Open Call - Venice Biennale

On the occasion of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, and in response to its general theme Freespace, the teams of the Belgian, Dutch and Spanish pavilions launch a joint Open Call.

This Open Call seeks to engage students, architects, designers,researchers, curators and artists of all ages and nationalities, to develop site-specific projects that encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing and solidarity across borders. Projects should propose a spatial intervention and action in the outdoor space in front of the Spanish, Belgian and Dutch pavilions, and during the official opening day ofthe Biennale, 26 May 2018.

Applicants are invited to imagine ways in which the Giardini could operate as a space for knowledge production, exchange, cross-pollination and representation beyond national demarcations; to question the methodological nationalism associated with the idea of an enclosed pavilion; and to reconsider the role, protocols and form of an opening ceremony and celebration.

Proposals should create a dialogue between the three pavilions; become a prototype for changing conceptualizations of citizenship and nationhood within the Biennale;take into account the different scales and media in which the programme of the biennial operates; and question the tools of architectural thought and practice.

Submissions to this Open Call may take many formats, including but not limited to a festive event, spatial intervention, gathering, action, performance or public programme. In addition, proposals should define the specific time slot in which the event will take place on 26 May 2018, and take into consideration the public nature of the project as well as the fluctuating nature of that area of the Giardini.