14th International Architecture Exhibition

June 7 to November 23, 2014

Open call for the new project in the Georgian Pavilion, Absorbing Modernity.

Deadline: January 30, 2014

The Pavilion of Georgia at the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, based on the idea of the artist Gio Sumbadze and curator Joanna Warsza, was constructed as a parasitic extension to an old building in the Arsenale and hosted an exhibition including the artists Bouillon Group, Thea Djordjadze, Nikoloz Lutidze, Gela Patashuri with Ei Arakawa and Sergei Tcherepnin, and Gio Sumbadze. It was based on the concept that the absence of a permanent Georgian pavilion in Venice could be turned into an advantage. After officially renting 60 square meters of a roof on the Biennale premises the pavilion-artwork, Kamikaze Loggia, was built as a temporary structure attached to a pre-existing building, echoing the post-Soviet tradition of informal architecture in Georgia.

The upcoming 14th International Architecture Exhibition, will be curated by Rem Koolhaas. The plan to preserve the structure of the Georgian Pavilion for the Architecture Biennale was first discussed in May 2013 with the director of the Venice Biennale, enthusiastic visitors, and the Rem Koolhaas research team. Now the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia has announced that the pavilion will remain. Slightly shifting its form and meaning for the new context of the Architecture Biennale, the Pavilion will host a new exhibition responding to the general title: Absorbing Modernity. As the saying goes: there is nothing more permanent than the temporary. Hopefully this will be the case for the Georgian pavilion in Venice for the coming years.

Competition for the project
The competition is open for curatorial/artistic proposals submitted by the specialists from the following fields:

• Currently active architects;
• Specialists engaged in contemporary art, architectural and urban issues;
• Theorists;
• Individuals and legal entities engaged in the sphere of visual art; Interdisciplinary groups.
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• The concept of the submitted project must comply with the main theme of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale – Fundamentals – Absorbing Modernity.

• Priority will be given to architecture-urban, socio-spatial and socio-historical concepts, research projects that comply with Biennale theme and not to concrete architecture-construction projects.

• In case of equally approved projects, priority will be given to co-financed projects (the warranty letter of the co-financer, individual or legal entity, must be submitted);

• Competition commission is authorized to make a decision on termination/fail of the competition.

More information you find on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia.

Deadline: January 30, 2014

Kamikaze Loggia, Georgian Pavillion, seen from Canale di Porta Nova. Photo: Gio Sumbadze