Smart Art and the Russian Federation Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
The 17th Architecture Biennale will run in Venice from 23 May to 29 November 2020
Curator of the project – Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli
Moscow — Smart Art, operator of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and its commissioner Teresa Iarocci Mavica are happy to announce Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli as the curator of the national project at the 17th Architecture Biennale. Ippolito is an architect, urbanist, curator and lecturer at the Royal College of Arts in London. He has recently co-curated the 12th edition of Manifesta, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art.
Teresa Iarocci Mavica, commissioner:
“The need for reconstruction of the Russian pavilion has coincided with the upcoming Architecture Biennale in Venice. Curator Hashim Sarkis, a renowned Lebanese architect, theorist and an experienced teacher announced the theme of the main project ‘How will we live together?'. Thus, the curator is calling upon all of the participants to offer their vision of how architecture can contribute to coexistence in the contemporary world. This is how we thought of inviting Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli. As part of Manifesta 12 in Palermo his project involved transdisciplinary research in a complex urban environment, investigating new models of coexistence. The theme of the Biennale and the prospects of this collaboration have helped us to formulate the thesis for our program – we can live together only by working and building together, quite literally being side by side.”
For the forthcoming Architecture Biennale 2020, Smart Art will announce an open call inviting young Russian architects and multidisciplinary collectives to develop a project for the reconstruction of the Pavilion. During the Biennale, the Pavilion will act as a temporary architectural site, featuring the public process of the reconstruction project. Young Russian architects will work together with the local architectural office to provide the project with necessary coordination and approval.
The open call will be launched on the website of the Pavilion www.pavilionrus.com. It will run through January 31, 2020. It welcomes architectural firms with portfolios of at least three implemented projects. Participating architects should be up to 40 years old. The task of the open call involves creating a concept for the reconstruction of the Pavilion and proposals for conducting an open working site. Thew winner will be announced in February and will continue working in Venice, under Ippolito’s curation.
Pavilion
Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, curator:
“I’m honored to work as curator of the next Russian Pavilion. Personally this is a wonderful opportunity to deepen my relationship with Russia through a significant cultural project. For the 2020 Biennale we will not stage an exhibition but a work in progress, by offering the opportunity for a collaborative experiment between a team of young Russian architects and a pool of colleagues aimed at the transformation of Shchusev’s architecture. In balance between fiction and reality the Pavilion will feature live the project, a temporary architectural office and the in-progress working site all at once. As a response to Hashim Sarkis’ curatorial framework, the Russian Pavilion will act as a temporary institution giving shape to a “new spatial contract” through an open and ever changing dialogue and cross pollination between those who will inhabit and work in the Pavilion – from academics to craftsmen, from designers to activists – and the audience who will interfere and use it as a vehicle of access, discussion and knowledge.”
Anastasia Karneeva and Ekaterina Vinokurova, operators of the Russian Pavilion: — “The open call among young architects will be based on terms determined by the curator. The winner will be collegially selected by the curator, an established Russian architect, and a transdisciplinary expert group. It is important for us that the process of reconstruction of the national Pavilion takes place as openly as possible and involves all our creative forces. That is why we believe that the Open! project proposed by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli is very relevant. We are sure that by attracting talented young representatives of our country we will be able to bring a brand new life into the Russian Pavilion.”
Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli is an architect, urbanist and curator based in Milan. Besides architectural work, Ippolito is also an educator. He is currently teaching at the Royal College of Arts in London. Prior to that, he has taught at TU Delft and hold seminars at the Politecnico di Milano and at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. In 2018, he has co-curated the 12th edition of Manifesta, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art. He has also edited Palermo Atlas, the preparatory investigation on the Sicilian capital (Humboldt books, 2018). Between 2007 and 2018 he has worked as architect and partner at OMA, one of the world’s most famous architecture firms, where his work focused on research and curation, scenography and preservation. His projects include Panda, a research and exhibition for the 2016 Oslo Triennale, on the controversial impact of digital sharing platforms; Monditalia, a multi-disciplinary exhibition on the current status of Italy, at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale; the scenography for the Greek theater of Syracuse in Sicily (2012). In 2010, Ippolito together with Rem Koolhaas co-curated the Cronocaos exhibition on the politics of preservation at the Venice Architectural Biennale. Pestellini Laparelli has also designed several exhibitions for various institutions, such as Palazzo Reale (Milan), Fondazione Prada (Milan, Venice), Palais d'Iéna (Paris). He has also run a number of notable architectural projects, including the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin (ongoing), and has led the transformation design of the 16th century Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice (2016). He has contributed to various OMA preservation projects such as Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018) and Fondation Galeries Lafayette in Paris (2018).
Hashim Sarkis — is an architect, educator, and scholar. He is principal of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), established in 1998 with offices in Boston and Beirut. He is also the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2015. Before joining MIT, Sarkis was the Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at Harvard University. He has also taught at the Rhode Island School of Design, Yale University, the American University of Beirut, and the Metropolis Program in Barcelona. The architectural and urban projects of HSS include affordable housing, houses, parks, institutional buildings, urban design, and town planning. HSS has received several awards for its projects in Lebanon, including for the Housing of the Fishermen of Tyre, Byblos Town Hall, and the Courtower Houses, on the coast of Aamchit. The firm’s work has been exhibited around the world, including at the Pavilion of the United States at the Biennale Architettura 2014 and the Pavilion of Albania at the Biennale Architettura 2010, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the International Architucture Biennale Rotterdam, the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture of Shenzhen/Hong Kong, and the Bienal de Arquitectura y Urbanismo in Valparaíso. The work has also been published extensively, most recently in a monograph by NESS.docs (USA, Lots of Architecture - publishers, 2017). Sarkis was member of the international jury of the Biennale Architettura 2016. Sarkis earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture and a PhD in Architecture from Harvard University. He is the author and editor of several books and articles on modern architecture history and theory.
Teresa Iarocci Mavica is General Director of V-A-C Foundation. Together with Leonid Mikhelson, Teresa Iarocci Mavica set up V–A–C Foundation in Moscow in 2009. Born in the town of Campobasso, in Southern Italy, Teresa Iarocci Mavica graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Naples L’Orientale, where she specialised in Soviet Studies. In 1989, she moved to Moscow to continue her studies thanks to a grant from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Academy of Science. In 2003, Teresa Iarocci Mavica directed the first Russian gallery showing Western art in Moscow, and in 2006 she co-founded and led the ‘Contemporary City Foundation (Sovremenniy gorod) an experimental platform for young curators and artists in Moscow. The first of its kind in Russia, Contemporary City offered a free space for unknown artists and art professionals in which to create and show their work, recognising and supporting their careers in the arts. Since 2011, Teresa Iarocci Mavica has been a Member of the Board of Art-Finance, Ltd., and Curator of the Gasprombank Corporate Collection. Teresa is a collector and keen patron of the arts. In June 2013, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity by the decree of the president of the Italian Republic. The honour officially recognises the preservation and promotion of national prestige abroad, the development friendly relations and collaboration between Italy and other countries. She was a member of Tate’s Russia and Eastern Europe Acquisition Committee (REAC) from 2015 to 2018, and since 2016 has been on the Supervisory Board of Manifesta, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art. In May 2019, Teresa became a citizen of the Russian Federation.
Smart Art was established in 2016 by Anastasia Karneeva and Ekaterina Vinokurova as a company that supports contemporary Russian artists and fosters the development of the local art scene. Smart Art founders have a vast international experience. The list of their accomplished projects include personal exhibitions by Sergey Sapozhnikov (Drama Machine), Daria Irincheeva (Empty Knowledge), Sveta Shuvaeva (Lake View Limited Offer), Alexandra Galkina (Welcome Under The Table), Alexandra Paperno (Abolished Constellations), Alexey Buldakov (Thumbelina), Anastasia Potemkina (When the Flowers Do Not Cast Shadows), Daria Irincheeva, (Continuous Function), and Fomosapiens group exhibition. In 2019, Smart Art became an official operator of the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale for the next 10 years.
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