AF Senior Curator to curate Polish pavilion at Venice

Poland's Minister of Culture and National Heritage has confirmed the appointment of Elias Redstone, Senior Curator at The Architecture Foundation, as curator of Poland's national pavilion for the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, taking place in Venice from 29 August to 21 November 2010.

Following the negative verdict that the Jury selecting this year's exhibition in the Polish Pavilion delivered with regard to the proposals received through open competition, Agnieszka Morawinska, the Commissioner of the Polish Pavilion and Director of the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, undertook to appoint a foreign curator. After consultation with architecture curators in Poland, the decision was taken to approach Elias Redstone on account of his work at The Architecture Foundation.

For the Polish Pavilion, Elias Redstone will invite an architect or a group of architects to design an installation that makes reference to the Euro 2012 Football Championship to be hosted in Poland and the Biennale theme set by 2010 Director Kazuyo Sejima, 'People meet in architecture'. The project will show how buildings and public spaces can be adapted to integrate sport and play into cities and public life. Redstone plans for a broad cooperation between diverse architects and artists in the process of making the exhibition and its catalogue.

The Architecture Foundation's latest international collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, and Golden Lion winning curator Grzegorz Piatek, is an exchange programme for emerging architects from Poland and the UK. Polish practices Beton, Aleksandra Wasilkowska and WWAA, and UK-based Common Office, dallaspierce+quintero and office for subversive architecture/KHBT will be participating in programmes in both countries in April and May 2010 including public talks in Warsaw (at the Museum of Modern Art) and London (at the Royal College of Art).

Image: the Polonia Pavilion in Venice, courtesy of the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw