The Board of Venice Biennale announced that architects Hashim Sarkis, dean of architecture and planning at MIT, has been appointed as the curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2020.  

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from 23 May to 29 November 2020 in Venice, Italy. 

Lebanese architect and author Hashim Sarkis is the principal architect of Hashim Sarkis Studios (HSS), he established his firm in 1998 with offices in Boston and Beirut, and he has been serving as the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2015. 

President Paolo Baratta stated: "we have appointed the Curator of the next Biennale Architettura 2020, within the timeframe needed for organizing the Exhibition and in respect of the norms which govern La Biennale."

"With Hashim Sarkis, La Biennale has provided itself with a Curator who is particularly aware of the topics and criticalities which the various contrasting realities of today's society pose for our living space," Baratta continued. 

He was member of the international jury of Biennale Architettura 2016, and participated with his firm in the Pavilion of the United States (Biennale Architettura 2014) and Albania (Biennale Architettura 2010). Sarkis earned a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture and a PhD in Architecture from Harvard University. 

He is the author and editor of several books and articles on modern architecture history and theory, including Josep Lluis Sert, The Architect of Urban Design (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008); Circa 1958, Lebanon in the Projects and Plans of Constantinos Doxiadis (Beirut: Dar Annahar, 2003); and Le Corbusier's Venice Hospital (Munich: Prestel, 2001).

"The world is putting new challenges in front of architecture," stated Sarkis. 

"I look forward to working with participating architects from around the world to imagine together how we are going to rise to these challenges. Thank you President Baratta and La Biennale di Venezia team for providing architecture this important platform. I am both honored and humbled," he added.

The Board also approved the dates of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition to be held from May 23rd to November 29th, 2020, with pre-opening May 21st and 22nd, and opening to the public on Saturday, May 23rd.

Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects were appointed as the curators of the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale and the exhibition was themed as "Freespace". The theme of the Freespace delved into "generosity of spirit" and focused on "architecture’s ability to provide free and additional spatial gifts to those who use it and on its ability to address the unspoken wishes of strangers," with their words. Here're some highlights from the exhibition.

Top image: Hashim Sarkis, image © Bryce Vickmark

> via Venice Biennale