The theme Sarkis, who also happens to be the Dean of MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning, posited as the foundation for the exhibit inspired an incredible range of responses in the architects that participated. The Venice Biennale was supposed to happen last year, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Instead, it happened after the 2020 election and the defeat of Donald J. Trump (yes folks, he lost the election). The worldwide COVID19 crisis is now the subtle and not so subtle catalyst to how we re-think public space and our social dynamics and one could argue that it’s not just a biological pandemic, but a mental pandemic as well. The global climate crisis, radical political polarization, declining ideas about “failed nation states” ranging from Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, or North Korea, and above all the deep unease underlying the uncertainties of our time.

Add it all up and you have an intriguing premise for a contemporary architecture biennale. Oscar Wilde once said “if Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture.” The Sarkis curated Biennale reverse engineers that idea to put a world where the Biennale can be a place where ideas generate new forms and make us uncomfortable with the uncanny and myriad ways humans have impacted the world around us. It's a must see if you are in Venice.