15. Mostra Internazionale di Architettura – Cile

The national representation will be presented in Venice between 28 May and 27 November 2016, with the exhibition “Against the tide (A contracorriente)”.
Against the tide will be a curated exhibition comprised of 15 architectural projects by students aiming to transform the everyday lives of people living in rural regions of Chile. The Pavilion of Chile at the Biennale Architettura 2016 is organized by the National Council of Culture and the Arts of Chile, through its Architecture Unit.

Highlighting the originality of the project, appreciating the realities of rural and decentralized Chile, the Chilean Minister of Culture, Ernesto Ottone, announced the curatorial proposal that will represent Chile at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

“We want to congratulate the architect and curator Juan Roman for winning first place in this competition with his curatorial project Against the tide and for having the opportunity to represent Chile at the Biennale Architettura 2016. This is a truly important event for our country as the renowned Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena was appointed Director of the Architecture Sector, with the specific responsibility for curating the 15th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Aravena won the Silver Lion at the Biennale Architettura 2008” said Minister Ottone. Against the Tide exhibits the work of a younger generation of architects who have conceived, financed, designed, and constructed small architectural projects in order to obtain their professional degree in architecture. These projects have been built with minimal means, with leftover resources from agricultural processes and local materials easily available in a rural environment. The pavilion will present fifteen projects chosen for the exhibition, examining the training of these architects, and the customs of an extraordinary territory in Chile, outside the urban centres. Against the Tide will speak to the contrary direction in which some things move, accenting the customs and landscape of a rural world of forestry and agriculture, aiming to improve people’s everyday lives through architecture.

Against the tide, involves a team comprised of José Luis Uribe, Andrea Griborio, Victor Letelier, Sebastián Preece, Cristina Paoli, Fernando Valenzuela and Héctor Labarca, and has been conceived in relation to the curatorial concept proposed by Aravena for his exhibition as Artistic Director of the Biennale Architettura 2016.

Aravena addresses the theme Reporting from the front, exploring the exemplary cases where architecture has helped people around the world win battles allowing them to have access to a better built environment and quality of life. “The curatorial proposal of the Chilean Pavilion presents answers developed by the academic team led by Juan Román and his students at the School of Architecture of Talca. Their essential work explores how architectural practices contribute to help people living in precarious conditions and dealing with issues of scarcity in the territory of rural southern central Chile. The Architecture Biennale will be an important platform to achieve international recognition”, added Minister Ottone. According to the jury that selected Juan Roman as the Curator, “the proposal focuses on the problem of the transformation of rural areas, associated with processes of agribusiness exploitation, and poses a critical look through the construction of a series of projects that relate to this new landscape”.

Exhibitors: Felipe Aranda, Ximena Cáceres, Claudio Castillo, Ximena Céspedes, Gabriel Garrido, Carolina Guerra, Juan Francisco Inostroza, Yasna Monsalve, Felipe Muñoz, Daniel Prieto, Javier Rodríguez, Jonnattan Silva, Carolina Solís, Tanya Vera, Cesar Verdugo.