VENICE / BELGRADE (SEEcult.org) - Serbia is presenting at the 11th Venice Architecture Biennial with the project “Wonlich” (cosy), which is opened on September 13 by Serbian Assistant Minister of Culture Branislav Dimitrijevic, and is not an exhibition only, but also the theoretical assumptions and the idea of how to treat the topic of cosiness.

Related link: http://www.labiennale.org

Serbia’s pavilion in Venice’s Giardini is turned into a room in which visitors will feel comfortable. The entire space has a soft floor, an ideal temperature, light animation which is reflected from the ceiling to the floor, where visitors are able to sit, lie down and if they wish, watch on tiny screens 20-30 works on the theme of cosiness.

The project was chosen as best entrant in a public competition, and gathers many young architects and students of architecture who are presenting new ideas and trends in Serbia.

Commissioner of the Serbian Pavilion is Milenko Nikic, and curators are Ljiljana Blagojevic, Dragana Vasiljevic Tomic, Vladimir Milenkovic, Mariela Cvetic and Tatjana Stratimirovic.

The 11th International Architecture Exhibition, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building, runs in Venice through November 23, and is directed by Aaron Betsky.

According to Betsky, who was six years director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) in Rotterdam, and is director of the Cincinnati Art Museum since last year, the 11th Architecture Exhibition turns to architecture beyond building to address the central issues of our society. Instead of buildings, it will present installations made by architects who have responded to the impulse offered by Betsky and accepted his challenge.

Compared to previous years, the 11th Architecture Exhibition has registered an increase in the number of participations, especially in the Architecture section: there are 56 national participations, 30 at the Giardini, 13 at the Arsenale, 13 exhibitions planned throughout the city by countries that have been officially invited by La Biennale. In addition there is one 1 Special Event of the City of Milan and 24 Collateral Events, twice as many as in the previous editions, that will organize exhibitions and initiatives in Venice during the Exhibition.

In the Arsenale venue, visitors can see 23 Installations, whereas in the Padiglione Italia at Giardini they can discover the experimental work of 55 international firms and a survey of the Masters of the Experiment.

The Golden Lion for the Best National Participation went to Poland (Pavilion at Giardini), for “Hotel Polonia. The Afterlife of Buildings” project, while the Golden Lion for the Best Installation Project in the International Exhibition is awarded to Greg Lynn Form (USA) for “Recycled Toys Furniture”

Silver Lion for a Promising Young Architect in the International Exhibition went to Chilean group Elemental.

At the Awards and Opening Ceremony, held on September 13th the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded to Frank O. Gehry, while Special Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to a historian of Architecture went to James S. Ackerman on the Fifth Centennial of the birth of Andrea Palladio.

Golden Lions attributed by the Board of the Venice Biennale Foundation, chaired by Paolo Baratta, and on the proposal of the director Betsky.