Venice Biennale - Interview with Ole Bouman

At the 2012 Venice International Architecture Biennale cultural exchanges abounded, with exhibitions exploring different worldviews on architecture. In this interview, Pieter Mathews talks to Ole Bouman, the director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute at the time, in the Netherlands’ Pavilion which was originally designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1953.

Architect (pavilion):
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

This Dutch designer, famous for being part of the De Stijl movement, was born in 1888. He taught himself drawing, painting and model-making and after manufacturing furniture for a few years, also became an architect. His most famous work include the Red and Blue Chair (1917) and the Rietveld Schröder House (1924); last mentioned specifically influenced the design of buildings in the second half of the 20th century. Together with fellow architects of his time, architectural design was changed dramatically due to the fact that the designs were so different from the norm.

Architect (installation):
Petra Blaisse
First working at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and later as freelance designer, Petra Blaisse uses textiles, light and finishes in interior and exterior spaces to create installations of high technical sophistication. Her team, Inside Outside, consists of people from various fields and they are part of international projects.

Sources:
2012. Biennale Architettura 2012: Common Ground. Conference booklet.
dezeen.com (accessed 3 February 2014).
en.wikipedia.org (accessed 4 February 2014).
insideoutside.nl (accessed 4 February 2014).