The International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2021 closes with over 300,000 visitators

Sunday 21 November 2021, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia closed with a total of 298,600 visitors, plus the 6,000 visitors during the preview, thereby exceeding the numbers of the 2018 edition

Despite the particularity of this year which imposed so many restrictions on the school system and on national and international universities, young people under the age of 26 represented 32% of the total visitors. 18,614 visitors took the guided tours (+9% compared to 2018), of which 7,125 joined the pre-scheduled tours (+214% compared to 2018).

Roberto Cicutto

The President of La Biennale Roberto Cicutto commented the results as follows: “It’s too easy and too obvious to say that we are satisfied with the success of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition. We have too often repeated that we are proud to have been able to put it together with the collaboration of everyone involved (local and national authorities, the Curator and La Biennale di Venezia’s team, as well as the participants and the public) in times as hard as those imposed by the pandemic. It is easy and obvious but essential to repeat it because underlying it all is something very deep, that reaches beyond the analysis of the numbers and the appreciation for the content of the Exhibition. The majority of the visitors were Italian (among them many from Venice and its surroundings), and a significant number of visitors were able to travel to Venice by land from the countries closest to Italy. Many were the families, young men and women, professionals of every age who came to visit the Exhibition having organized a trip to Venice. This is a new endowment of women and men whom we must convince to keep this engagement with La Biennale di Venezia and perhaps extend it to the other events and festivals (Art, Cinema, Dance, Theatre and Music)”.

Hashim Sarkis

The Curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021 Hashim Sarkis on his part stated: “The 17th International Architecture Exhibition has just closed. But it is way too soon to assess its impact, whether on the discourse of architecture or on the trajectory of ideas and practices to come. Give it at least until the next Biennale! Words and images have their own ways of traveling and they often arrive before we attribute meaning or value to them. They seduce us, they create desire and then they find a way to latch on to meaning, to a certain spirit of the time, and they become the illustrations of this spirit. These, our nascent times, are looking for images, and they are also looking for a spirit. Let us hope that the projects of the Biennale Architettura 2021 will generate such imagery, but let us give ourselves time before we can say more about them and before they can say more about us. The global uncertainties have only made this Biennale stronger, and they have helped give the question How will we live together? more relevance and urgency, even if with a bit of irony. The pandemic was a year lost but it was also a year gained, because it allowed us more time to think and collaborate.”

The Exhibition in numbers

114 Architects invited to the International Exhibition
12 Projects Co-Habitats section (out of competition)
11 Projects Stations section (out of competition)
4 Special Participations (out of competition):Vuslat Foundation; Frontispiece: CULTURE- C1; Collective Exhibition: Future Assembly; Sport Platform
1 Special Project: Pavilion of Applied Arts in collaboration with Victoria and Albert Museum, London
11 Meetings on Architecture – Expanded Programme
60 National Participations
       27 National Participations in the historical Pavilions of Giardini
       23 National Participations in the Arsenale, including Italy
       10 National Participations around the city of Venice
       3 National Participations for the first time: Grenada, Iraq, Republic of Uzbekistan
17 Collateral Events