On the morning of May 24, as the clouds scattered over Venice, transforming the backdrop of the Giardini into a glorious, clear-aired day, attendees and participants gathered for the official opening of the U.S. Pavilion in front of the 1930 neoclassical building. The individuals behind the effort in attendance were many and diverse: representatives from the State Department, the presidents of the commissioning schools: the School for the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)'s Elissa Tenny and the University of Chicago's Robert Zimmer, as well co-curators Mimi Zeiger from Los Angeles, Niall Atkinson (University of Chicago), Ann Lui (SAIC), and dozens of the designers involved.
In response to the Biennale’s overall theme, “FreeSpace,” the U.S. pavilion is dedicated to exploring the notion of “Dimensions of Citizenship.” “We all occupy different, overlapping categories of space at the same time, from the level of the neighborhood, to the nation, to the planet as a whole,” state the curators. For the exhibition, they have assembled seven design teams, which explore the theme at seven different scales, from the body to the cosmos (drawing inspiration from the Eames' film “Powers of Ten”), to present a telescopic understanding—and potential—of the place of different peoples on the planet. In this survey, says Zeiger, “we must reconcile with issues of inclusion and exclusion.”
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