The 20th Venice Architecture Biennale won’t begin until May 2027, but given the recent announcement of its curation team, Amateur Architecture of China, and our unbounded enthusiasm for discussing the Olympics of Architecture, Unfrozen is hosting a very early pregame episode. The theme is a mouthful, even by Biennale standards: “Do Architecture: For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality.” To break down what we know at this point, host a not-quite tailgate, though football (the one with the round balls and the one with the oblong balls) does come up, along with a healthy helping of inevitable geopolitics and some fun teasers.

Show Notes

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Intro/Outro: “Got to Do It,” by Andrew W.K.

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Discussed:

  • Amateur Architecture Studio: Wang Shu and Liu Wenyu
  • A surreal and uncanny live translation of the press announcement. Sample sentences, per AI:
  • “Then tell your ego can contribute to tie your to the total, one lie or toggle lie or drone gorgeous, so it will usually kind of boil in here.”
  • “So it a general fish on the Gita woman sound lion eating the Minion, and Villa means young Jewish show that comes in the currency.”
  • “Yes, we shall defund the pushes away, and the way this would come dark.”
  • Is this the China-max Biennale?
  • Marco Polo reference (visited Hangzhou in 1275)
  • Shades of Lacaton & Vassal, curators of the 2018 Biennale
  • Shades of, and throwing shade at, Mindfulness City from the 2025 edition
  • Complexity of taking on the US Pavilion responsibility in this timeline
  • The 2025 edition, PORCH: An Architecture of Generosity
  • Our somewhat lame attempt at Fantasy Biennale:
  • Post-warfare architecture / rebuilding schemes from Ukraine or Gaza?
  • One source of ideas: Constructing Hope: Ukraine | Chicago Architecture Center
  • Expected returnees:
  • Francis Kere
  • Lacaton & Vassal
  • Probably not Ma Yansong
  • Probably not Ai Weiwei
  • Question mark over Russia and Israel pavilions, which were unoccupied and closed for renovations, respectively, in 2025
  • The 2026 Art Biennale debacle
  • Death of curator Koyo Kuoh
  • No Golden Lions for nations accused of war crimes
  • Potential Greg- and Michèle Champagne-led activation: EU-CAN Alliance:
  • Greg: Classic OMA-AMO content, shitposting, that kind of thing. 
  • Michele: An alliance around new Bauhaus principles concerning housing.
  • Exclusive first right of refusal obtained for Mind Enterprises performance
  • Will the menagerie of pavilions make space for protest and dialogue around the more controversial entrants?
  • Sorkin’s take on the Rafi Segal-designed Israeli National Library and its cancellation
  • Austrian pavilion bridge to the adjoining neighborhood
  • Venezia FC
  • Closing of current arena on the Venetian lagoon, Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo
  • Opening of a new stadium in Mestre
  • Enter the Canadians:
  • Major investment from Drake
  • New management from Toronto FC
  • Giuseppe Saputo (Quebecois) owns Bologna FC
  • Flashback to episode 119, Paul Goldberger’s interview and comments on the politics of sports and their arenas
  • Como FC

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