Venice's Architecture Biennale focuses on co-existence in post-Covid world

The event, formally known as the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia, opened on Saturday and will run through November 21, featuring over 60 national pavilions and 17 separate collateral events, reports Xinhua news agency. 

The architecture Biennale was originally scheduled to take place last year, but it was delayed because of the pandemic. 

According to Italian writer and art historian Matteo Altomare, an appearance at the Venice Biennale is a feature in the cap of any artist or architect. 

"The Biennale is one of the world's greatest showcases for creativity in any field, whether art, architecture, cinema, dance, theatre, or many other areas," Altomare told Xinhua. 

"What is so wonderful about it is that it is so eclectic in terms of the styles and cultures represented and yet it is always relevant." 

That relevance is particularly on display with this year's theme, a nod to the post-pandemic world coming at a time when many parts of the world are putting the worst of the pandemic behind them. 

"In the context of the acute political divisions and growing economic inequalities, we asked architects to imagine spaces in which we can live generously together," Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and curator of this year's International Architecture Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia said ahead of the opening of the event.