«Svizzera 240: House Tour»: The exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion opens tomorrow

On Friday, 25 May 2018, the President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset will open the exhibition to be shown at the Swiss Pavilion during the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Following a public competition, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has commissioned Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara to mount this year’s exhibition with their project «Svizzera 240: House Tour».

The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, which is responsible for the Swiss contribution to the Venice Biennale, has commissioned a young team of ETH architects, Alessandro Bosshard, Li Tavor, Matthew van der Ploeg and Ani Vihervaara, to stage the 2018 exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion. For the first time, this year’s participation is the outcome of a public competition. «Svizzera 240: House Tour» involves both research and reflections on playing with standards. «This year’s contribution to the Swiss Pavilion», as Philippe Bischof, Director of Pro Helvetia, emphasises, answers one of the most important questions of our time: Which norms and values are involved in defining the human habitat?»

The President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset will officially open the Swiss Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition on Friday afternoon in the Giardini of the Biennale, in the presence of numerous personalities from the fields of architecture, art, diplomacy and international politics. The International Architecture Exhibition, an essential point of reference worldwide, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the lagoon every year. This year, 63 national contributions can be discovered in the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in Venice’s historical centre.

Parallel to the exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion, Pro Helvetia is organising the «Salon Suisse» a series of meetings dedicated to contemporary architecture, at the Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi. The four events will be held until the end of the Biennale, on 25 November 2018, in May, September, October and November. The programme for this seventh edition of the «Salon Suisse» entitled «En marge de l’architecture: Encounters beyond the discipline», has been drawn up by Marcel Bächtiger, Tim Kammasch, Stanislas Zimmermann and Laura Tinti. The four meetings will provide opportunities to rethink architecture through the eyes of philosophers, anthropologists, engineers, musicians and writers.

Entitled «FREESPACE», the international exhibition is curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara. Pro Helvetia is also supporting the presentation of works by several Swiss architects: Gion A. Caminada (Vrin-Cons), Miller & Maranta (Basel), Angela Deuber Architect (Chur), Aurelio Galfetti (Lugano and Bellinzona), BEARTH & DEPLAZES ARCHITEKTEN (Chur and Zurich), Elisabeth & Martin Boesch architects (Zurich), Mario Botta Architetti (Mendrisio), Michele Arnaboldi Architetti (Locarno), Riccardo Blumer (Casciago – Varese, Italy), Sergison Bates architects (London and Zurich), VALERIO OLGIATI (Flims), Atelier Peter Zumthor (Haldenstein), burkhalter sumi architekten (Zurich) will be among the 71 architects exhibited at the Arsenale.

Press contact:
Marlène Mauris, Communications, Pro Helvetia
Tel. +41 44 267 71 36, mmauris@prohelvetia.ch
Additional information and images: www.biennials.ch.

The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Press Release, 24 May 2018