biennale 09.15.09

city form: history/culture

 
The first Biennale was held in 1895. Alternating years (art & film in odd years, architecture in even years) the Biennale has long been a reflection of cultural trends worldwide, not only in art, but in social and political issues as well. After a six-year break during World War II, the Biennale resumed in 1948 with renewed attention to avant-garde movements in contemporary art. Abstract expressionism was introduced in the 1950s, pop art in the 1960s. The protests of 1968 marked a crisis for the Biennale – more emphasis went to thematic exhibitions instead of monographic ones. The 1974 edition was entirely dedicated to Chile, as a major cultural protest against the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Some notable pavilions at Giardini:

Austria - Joseph Hoffman, 1934

Finland - Alvar Aalto, 1956

Venezuela - Carlo Scarpa, 1956

Book Shop - James Stirling, 1991