Seven teams have progressed from a record number of submissions to stage two of the search for a creative director of Australia’s exhibition at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. The shortlist was selected by the Australian Institute of Architects’ Venice Biennale Committee (VBC), led by immediate past national president, and Venice Biennale Commissioner, Brian Zulaikha.
Shortlisted proposals
Under Construction – Dr Elizabeth Farrelly, Grace Mortlock, David Neustein and Dan Hill with Other Architects and Fabrica (NSW)
Augmented Australia 1914–2014 – felix. + Sophie Giles & Simon Anderson (WA)
Flatpack Pavilion – Zanny Begg, Chris Fox, Helen Lochhead and John Choi (NSW)
Openings – Andrew Burns / Mark Gowing / Brett Boardman (NSW)
Distinctions + Contradictions, At Home with Australian Architecture – Associate Professor Jay Younger, Lindy Johnson, Elizabeth Watson Brown, Jennifer Taylor (advisor), and Tony Gooley Design (Qld)
Between – FloodSlicer and Two4K (Vic)
The Peephole Hoarding – The AU (NSW)
For the next stage of the competition, each team will further develop their proposal and present to the VBC on 6 June, and more information about the shortlisted entries will be made available following that. After jury deliberation, the appointed team will be announced as the creative director in July.
The 2014 International Architecture Exhibition Creative Director, Rem Koolhaas, has selected the theme Fundamentals for the 14th Architecture Biennale, which will run from 7 June to 23 November, 2014. “Fundamentals will be a Biennale about architecture, not architects. After several Biennales dedicated to the celebration of the contemporary, Fundamentals will focus on histories – on the inevitable elements of all architecture used by any architect, anywhere, anytime and on the evolution of national architectures in the last 100 years,” said Koolhaas.
The Institute committed in earnest to support and funding of the Australian presence at the Venice Architecture Biennale from 2006. It’s a vital part of the Insitute’s promotion of Australian architecture to the international community, with thousands of the world’s most influential architects, designers, urban planners, developers and critics visiting each Biennale. Check out the alumni of shortlisted proposals for Australia’s 2010 and 2012 exhibitions.
Prior to that, an Australia exhibition in 1991 was supported by the Commonwealth Departments of Foreign Affairs [Cultural Relations Branch] and Industry, Technology and Commerce. Eleven architects were shown by the then Biennale Commissioner Professor Neville Quarry. In 2000, Lyons took over the Australian Pavilion for a ‘City of Fiction’ display of brick-shaped removable postcards, with funding assistance from industry and local and state governments. The Commissioner was Professor Leon van Schaik and the exhibition was seen at the MCA in Sydney by 31,000 people.
Venice Biennale Committee
Brian Zulaikha (Chair) – immediate past president of the Australian Institute of Architects / director of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer
Janet Holmes à Court AC – patron of the arts / commissioner of the Australian exhibitions at Venice in 2010, 2012 and 2014
Paul Berkemeier – national president elect of the Australian Institute of Architects / principal of Paul Berkemeier Architects
Shane Thompson – Australian Institute of Architects Queensland Chapter President / principal of Shane Thompson Architects
Annabelle Pegrum – director of PegrumJudd / Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra
Rachel Neeson – principal of Neeson Murcutt Architects
Karl Fender – founding director of Fender Katsalidis Architects
Ross Clark – chief operating officer of the Australian Institute of Architects
