Our participation in Future Architecture Platform's European network continues to bear fruit

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We visited Ljubljana for the Matchmaking Conference to choose five of the proposals shortlisted from Future Architecture Platform’s open call.

Once again, we've measured the pulse of emerging creativity within a wider European context, also encompassing territories beyond the EU area, such as Balkan countries. Between 13 and 15 February 2019, the Triennale got to know the proposals that gathered the most votes from Future Architecture Platform’s members. Among the shortlisted, we chose five projects to be part of the programme of Triennale 2019, under the participatory component carried out by our Educational Service.

It all started with a new Open Call for Ideas that took place between November 2018 and January 2019, the fourth launched by the Future Architecture Platform, a European structure composed of 21 members — from museums and festivals to agents and cultural operators — based in 16 countries, created to bring audiences closer to architecture. Every year, the platform funded by the EU and created in 2015 — with the Triennale being a member since that date — asks emerging authors to submit proposals of ideas for the future of architecture. With a multidisciplinary scope, the 2019 call invited professionals from all over the world to submit proposals that addressed systemic changes, practical problems and new areas of operation beyond existing frameworks. Proposals could consist of finished projects or in their conceptual or theoretical aspects, with ideas that reflected upon spatial, social and cultural innovations. An invitation made to professionals working within the fields of architecture, urban planning and all those whose work fits the subjects covered.

The platform received 357 applications from 60 different countries, confirming its democratically and geographically inclusive character. For the Matchmaking Conference, 25 finalists were selected through a scoring system: eighteen were chosen by the members of the platform, three by the students that participated in previous editions and one through public voting. The remaining three were the winners of the Young Talent Architecture Award. MAO – Museum of Architecture and Design (Ljubljana), one of the most important museums dedicated to architecture and design in Eastern Europe, hosted the meeting. The three days gathered interested parties and professionals from the fields of architecture and design, the ideal setting for networking between peers, authors and cultural operators.

The proposals reflected the words of Giovanna Borasi, chief curator of CCA – Canadian Centre for Architecture, as she looked back at the previous year when she mentioned that the work of young thinkers should not simply adapt to circumstances but should look at where others don't. As members of this platform, we were able to get to know from the inside the ideas and quality of the finalists' work, selecting five which best fitted the participatory activities we intended to develop. This time around, the invitation was for the design of an educational programme geared towards university students and adults.

The ideas and projects that sparked our interest, and that we came to select — F.A.T. – Forum for Architecture Theory (CH), Julio Gotor Valcárcel (ES), Klodiana Millona (AL), Lodovica Guarnieri (IT) and Traumnovelle (BE) — can be seen through the previous links. These young creatives are focusing specifically and respectively on each of the central exhibitions of the 5th edition. For that purpose, participants were given a 5-day residency that took place in our headquarters, between 15 and 20 May 2019. The fruits of this mediation programme provided by our Educational Service will be harvested soon, on the occasion of The Poetics of Reason.