The 59th Venice Biennale will take place in 2022 following the decision by biennial officials to postpone the Architecture Biennale until May 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The world’s most prestigious biennial was initially due to take place next year.
The move means that the art calendar is in flux again with the art biennial, overseen by the Italian curator Cecilia Alemani, now scheduled to take place 23 April to 27 November 2022. Other major events planned for summer 2022 include Documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany (18 June-25 September) and the Lyon Biennale (September).
“The decision to postpone the Biennale Architettura to May 2021 is an acknowledgment that it is impossible to move forward within the set time limits in the realisation of such a complex and worldwide exhibition, due to the persistence of a series of objective difficulties caused by the effects [of] the health emergency underway,” says a biennial statement.
Biennial officials initially announced in March that the architecture biennial would be postponed from 29 August this year until 29 November. It will now run from 22 May to 21 November 2021.
Held across the city's Giardini and Arsenale sites, the 17th edition of the International Architecture Exhibition, entitled How Will We Live Together?, is curated by the Lebanese architect Hashim Sarkis. Sixty-five countries are due to take part.
