The organizing committee of Seoul Biennale of Architecture And Urbanism has announced that the official opening of Seoul Biennale of Architecture And Urbanism 2021 (SBAU2021) will be held online with online talks and ceremonies on September 16-17 via the SBAU's Youtube channel and website.

Themed as "CROSSROADS Building the Resilient City", this year's Seoul Biennale of Architecture And Urbanism is directed by French architect and urban planner Dominique Perrault, founder and principal of Dominique Perrault Architecture.

Although the Seoul Biennale will present six exhibitions, as well as numerous related events and conferences, the physical opening of SBAU2021 will be held in the absence of the Director Dominique Perrault due to the ongoing health situations in Korea. 

Perrault's office stated that since Dominique Perrault will not able to travel to Korea for the opening of the Biennale, he will participate in online talks and the grand opening on September 16-17, 2021. Perrault plans to attend to the closing of the exhibitions at the end of October.

Dominique Perrault. Image © Alexandre Tabaste

The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021 strongly aims to creates an importance of dialogue and the creative force of interactions, as a nourishing ground for architectural design and urban planning.

Hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Biennale will be held from September 16th to October 31th, 2021, in three exhibition venues: the Seoul Hall of Urbanism & Architecture (SHUA), Sewoon Plaza and the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), an emblematic building in the city of Seoul, built by Zaha Hadid Architects. 

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021 will hold its main exhibition at Gongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP). Image © Kyungsub Shin Studio

Placed under the sign of resilience, the Seoul Biennale will open up a thinking in action on the city of the future. 

The Biennale intends to create a strong link between architecture and urban planning, the Seoul Biennale offers a platform for exchange and enhancement of projects and research, presented by renowned architects as well as young emerging talents. 

This third edition will bring together nearly 200 participants, 40 universities and a hundred cities from around the world.

The Biennale will be divided into five sections, each corresponding to an exhibition, associated with events and meetings, via on-site or online conferences.

The five sections are composed of: Crossroad 1 on urbanism: ABOVE/BELOW, Crossroad 2 on architecture: HERITAGE / MODERN, Crossroad 3 on design: CRAFT / DIGITAL, Crossroad 4 on landscape: NATURAL / ARTIFICIAL and Crossroad 5 on the city: SAFE / RISK.

Image © Dominique Perrault Architecte/adagp

The opening ceremony will be held on September 16th, 2021 at 17:00 (online, Seoul time). 

The opening forum is the first academic event of the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. It is a platform for international discussion about the future of cities. The opening forum is comprised of the "curators talk" and the "Grand opening talk".

Curators talk will be held on September 17th, 2021 at 13:00 - 14:30 (online forum, Seoul time). During the curators talk, each curator of the six exhibitions that make up the Seoul Biennale will discuss in depth the contents of their respective exhibitions.

Panelist include Dominique Perrault, archiworkshop (Hee-Jun Sim, Su-Jeong Park), Choon Choi, Bare (Jin hong Jeon, Yunhee choi), fhhh friends (Hanjin Yoon, Seungjae Han, Yangkyu Han).

Grand opening talk will be held on September 17th, 2021 at 17:00 - 18:30 (online forum, Seoul time). The Grand opening talk deals with the biennale’s theme, “crossroads, building the resilient city” to discuss timely issues related to urban resilience in the face of large-scale crises, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Panelists include Dominique Perrault, Thomas Vonier (President of UIA), Farrokh Derakhshani (Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture), Seunghoy Kim (Professor, Seoul National University), John hong (Professor, Seoul National University), Haewon Shin (Founder, lokaldesign), Benedetta Tagliabue (Head architect, EMBT).

Image courtesy of SBAU2021

"We imagined everything but, while we hoped to enjoy a lull in the spread of the virus, nothing happened as expected, preventing most of you to attend the Seoul Biennale event. However, despite the sanitary crisis and the Covid level restrictions in Korea, the 2021 edition of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism will still take place," Dominique Perrault said in his letter. 

"Building the Resilient City means being anchored in the world, not the world of tomorrow but the world of today. In the resilient city, everything must be resilient, even the events." 

"Our strength of imagination and conviction allows us to respond in real-time and adapt to all situations. We are resilient because we are constantly alert," Perrault added.

Exhibitions. Image © Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021

Perrault added that "The robustness of the exhibition concept, based on contributions designed with he same plot, has prevailed over the hazards. This exhibition design endures all circumstances and accepts all adaptations." 

Image courtesy of SBAU2021

"Like a cloud of pixels, the 4 meters diameter circles are composed and recomposed according to the narrative of the themes forming the path of the collective exhibition."

"A new opening formula is already in place to launch the Biennale, with online ceremonies and round tables. In parallel, the two hundred contributions of architects, urban planners, landscape architects, designers and artists and those of more than one hundred invited cities will be installed in the exhibition. Those who are in Seoul will be able to visit the three sites of the Biennale."

"We are not giving up on anything and we are not letting go, on the contrary," he added.

SBAU2021 will take place physically in Seoul from September 16th to October 31st, 2021.

Top image courtesy of SBAU2021.

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