Ibrahim Mahama, artistic director of this year’s 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts is participating in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2023

Ibrahim Mahama, artistic director of this year’s 35th Ljubljana Biennale of Graphic Arts entitled From the void came the gifts of the cosmos is participating in the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2023, the world’s most important architecture showcase. This year, the main exhibition is entitled The Laboratory of the Future and is curated by Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator and writer Lesley Lokko, who said in a statement: “In architecture particularly, the dominant voice has historically been a singular, exclusive voice, whose reach and power ignores huge swathes of humanity — financially, creatively, conceptually — as though we have been listening and speaking in one tongue only”. In an effort to move away from such one-sided perceptions, Lokko has, among other things, placed the focus of the exhibition off-centre, into Africa, as “we are not only talking about Africa – we use it as a place in order to try and understand everything everywhere”. The curator has also invited Mahama, a versatile artist whose art practice draws heavily on (public) architecture, to participate in The Laboratory of the Future. Among his most distinctive projects are his monumental installations, in which he covers existing architectural objects with textile materials. Through this layering process, he gives buildings a new form, redirecting them from their original contexts and giving them new meanings. The Venice Biennale of Architecture opens on Saturday, 20 May and will be on view until 26 November 2023.