Brazil’s official participation in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of Venice - La Biennale di Venezia, opening in May 2018, will be curated by the architects Gabriel Kozlowski, Laura González Fierro, Marcelo Maia Rosa and Sol Camacho. The group, selected by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, will present Muros de Ar [Walls of Air], an exhibition that explores the ways in which to read, challenge and transgress the material and immaterial boundaries of Brazil and its architecture.

“The theme considers the wall as an element of Brazilian architecture, culture and identity but sees in the act of breaching it an invitation to build a richer form of public sphere.” the architect-curators explain. “In this manner, it is set against the homogenization, intolerance and extremism that result from isolation and reclusion. It is a proposal that celebrates togetherness and not just coexistence.” The exhibition that will occupy the Brazilian Pavilion is a response by the curatorial committee of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, which in this edition proposes, under the title Freespace, a reflection on the spatial essence of architecture and its potential to mediate, through the use of empty space, the relationship between people and buildings.

Through this collective study, Muros de Ar proposes to reveal the forms of spatial and conceptual separation that have resulted from Brazil’s urbanization processes. In addition to questioning the different types of walls built on different scales in Brazil, the proposal is intended as a rethinking of architecture’s own disciplinary boundaries and its relation to other field of knowledge.

The Pavilion will present the curatorial proposal Muros de Ar [Walls of Air] on two exhibit design fronts. The first is a study conducted in partnership with a group of collaborators and institutions that will generate new content which will be represented as cartographic designs. The second is an open call for projects elaborated for Brazil, an unprecedented move for the Brazilian Pavilion. The call for projects will be announced at the end of December.

“In selecting the proposal Muros de Ar to represent Brazil at the International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo rearticulates, in an international sphere, some of the most current debates in Brazilian architecture, and reaffirms its commitment to the exchange of ideas and promotion of Brazilian culture,” says foundation president, João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz.

Since 1995, Brazil’s official participation in the Venice art and architecture biennials has been jointly organized by the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs – responsible for the promotion and dissemination of Brazilian culture nationally and internationally, and the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo – responsible for the choice of the curators and the organization of the exhibitions.

About the curators for Brazil's official participation in the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia:

Gabriel Kozlowski is an architect and graduate of PUC-Rio (2011), who also holds a master’s degree in urbanism from MIT (2015). He is currently a Teaching Fellow in the department of architecture at MIT and an associate researcher at the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. Previously, he has also headed projects at the SENSEable City Lab; conducted research for the US pavilion at the 14th Venice Biennale; and cofounded the collective ENTRE. Other professional recognition includes a Department of Architecture Graduate Fellowship at MIT (2013), award for the best master’s thesis from MIT (2015), a MIT-Brazil TVML Seed Fund recipient (2016), as well as being selected for the Buckminster Fuller Institute’s Catalyst Program (2017).

Laura González Fierro is an architect and graduate of the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México (2002), and holds a master’s in architecture from Columbia University GSAPP (2008). In 2010, she founded +ADD, which creates projects in Mexico City, São Paulo and New York in the fields architecture, urbanism, design and consulting. Her work has been published by Braun Publishing, LEAF Review, PIN-UP and other publications. She also founded the Experimental Distance Learning Laboratory (LED), a platform dedicated to multidisciplinary research on the built environment and urban dynamics.

Marcelo Maia Rosa is an architect and partner at Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados (2007), winner of the competition for the new IMPA-RJ headquarters (2015). He was responsible for coordinating work on the new museum of the Instituto Moreira Salles (2017), in São Paulo. Maia Rosa holds degrees in architecture and urbanism from Universidade Mackenzie in São Paulo and TU/e in Eindhoven (2005), with complementary courses from Université Paris Sorbonne (2012) and graduate studies at the Escola da Cidade (2017), where he currently teaches. He was curator in 2015 for the Global Shapers Community São Paulo hub, a World Economic Forum initiative.

Sol Camacho holds degrees in architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana and from Paris Val de Seine (2004), as well as a master’s in architecture and urbanism from Harvard University (2008). She founded RADDAR in São Paulo in 2011. She won a Lafarge Holcim Award (2017) for the project PIPA—a cultural and commercial hub in Paraisopolis where a RADDAR office is conducting research on the surroundings. Camacho was also a candidate for Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative (2016) and twice earned a FONCA research scholarship (2012, 2014). Today she is cultural director for Instituto Bardi / Casa de Vidro.

Brazil Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia

Commissioner: João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz, President of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Curators: Gabriel Kozlowski, Laura González Fierro, Marcelo Maia Rosa and Sol Camacho
Title of exhibition: Muros de ar [Walls of Air]
Location: Brazil Pavilion
Address: Giardini Castello, Padiglione Brasile, 30122 Venice, Italy
Date: May 26 to November 25, 2018