copyright Manfredi Bellati
The Curator – Aaron Betsky: Biennale Architettura – 11th International Architecture Exhibition – OUT THERE : ARCHITECTURE BEYOND BUILDING. Phillip Rylands, director of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, chats to the Biennale’s curator, Aaron Betsky outside the American Pavilion. According to Aaron Betsky – for six years director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, one of the most prestigious museums and architecture centers in the world, and Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum since last year – the 11th Architecture Exhibition, until November 23rd, 2008, turns to architecture beyond building to address the central issues of our society. Instead of buildings, it will present installations made by architects who have responded to the impulse offered by Betsky and accepted his challenge. This challenge reverberates onto us, encourages our capacity for interpretation, and relies on emotion to give us the chance to make sense of the world and feel at home in it. Betsky points out “what should be an obvious fact: architecture is not building. Architecture must go beyond buildings because buildings are not enough. They are big and wasteful accumulations of natural resources that are difficult to adapt to the continually changing conditions of modern life”.