Venice Biennale 2008? Aaron Betsky? Zaha? Frank? Diller?………
NO
I guess that Aaron was about 8 months ago sitting in his office at Cincinnati, thinking about the next biennale, having only a couple of months to make a proposal for the organization as the selected curator.
- “Should be something artistic”
- “Something more than architecture”
- “Something that suggests something”
ARCHITECTURE BEYOND BUILDINGS!
- “Every architect presents an installation, no more exhibition about past projects and models”
Voilá!
” As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures by a person or a machine, primarily to provide socially purposeful shelter. “ (Wikipedia)
What happens when these structures are not physical?
I am sure that Aaron did not think about the immigration measures taken by Europe about 1 and a half years ago trying to stop the massive occupation of Latin-Americans and Africans to the “old world”. I guess that in his mind where artists, naked people and perfect gardens of Eden covering “ugly” spaces. But my friends, architecture beyond buildings in something else…
I am talking with first-hand information: one week ago I was expecting the visit of my friend and business-partner Jose Angel (Mechanical Engineer, Venezuelan) from Caracas to Barcelona, mainly to introduce him into the Fab Lab environment as a potential leader of the Fab Lab Venezuela project. I was at my workplace and I received a call: he is in the returned room at Prat Airport in Barcelona. ???
- He is a professional
- He works at the Venezuelan railroad’s company (IAFE)
- He came before to Spain have a course about trains and railroads with the Spanish government (the offered him to stay, he went back to Venezuela)
Basically, if you are Venezuelan and you want to come to Spain you need an “Invitation Letter” from someone Spanish or resident that could take responsibility for your behavior and expenses in Spain. If you don´t have that one and you just want to travel you need to justify every night and day with economic facts: all hotels paid, 60 euros per day in cash, credit cards do not apply.
- He had the money to stay
- He had a hotel reservation for 3 out of 14 days (he would stay at my place)
The best part is that the decision of letting you “in” or not is due to the officer at that moment, so it could happen that someone without any money in cash could pass the border and “enter” (as if people without money could not have the right to travel).
Europe wants to be a huge building(?), it seems, creating this WALL with the non convenient countries (as if Latin Americans were not taking the jobs that European people do not want to do anymore, or as if the population level would be maintained with people that are not having babies, just to mention something).
I was sitting there, outside the police office at the airport, talking by phone with my friend that was 5 meters from me but at the same time, he was 8.000 km away…
Aaron is in Cincinnati, maybe preparing things to move to New York…