"Do Architecture": Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu Announce Theme and Title for 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale

The 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2027 will run from May 8 to November 21 across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Venice. The curatorial theme is “Do Architecture - For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality.” The direction draws on the work of Amateur Architecture Studio, founded in 1997 by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu. Their projects emphasize reuse of salvaged materials, regional construction techniques, and continuity between historic and contemporary building forms. The framework responds to instability and disconnection in contemporary society, where architecture can become detached from the environments and communities it serves. It calls for approaches grounded in material processes, social continuity, and long-term responsibility rather than commercialization, speed, and image-driven production.

"The curatorial direction reflects many of the ideas developed through the work of Amateur Architecture Studio, founded by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu in 1997. Their projects have consistently explored the reuse of salvaged materials, regional construction techniques, and the continuity between historic and contemporary forms of building. Across both urban and rural contexts, the studio's work often emphasizes craft traditions, collective memory, and the spatial qualities embedded within everyday environments."

"In outlining the curatorial framework, the architects described contemporary society as increasingly characterized by instability and disconnection, suggesting that architecture has, in many cases, become distanced from the environments and communities it is intended to serve. Their proposal calls attention to the growing influence of commercialization, speed, and image-driven production within the discipline, while advocating for approaches more closely tied to material processes, social continuity, and long-term responsibility."

"Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, curators of the 20th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, have unveiled the first details of the highly anticipated 2027 edition. Titled “Do Architecture - For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality,” the exhibition will take place from May 8 to November 21, 2027, across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and throughout Venice."

"Established in 1997, Amateur Architecture Studio has developed a body of work rooted in collective memory, manual construction techniques, and the adaptive reuse of traditional materials. Parallel to their practice, Wang and Lu have played a pivotal role in architectural education in China, founding the Department of Architecture at the China Academy of Art in 2003 and later establishing the School of Architecture in 2007."

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