Call for Curatorial Proposals: Philippine Participation at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale (2020)

Following the success of the Philippine Pavilion’s 2018 exhibition titled The City Who Had Two Navels, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Office of Congresswoman Loren Legarda, announces the OPEN CALL FOR CURATORIAL PROPOSALS for the Philippine participation at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, initiated by la Fondazione la Biennale di Venezia. The 17th Venice Architecture Biennale will be opened on May 23, 2020 and will run until November 29, 2020.

Only ONE proposal will be chosen and the selected curatorial proposal will be housed in the Arsenale, one of the main exhibition spaces for the Biennale. Said proposal will officially represent the Philippines in the global exhibition platform of contemporary architecture. La Biennale di Venezia has appointed Hashim Sarkis as its Artistic Director.

The call is open to Filipino citizens who are architects, curators, practising artists from the different disciplines, urban planners, ecological activists, geographers, historians and critics of space, heritage workers, and others, based locally or abroad, are encouraged to participate. The CALL is open to proposals by a single curator or by a team of two curators. The content of the proposal must include the following:  Title of the Exhibition; Curatorial Concept (800 -1,000 words only), proposed exhibition lay-out; CV of Proponent/s (please include 3 major sample works); CV of the Exhibitor/s (please include 3 major sample works); Budget (production of works only); production Timeline and contact information.

Qualifications of Proponent/s and Exhibitors are natural-born Filipino citizens and Filipinos with dual citizenship upon submission of application and have participated in at least one international contemporary exhibition or related projects or platforms.

The curator will have the following curatorial Responsibilities, namely:  determine the curatorial direction of the exhibition; manage the concretization of the curatorial proposal from the preparatory phase to the mounting of the exhibition in Venice; initiate a consultative process between and among exhibitor/s and the PAVB Coordinating Committee; supervise the exhibitor/s in realizing the curatorial concept; prepare the production schedule of the exhibition and manage its implementation; prepare content and collaborate with a designer for the exhibition catalogue and other printed materials of the exhibition; write exhibition notes and wall texts for the exhibition; prepare write-ups on the exhibition for the official La Biennale catalogue and for promotional purposes of the Philippine participation at the Venice Biennale; edit and write for the catalogue and other collateral materials; coordinate with the Philippine Arts Venice Biennale (PAVB) Coordinating Committee; officially represent the Philippines in all meetings, events and other activities related to the Architecture Biennale and propose collateral events for the Pavilion and help manage its/their implementation.

The open call proposal form may be downloaded from www.philartsvenicebiennale.com. Accomplished form and all documents should be emailed to [email protected], with subject heading “Curatorial Proposal, on or before August 8, 2019 (Philippine time). Late submissions will not be accepted. For more information, the Philippine Arts Biennale Coordinating Committee may be reached through telephone number (+632) 527 – 2175 and email address [email protected], or visit the website www.philartvenicebiennale.com.