Faro will host a meeting this year within the framework of Venice’s 2023 Architecture Biennale, which takes place in the Italian city from May to November.
This initiative comes as Faro and two other Portuguese municipalities are supporting the «FERTILE FUTURES», a project presented by curator Andreia Garcia (Architectural Affairs). Garcia is the winner of the competition promoted by the DGArtes (Directorate General for the Arts) with a view of Portugal’s participation in the next Venice Architecture Biennale.
In addition to boosting Portugal’s participation in Venice, Faro will host a meeting bringing to the Algarve ideas and concepts that will be part of the exhibition installed at the Franchetti Palace, the Portuguese representation’s official headquarters in Venice.
The «FERTILE FUTURES» project will address the importance and contribution of Architecture to a future where sustainability concepts will be increasingly present for populations and territories. Decarbonization will be in focus, a highly relevant topic given the extreme weather events we are experiencing with greater regularity and intensity.
The project includes seven distinct hydrogeographies deeply marked by human action. These hydrogeographies were commissioned by young architects, including Filipe Paixão from the «Corpo Atelier», and will give rise to the presentation of propositional models for a more sustainable future.
«Corpo Atelier», located in Faro, founded by architect Filipe Paixão, is one of the ateliers of the consortium that will be presented in Venice at the Biennale, whose theme this year will be «The Laboratory of the Future», curated by Lesley Lokko.
«This is an enormous honour and responsibility to address environmental and social issues in this specific context on behalf of the Algarve. The pertinence and topicality of these themes, proposed by Andreia Garcia and the coordination team, represent an opportunity for us to assess and rethink the role of architecture in the current environmental context», said Filipe Paixão, who also praised «the undeniable support Faro City Council has shown from the outset».
For Rogério Bacalhau, Mayor of Faro, this is a recognition of the high-quality architectural work carried out in Faro for the world. «This participation will bring leading architects and specialists to Faro who […] will contribute to an inevitable theme for the new generations’ future».
In its eighteenth edition, the Venice Architecture Biennale is one of the most prominent architectural events in the world, where fifty countries’ representations are showcased and visited by hundreds of thousands of people.
