Details on 2014 Venice Biennale Announced

It's been just over one year since Rem Koolhaas was selected as curator of the 2014 Venice Biennale, and since he formulated Fundamentals as the title of the exhibition. Finally, on March 11 at a press conference in London, Koolhaas expanded on the Biennale's theme and explained its three interlocking exhibitions: Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014, Elements of Architecture and Monditalia.

In Koolhaas's words:

The Biennale opens to the public on June 7, running until November 23. Given the 18-month lead-time that Koolhaas demanded for his first Biennale (though this was not the first time he was asked), he and Biennale chair Paolo Baratta are hoping that all of the national pavilions will respond to the Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014 theme. This would result in a more unified exhibition than is the norm, where countries have been free to respond or ignore the themes given to them only about six months ahead of the opening date. For the 2014 Biennale 65 countries will be participating, including 11 countries (Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, New Zealand, and Turkey) for the first time.

With Koohaas's role as curator, and the promise of a more unified, research-heavy exhibition, this is the most eagerly anticipated Biennale in recent memory. For sure, World-Architects is looking forward to the exhibition and its collateral events and will be reporting from Venice in early June.