11th architecture Biennale in Venice

Monday September 15,
11th architecture Biennale opens in Venice

VENICE (AFP) - Canadian-American star architect Frank Gehry may hold top billing at the 11th Venice Biennale of architecture when he receives the Golden Lion award for his career later this week.

But the man behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is unlikely to eclipse new presentations offered up by the exhibition which opened Sunday morning in Italy.

Under this year's theme of "Out There: Architecture Beyond Building," around 20 teams of architects from around the world are displaying designs aimed at changing perceptions of their industry.

The exhibition's organisers deliberately chose an ambiguous title to encourage people to look differently at a building's purpose.

"Architecture is not about the building per se," said the event's director Aaron Betsky. Instead it is concerned with "the way we think or talk about it," he stated.

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