international on-line competition for university students

La Biennale di Venezia
11th International Architecture Exhibition



EveryVille 2008
Communities beyond Place, Civic consciousness beyond Architecture
International on-line competition for university students

Venice, 8 April 2008 – For the 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, presents, with Telecom Italia, the international on-line competition, EveryVille 2008. Communities beyond Place, Civic consciousness beyond Architecture, curated by Aaron Betsky and Francesco Delogu and open to students of all disciplines from Italian and foreign universities, who have not graduated within January, 1st 2008.

EveryVille 2008 is an initiative made possible by the collaboration between the Biennale di Venezia and Gruppo Telecom Italia, which makes available the most innovative technology for the realisation of the contest and for the display of the winning projects. Software powered by newitalianblood.com in collaboration with domus.

The presentation of EveryVille 2008 on 8th April at the Auditorium of Santa Marta in the University of IUAV in Venice, will see the participation of the Biennale’s President, Paolo Baratta, the Rector of the University of IUAV, Carlo Magnani, and the Director of the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture, Aaron Betsky, with an open lesson.

By vocation, the Biennale di Venezia believes in the young, in their creative ability, the strength of their ideas. This is a conviction that over time has taken material form in dedicated initiatives and projects and which, for the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture (14th September - 23rd November 2008), will take the form of the EveryVille 2008 competition.

The competition invites participants to elaborate an idea or project on the basis of a theoretical and critical text by the Director of the 11th Exhibition, Aaron Betsky. The new feature, which provides an element of challenge and the great stimulus in the contest, lies in the fact that the work of the first ten in the rankings and 40 honourable mentions – as selected by the international jury, chaired by the Biennale Chairman, Paolo Baratta, and comprising Aaron Betsky, Francesco Delogu, Zaha Hadid, Thom Mayne, Luisa Hutton, Flavio Albanese and Luigi Centola – will become an integral part of the 11th Exhibition and will be displayed in a special section in the Artiglierie dell’Arsenale, Venice. For the inauguration of the 11th Exhibition, an official awards ceremony for the 50 groups will be held in the presence of the President, Paolo Baratta and of the Director, Aaron Betsky, with the conferment of the diplomas and certificates of merit.

Competitors can register on line from 8th April 2008 and must do so by 1st July 2008 (10 a.m. Italian time), filling in the form available from www.everyville.labiennale.org. Participation can be effected individually or through the formation of a group. Interdisciplinary and multicultural collaborations are encouraged. A payment of euro 10 will be requested for every individual registering for the competition, or for every component of a group intending to participate. All participants will receive free entry to the 11th International Exhibition of Architecture.

In the text describing the competition, Aaron Betsky illustrates an imaginary and at the same time real city, EveryVille, and observes it in the future; the theme he proposes working on is the constitution of a sense of community beyond physical space and – vice versa – the imagination of an architectural system able to create a sense of belonging. Students are invited to explore the contents and methods of experimental and innovative architecture, and at the same time to reflect on the concepts linked to technology and communications.

An imagined scenario is presented in which the administrators of EveryVille are discussing how best “to give a sense of identity and coherence” to this new urban conglomeration, drawing in the citizens into the decision. During a consultation, these citizens are divided as to whether it should be “the symbolic fulcrum of the new community”. There are those who propose a symbolic and monumental building; others something like a university and campus able to house the administrative offices; others again a more traditional town hall. Most citizens, however, believe public buildings to be “a waste of time and money” and that a Starbuck’s would be more useful and appealing. The mayor of EveryVille is interested in developing a “programme that goes beyond buildings”, in tracing out guidelines enabling the city to “grow as a cohesive and participative community, within a healthy setting”. Participants in the competition must imagine solutions conferring “an image, a coherence, a character and a civic consciousness” on the small town, in accordance with its position, history, site and future. The proposals may be eccentric and even utopian. The proposals presented must be developed as an idea or project showing “the citizens how EveryVille will appear in ten years’ time and how this community will acquire significance through architecture”. The materials requested include two images (which can include several drawings) of the idea or project and a descriptive text in English of a maximum of 2000 characters.

Gruppo Telecom Italia, a partner of the Biennale di Venezia for other important initiatives, is renewing its commitment to the Fondazione by guaranteeing the availability of the best technology for the realisation in real time and exclusively on line, of an original and particularly rewarding contest for the young public.

Telecom Italia will stand alongside the Fondazione also for the successive “physical” manifestation of the winning and noted entries, which will be displayed in the Exhibition’s spaces in the Giardini and the Arsenale.

Newitalianblood, the only interactive portal equipped with patented systems for the integral operation of competitions and architectural awards on line, is providing the dedicated software for the operation of the contest on line. domus, the international magazine, is collaborating in the realisation of the initiative by offering valuable promotion of the contest.

The 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, directed by Aaron Betsky and organised by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, will be held in Venice from Sunday 14th September to Sunday 23rd November 2008 in the Giardini and at the Arsenale. The vernissage will take place on the 11th, 12th and 13th September 2008.

Aaron Betsky – former director for six years of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, one of the most important museums and architecture centres in the world, and director since last year of the Cincinnati Art Museum – is putting together the 11th International Architecture Exhibition with the help of an international group of curators: Francesco Delogu, Emiliano Gandolfi, Casey Jones, Reed Kroloff and Saskia van Stein. Their work will form the basis also for a catalogue and a series of conferences and debates. The catalogue of the 11th Exhibition will be published by Marsilio. The official website is www.labiennale.org.

For further information
Architecture Press Office at la Biennale di Venezia
Tel. 041 - 5218846/849/716
Fax 041 - 2411407
e-mail infoarchitettura@labiennale.org;
www.labiennale.org