COMMON GROUND

The converging energies that create the installations and exhibitions of the Venice Architecture Biennale take their final shape as the first visitors appear. As the makers of the exhibitions quietly recede into the shadows, the audience begins to wander around the scenographic setting that has been prepared in anticipation of their arrival. Before long, the authors reappear, mingling with their works and with the audience and participating in the theatre that is the biennale. The biennale is both an exhibition and an event. It provides a dramatic setting for the architectural community and all those with an interest to convene around the spectacle of an exhibition in the inspiring locations of the Arsenale and the Giardini. While the exhibition must endure into the dark days of the winter, it is the hot and sweaty days of the openings that define the occasion. Juergen Teller's photographs capture both the stage and the players of these dramatic days. He captures the intense humanity of the celebration and intensifies both its innocence and its presence. Through its photographs we feel not only the humidity of Venice but the warmth of this coming together on common ground. David Chipperfield