Portugal at the 2018 La Biennale di Venezia Public Without Rhetoric

Portugal will be represented in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with its project in Palazzo Giustinian Lolin. Called “Public Without Rhetoric” and curated by Nuno Brandão Costa and Sérgio Mah, it explores the importance of public buildings for civil progress.


“Public Without Rhetoric” is the response of the curators - Nuno Brandão Costa and Sérgio Mah - to the “Freespace” theme chosen by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. This theme underlines how closely State investment in accessible, quality public space is directly related to the rise of a democratic, cultured and inclusive society.
Portugal is showcasing a tour of the “Public Building” on the main floor in Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, near Piazza San Marco. Its representation includes a collection of drawings, models and photographs of the 12 selected projects that include temporary structures, buildings or infrastructures dedicated to culture, education, sport and mobility. This is the work of several different generations of Portuguese architects, born between the 1930s and 1980s and built in the last ten years. The diversity of programmes and scales in this exhibition are used to reveal the universal culture and cross-generation excellence of these Portuguese architects.
The twelve works are the output of the public works completed since 2007 commissioned by State, Regional and Local institutions. A video installation at the entrance rounds out the exhibition and is composed of films created by four contemporary artists. The contribution even includes a project from outside Portugal - the Naples Metro, Municipio Station, by Álvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto Moura and Tiago Figueiredo.
Public Without Rhetoric lays the formal foundation for a reflection on architecture in the public space as another contribution to the idea of “Freespace”, the core theme of the 2018 architecture exhibition in Venice. Because “Public buildings such as cultural, educational and sports facilities and infrastructures”, as the curators point out, “belong to the idea of evolution and progressivity as regards social opportunities. They in fact simultaneously reconstruct and rehabilitate the city and renew public space in terms of quality and culture.”
Something these Portuguese architects have interpreted most elegantly and “without rhetoric”.

Christiane Bürklein

Public Without Rhetoric 
Portugal's representation at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
26 May to 25 November 2018
Palazzo Giustinian Lolin - S. Marco 2893, Venice
Curators: Nuno Brandão Costa and Sérgio Mah
Organisation: Ministry of Culture of Portugal 
Commissioner: Directorate-General for the Arts
Images: 
Architects involved:
Aires Mateus e Associados (Manuel Mateus and Francisco Mateus) 
Álvaro Siza 
Barbas Lopes Arquitectos (Patrícia Barbas and Diogo Seixas Lopes) 
Carlos Prata 
depA (Carlos Azevedo, João Crisóstomo and Luís Sobral) 
Diogo Aguiar Studio 
Eduardo Souto de Moura 
FAHR 021.3 (Filipa Frois Almeida and Hugo Reis) 
Fala Atelier (Ana Luísa Soares, Filipe Magalhães and Ahmed Belkhodja) 
Gonçalo Byrne
Inês Lobo
João Luís Carrilho da Graça 
João Mendes Ribeiro 
Menos é Mais (Cristina Guedes and Francisco Vieira de Campos) 
Miguel Figueira 
Ottotto (Teresa Otto) 
Ricardo Bak Gordon 
SAMI (Miguel Vieira and Inês Vieira da Silva) 
Serôdio Furtado Associados (João Pedro Serôdio and Isabel Furtado) 
Tiago Figueiredo