisers said on Wednesday. Kuwait will be represented by the National Council of Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) with its Curator Zahra Ali Baba and Deputy Curators Deema Alghunaim, Abdulatif Almishari and Ricardo Camacho. The other four countries that will also be participating for the first time in the Biennale are Angola, Kosovo, Peru and Turkey.
Stars and budding architects from 55 countries are set to attend the Biennale that will run from Aug 29 to Nov 25. "The central theme of the 2012 Biennale is what we have in common," stated Chipperfield, who is renowned for his clean and almost muted designs and will be the first British architect to curate the world's largest architecture show.
The Biennale's 58 projects, designed by 103 architects, photographers and artists, will be hosted in the Arsenale historic shipyard and the nearby Giardini parks as well as in other spots dotted around the watery city.
Among the world-famous architects on show will be British-Iraqi Zaha Hadid, the Manchester-born Norman Foster, Swiss Designers Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and Kazuyo Sejima from Japan.
"The exhibition's ambition is to reaffirm the existence of an architectural culture made up not only of individual talents but also a rich patrimony of different ideas brought together in a common story," stated Chipperfield.
Chipperfield, whose designs include the Figge Art Museum in Iowa and the Turner Contemporary gallery in Britain is "a personality who cultivates an intense vision of pragmatic architecute," said Biennale head Paolo Baratta.
© Arab Times 2012
