AA Global Forum: Venice Biennale to London

AA Global Forums provide a space to learn, share and discuss architectural ideas and initiatives in a local context, both online and through onsite meetings, lectures and workshops. AA Global Forums are made up of networks of AA alumni, students, staff, members and Visiting Schools, and offer support to AA students and members of the School community who are currently dispersed around the world.

The Venice Architecture Biennale has always had a particular appeal for AA graduates. In recent years this relationship has grown even stronger, with increasing numbers winning commissions as curators, exhibitors or designers of national pavilions. What is it that attracts AA alumni to Venice and makes them such a good fit for the Biennale?

The AA Global Forum: Venice to London on 11th of October will bring together recent contributors to discuss the role of the Biennale in a rapidly changing world, explored through the theme of the 2021 British Pavilion – The Garden of Privatised Delights. The exhibition, which travelled from Venice to London and is currently on show at the Building Centre until 15 October, had many AA graduates and current staff involved in its making. Land ownership, high streets, playgrounds, green spaces, pubs, data – all these forms of privatised public space shift alongside our environment and have certainly changed since the pavilion was originally conceived. Through a gallery tour and panel discussion, as well as over drinks and dinner, we will hear about how these themes and spaces have evolved over time and during the pandemic, as well as the impact of having this conversation through an international exhibition.

Speakers

Madeleine Kessler and Manijeh Verghese (co-curators, Unscene Architecture), Will Gowland and Harry Kay (Built Works), Carolina Caicedo and Xavier Llarch Font (The Decorators), Jonathan Orlek and Julia Udall (Studio Polpo), Torange Khonsari and Andreas Lang (Public Works), and Catherine Pease (vPPR Architects).

Schedule

17:00 – Exhibition tour of each of the installations by the curators and designers at the Building Centre

18:00 - Networking drinks at the Building Centre

18:30 – Panel discussion at the AA on the impact of Covid-19 on privatised public space as well as the specific themes explored in The Garden of Privatised Delights

20:00 - Dinner at the AA for all panellists, members and alumni (ticketed)