The Italian-Brazilian architect, designer, set designer, artist and critic Achillina di Enrico Bo (1914-1992), one of the leading figures in contemporary architecture after World War II and known as Lina Bo Bardi, is recognized almost thirty years later of her death with the Prize for professional trajectory in memoriam at the next edition of the XVII Venice Architecture Biennale, which will open its doors to the public, one year late, from May 22 to November 21 of this year.

The 17th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, will have as its theme: How will we live together?, a concept that has become more relevant after starting COVID-19 pandemic.
The figure of Lina Bo Bardi was proposed by Hashim Sarkis, current curator of the Biennale Architettura 2021, and approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia.

According to the statement made by Hashim Sarkis:
 
"If there is one architect who embodies most fittingly the theme of the Biennale Architettura 2021, it is Lina Bo Bardi. Her career as a designer, editor, curator, and activist reminds us of the role of the architect as convener and importantly, as the builder of collective visions. Lina Bo Bardi also exemplifies the perseverance of the architect in difficult times whether wars, political strife, or immigration, and her ability to remain creative, generous, and optimistic throughout [...]

Above all, it is her powerful buildings that stand out in their design and in the way that they bring architecture, nature, living, and community together. In her hands, architecture becomes truly a convening social art."

Born in Rome in 1914, as Lina Achillina Bo (Lina Bo Bardi). Although she studied architecture at the University of Rome, her special poetic world began with the incessant creation of drawings since she was a child that would accompany her throughout her life. After obtaining the title of architect she moved to Milan. Following the destruction of her office during World War II, Bo Bardi, together with Bruno Zevi, founded the publication A Cultura Della Vita. As a member of the Italian Communist Party, she met the critic and art historian Pietro Maria Bardi, with whom she would move to Brazil, given the sad panorama that the war left in Italy.

In Brazil, her proposals, ideas, and her architecture hybridized brilliantly with nature, popular culture in a country that was being built socially and culturally, which was joined by the desire to create architecture for the people.

She lived in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, or Salvador. Her legacy was impressive and reflected in projects of all scales, from houses such as the House of Glass (an essential work of modern architecture in Brazil) to innovative theaters or museums such as the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), where her architecture was influenced by international mega-structural currents and the result was a suspended a 70-meter-long building over a square, which was also a balcony to the city, a work that runs through countless examples such as the restoration of the Solar do Unhão in 1940, the Chame-Chame House in 1964, the Sesc Pompéia in 1977 and the People Theater in 1984.
 
"We hope that the 2021 edition of La Biennale —rather than inflate her popularity as an architectural icon— will help to even better contextualize and communicate the depth of Lina Bo Bardi’s critical view of the world: always caring for the least culturally represented, consistently aware of the importance of diversity in art and architecture, and committed to a multidisciplinary approach to architecture

The 2021 Special Golden Lion resounds with the impact of the architect’s own words: Lina Bo Bardi’s life and oeuvre are not of the past, but still very much of the present. In fact, they seem more relevant today than ever before as markers of both architectural and human heritage."

The Golden Lion for a professional career is an award that the Architecture Biennale regularly grants. Among the latest winners are: Rem Koolhaas (2010); Álvaro Siza (2012); Phyllis Lambert (2014); Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2016); and Kenneth Frampton (2018). However, the special in memoriam award so far has been exceptional, before Bo Bardi, the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara was awarded this distinction in 2010, on the recommendation of Kazuyo Sejima, curator of the Biennale of that same year, edition that hosted also an exhibition dedicated to the work of Bo Bardi in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini.

More information

Label
Curator
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Venue / Adress
Text
Venice (Arsenale and Giardini), Italy.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Dates
Text
17th International Architecture Exhibition to be held from May 22nd to November 21st, 2020.
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Achillina Bo was born on December 5, 1914 in Rome, Italy. Lina was the oldest child of Enrico and Giovana Bo, who later had another daughter named Graziella. In 1939, she graduated from the Rome College of Architecture at the age of 25 with her final piece, "The Maternity and Infancy Care Centre". She then moved to Milan to begin working with architect Carlo Pagani in the Studio Bo e Pagani, No 12, Via Gesù. Bo Bardi collaborated (until 1943) with architect and designer Giò Ponti on the magazine Lo Stile – nella casa e nell’arredamento. In 1942, at the age of 28, she opened her own architectural studio on Via Gesù, but the lack of work during wartime soon led Bardi to take up illustration for newspapers and magazines such as Stile, Grazia, Belleza, Tempo, Vetrina and Illustrazione Italiana. Her office was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943. From 1944-5 Bardi was the Deputy Director of Domus magazine.

The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.

In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.

In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.

There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
Read more
Published on: March 10, 2021
Cite: "Lina Bo Bardi, Golden Lion, Venice Biennale 2021" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/lina-bo-bardi-golden-lion-venice-biennale-2021> ISSN 1139-6415
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...