Climate, colonialism, clouds: The Architecture Biennale in Venice exercises optimism – and in the German pavilion also in recycling.
On one of the evenings before the opening of the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, there was a reception in honor of the curator. This year it’s Lesley Lokko, an architecture professor with both Ghanaian and Scottish family and cultural backgrounds. However, Lokko said goodbye early. Not that it wasn’t very atmospheric: magnificent palazzo, Grand Canal, even the liveried sparkling wine waiters must be described as worth seeing. It wasn’t because everyone else in the room was white, either. At least that’s not what Lokko said that evening, although earlier in the day she had said how strange it was to be consistently leading European architecture critics through an exhibition that was essentially about Africa. That evening, however, Lokko simply said goodbye to the bystanders, referring to tiredness and the need for sleep.