Description

In response to the theme of the 2016 Venice Biennial, Portugal presented a site-specific pavilion occupying an urban front in the midst of physical and social regeneration on Giudecca, an archipelago just south of Venice. The pavilion exhibited four works by Pritzger Prize winner Álvaro Siza (born 1933) on the theme of social housing--Campo di Marte (Venice), Schilderswijk (The Hague), Schlesisches Tor (Berlin) and Bairro da Bouça (Porto)--revealing his collaborative experience with the local inhabitants and unique understanding of the European city and citizenship. These projects resulted in the creation of neighborhood spaces aimed at a more tolerant, multicultural society, a subject important to the current European political agenda. This book unveils the curatorial process and the display of these works in Venice. Included are images of Siza's recent visits to the neighborhoods, plus a presentation of the changes triggered by immigration, ghettoization, gentrification and "touristification."