EXHIBITING ARCHITECTURE -
Curation, Preservation and Mass Tourism
Join one of the four summer studios that interpret the historical city and the socio-cultural pressures shaping it today.
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STUDIO 1
NATIONAL REPRESENTATIONS
AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
Course leader: Léa-Catherine Szacka, University of Manchester

This studio invites students to explore the historical and theoretical conditions but also the political and institutional contexts under which architecture exhibitions are produced and consumed.
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STUDIO 2
EDITIONS. VENICE'S TOURIST CURATORS
Course leader: Scott Woods, University of Melbourne

In this studio the high-stakes cultural program of the 21stC tourist aligns with the nuanced repertoire of the architecture curator to produce neither strange, nor anticipated 'editions' of the most iconic buildings in Venice.
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STUDIO 3
NOT_ I AM EMOTIONAL

Course leaders: Daniela Mitterberger and Tiziano Derme MAEID / University of Applied Arts Vienna

This studio seeks to explore Venice's intangible cultural heritage by asking students to imagine and construct a house which physically reacts to its inhabitant's emotions and thus adapts its spatiality to them.

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STUDIO 4
180 HOUSING UNITS IN VENICE
Course leader: Urtzi Grau and Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, UTS Sydney

This studio explores domestic life through the detailed development of the individual unit, shared areas and the common city, speculating that housing could still be idle, almost useless in the contemporary city – and can, therefore, represent a challenge to Venice's status quo today.

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HOW WILL YOU BENEFIT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Gain an understanding of key historical material through textual and empirical research
- Demonstrate knowledge of research material through design investigation
- Develop skill in 2D and 3D drawing using standard industry software
- Develop participatory and collaborative skills within the studio environment
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Observe and document contemporary curatorial practices as they apply to the display and exhibition of art and architecture through visits to the Biennale and other significant art and architecture sites in Venice
- Analyse and interpret the social, artistic and political histories of major public buildings and urban precincts in Venice
- Learn to conduct design research at Venice's premier Archives, including the Biennale Archive and the IUAV Archive and Research Centre
- Understand and critically evaluate the roll and consequences of contemporary tourism within Venice and the traditional European city at large
- Theorise and design for the difficult intersection of heritage, preservation and contemporary design
ABOUT ECA
The European Cultural Academy (ECA) is an initiative of the European Cultural Centre. The Academy organises short courses in art, architecture and design.
The Centre is the second largest exhibition space and curatorial platform in Veniceafter the Venice
Biennale. The main operations, spread across 4 palaces, are in Venice, Italy with six international locations including USA, Japan, the Netherlands and China. For more than 14 years the Centre has been organizing art and architecture exhibitions and cultural projects around the world with leading architects, artists and institutional partners.
GENERAL INFORMATION
KEY ACADEMIC THEMES
Architectural Design, History, and Theory; Curatorial Practice and Museology; Heritage and Preservation; Urbanism; Venetian Social Histories.
ELIGIBILITY
-Architecture, Design, and Urbanism students (min. 1 year of study completed).
-Post Graduate researchers
-Recent graduates and young professionals
REQUIREMENTS
Students are required to bring their own equipment, including laptops and drawing materials.
(more detail for individual studio requirements will be given at a later date)
STAFF
The Studio Leaders involved in the Exhibiting Architecture: Curation, Preservation and Mass Tourism course are drawn from the academic staff of highly regarded universities internationally, with many maintaining successful architectural design practices. The Studio Leaders, through their research, practice, or both are actively involved in the themes investigated within the Exhibiting Architecture course. Invited guest experts from Italy and further afield also frequently contribute to the program.
VISA
If you need to apply for a visa, to attend a course at ECA, we will support you with an official invitation letter.
CREDITS
Students who wish to receive credit for their course will need to contact either their Study Abroad Office or the office in their university that deals with external credit. It is up to a student's home institution as to how much credit is awarded but the Summer School Office is happy to provide any necessary information to your registry or academic advisor, to help them evaluate the courses. This course is equivalent to one 'elective' subject from an undergraduate or graduate degree.
ASSESSMENT
  1. Interim Visual and Verbal Presentation of research at end Wk 1 inc., drawings, digital models, analysis, research material. 30% (Studio and Field Based Learning)
  2. Participation, Engagement in ongoing round-table discussion and / or seminar assessed at end Wk 2. 10% (Studio Learning)
  3. Final Visual and Verbal Presentation at end Wk 2 inc., architectural drawings, digital models, analysis, research material. 60% (Studio Learning)
MEET YOUR STUDIO LEADERS
Léa-Catherine Szacka
Léa-Catherine Szacka is a Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester and part of the Manchester Architecture Research Group (MARG). She is also a visiting tutor at the Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Studies. Her work focuses on the history of architecture exhibitions, the history and theory of postmodern architecture, and, more broadly, the relationship between media and architecture since the 1970s. She is the author of Exhibiting the Postmodern: The 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale (Marsilio, 2016), Biennials/Triennials: Conversations on the Geography of Itinerant Display (Columbia Books on Architecture and the City, 2019), and many others. Her writing also appeared in Log, OASE, AA Files, Volume, The JAE, Architectural Review and The Journal of Architecture.
Scott Woods
Scott Woods is an Academic Fellow in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. Scott teaches architecture history and theory, coordinates the first year design studio in the undergraduate school and leads a graduate design studio with a focus on the museum, its curatorial conditions and representations. At ECA Scott coordinates the Exhibiting Architecture summer studios.
Daniela Mitterberger and Tiziano Derme
Daniela Mitterberger and Tiziano Derme are media artists and architects. They are both directors and co-founders of "MAEID – Büro für Architektur und transmediale Kunst," an interdisciplinary practice based in Vienna, with a specific focus on the relationship between humans, space and performativity. Currently Daniela is a PhD fellow and researcher at ETH Zurich, investigating the relationship between human intuition and robotics while Tiziano is an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Innsbruck focusing on multi-media-composites and material performativity.
Urtzi Grau
Urtzi Grau is an architect, director of the Master of Architecture and Master of Research at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and founding partner of the office Fake Industries Architectural Agonism.
Guillermo Fernández-Abascal
Guillermo Fernández-Abascal is an architect, lecturer at UTS and co-director of GFA2. Based in Sydney, Australia and Santander, Spain, his recent work destabilises the dichotomy of research vs. buildings and includes diagrams, stories, exhibitions, films, prototypes, housing, and public buildings across the globe.