August, 2012 – (VENICE)
The Russian Pavilion of the 2012 Venice Biennale "Biennale Architettura 2012 - Common Ground - Venezia", will feature the Innovation City "Skolkovo", providing architectural solutions inspired by the great potential of advanced information technology. The two floors of the Russian pavilion, built almost 100 years ago by the project of A.B.Shusev, will divide the exhibition in half. The first floor will display a history of Soviet science cities, while the second floor features the Innovation City, Skolkovo itself.
Thirty winners of the residential quarters competition's first round will be presented, which includes SALTANS ARCHITECTS_INTL., LTD design along with detailed information on the top ten finalists. Skolkovo is one of the largest, most innovative Russian projects today and comprises design work by many international architects, including Biennale director David Chipperfield. The exhibition will allow visitors to enter into the world of Innovation City and use the newest IT-technologies to contribute to the research.
Grigory Revzin, commissioner of the pavilion, stated: “Skolkovo is a high-tech project, it’s all about innovation, about new levels of living, about how science and modern technologies come into human’s life. That is why our exposition is an exceptional one this year. We have created a space that is physical and virtual at the same time.” General planners of Skolkovo, architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov of SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov have been asked to curate the event. The opening ceremony will be August 27, 2012.
The highly influential, international "2012 Biennale di Venezia" will open to the public August 29th until November 25th 2012, at the Giardini della Biennale and at the Arsenale. The Preview will take place on August 27th and 28th, the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on August 29th, 2012. The Exhibition will be complemented by 55 National Participations organized in the Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city of Venice. In addition, the Biennale will organize a rich program of Conversations about the Architecture, meetings dedicated to themes, scenarios and specific architects, scheduled for the months of October and November.