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"Beyond the Act: After the Biennale"

Emiliano Gandolfi, Teddy Cruz, William Menking, Aaron Levy

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Event Date: Saturday, October 04, 2008
Location: Slought Foundation
Conversations in Theory Series

Estudio Teddy Cruz, 60 linear mile section, San Diego/Tijuana, 2008; Photo credit: Ryan Reitbauer/Duggal Visual Solutions

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Slought Foundation is pleased to announce a public conversation with designer Teddy Cruz and curators Emiliano Gandolfi, William Menking, and Aaron Levy in the Slought Foundation galleries on Saturday, October 4, 2008 from 6:30-8:00pm, in conjunction with the Italian Paviion and the official U.S. representation at La Biennale di Venezia, 11th International Architecture Exhibition. This program is made possible in part through the generous support of The Samuel S. Fels Fund and the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a program of The Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts.

The exhibition Into the Open: Positioning Practice (http://positioningpractice.us/) in the U.S. Pavilion explores how architects, urban researchers, and community activists are meeting the challenges of creating new work in response to contemporary social conditions and addresses factors challenging traditional methods of architecture, such as shifting socio-cultural demographics, changing geo-political boundaries, uneven economic development, and the explosion of migration and urbanization. Likewise, the Experimental Architecture section of the Italian Pavilion probes the borders of contemporary design and advocates for an expanded definition of architectural practice and responsibility. Together, the practices featured in the Italian and United States pavilions challenge us to reconsider the politics of exhibition display and prevailing curatorial approaches, reconceptualizing expositions not as opportunities for instruction but rather as spaces of dialogue and debate.

What happens after the biennale is over? How can the issues explored in these expositions be mobilized in contemporary practice? This event will explore how architects can go beyond building by defining architecture not just as a physical infrastructure but also as a social practice. This does not mean dispensing with the value of architecture per se, but rather acknowledging each situation's unique complexity. How can architects take up the challenge of designing the conditions from which new architectures can emerge?



Click here to download Emiliano Gandolfi's visual presentation: http://slought.org/files/downloads/events/SF_1412[Emiliano].pdf


Emiliano Gandolfi is the curator of the Experimental Architecture section of the Italian Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia, 11th International Architecture Exhibition.

Designer Estudio Teddy Cruz's photomontage and research about the border between San Diego and Tijuana stretches across the fa¨cade of the U.S. Pavilion this year at La Biennale di Venezia, functioning as a metaphorical and actual passageway for visitors.

William Menking, Aaron Levy, and Andy Sturm co-curated "Into the Open: Positioning Practice," the official U.S. representation at La Biennale di Venezia, 11th International Architecture Exhibition.

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To Cite this Page using MLA Style:

Emiliano Gandolfi, et al. "Beyond the Act: After the Biennale." Slought Foundation Online Content.
[04 October 2008; Accessed 5 January 2009]. <http://slought.org/content/11412/>.



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This program was made possible in part through the generous sponsorship of The Samuel S. Fels Fund, the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, a program of The Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by The University of the Arts, and the Society of Friends of Slought Foundation.

Into the Open: Positioning Practice is organized by PARC Foundation, Slought Foundation, and The Architect's Newspaper and presented by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. Generous support for the project has been received from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Robert Rubin and Stephane Samuel, and PARC Foundation.






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