The 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam
‘Open City: Designing Coexistence’

Research by an inter-disciplinary University of Edinburgh team will feature in the 4th International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR). With an expected attendace of over 100,000 visitors, the IABR is one of the world’s largest and most prestigious exhibitions on architecture and urbanism. The six-member team, led by Prof. Stephen Cairns (Arts Culture & Environment) and Dr. William Mackaness (GeoSciences), will present their recent work on everyday mobility and exchange in the city of Jakarta. The research, supported by an AHRC Large Grant, focusses on the innovative forms of cartography that have emerged in the city in response to the rapid growth and complexity of that city.

The team also worked with Rotterdam-based architect, Daliana Suryawinata, commissioning a further 10 research projects and examples of built work that address this theme. This work, framed under the heading ‘Reciprocity’, includes studies of slum housing, domestic labour in middle-class dwellings, new gated suburbs, and the wider ecological implications of the city’s expansion into the rice fields of Jakarta’s hinterlands. A stand out feature of the Reciprocity exhibit is the set of larger-than-life, shadow-theatre characters or ‘guides’, specially created by Jakarta-based artist Eko Nugroho.

This 4th IABR is curated by Prof. Kees Christiaanse and Dr. Tim Rieniets, both of the EHT Zurich. The exhibition takes place in the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, and will focus on the theme ‘Open City: Designing Coexistence’. The exhibition itself is the centrepiece of the vast Biennale programme that includes: specially-commissioned films by the Netherlands public broadcaster VPRO; a rich event programme featuring speakers from a range of disicplines (including architecture, urban design, sociology, ethnography, geography, law, history, and economics); a series of postgraduate master clasess at international architecture and design schools (Columbia University, Tsinghua University, Technical University of Delft, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Oslo School of Architecture and Design); and the publication of a substantial Reader (Sun Publishers) featuring well-known writers such as Ash Amin, Gerald Frug, Stephen Graham, Saskia Sassen, and Peter Sloterdijk.

‘Open City: Designing for Coexistence’ runs from September 25, 2009 to January 10, 2010. Further details can be found at www.iabr.nl.