The project ACUM - AICI - ACOLO / NOW HERE THERE will represent Romania at the 18th edition of the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, being exhibited both in the National Pavilion within the Giardini di Castello, and in the New Gallery of the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research in Venice, with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Ministry of Culture, reports the ICR on Wednesday, in a press release for AGERPRES.

"The Romanian Cultural Institute pays special attention to Romania's participation in this reputed event, all the more so since, this year, we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the official inauguration of the Romanian Pavilion in the Biennale space, the Giardini della Biennale. Then, in 1938, on the occasion of the 21st edition of the Venice Art Biennale, the organizer and curator of the first Romanian exhibition in the Pavilion was none other than Nicolae Iorga, the one who had taken care, through personal measures, of the transfer of the land for the Romanian state and the construction of the Romanian Pavilion. We are honoured by the fact that the New Gallery of our representative office in Venice hosts a component of the winning project, the Instant Garden installation, which the Romanian Cultural Institute also supports from a financial perspective," said the ICR president, Liviu Jicman, quoted in the release.

Circumscribed to the theme of this year's edition of the La Biennale di Venezia, The Laboratory of the Future, chosen by the curator Lesley Lokko, the project ACUM - AICI - ACOLO / NOW HERE THERE was named the winner of the national competition organized by ICR , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Union of Romanian Architects. Among the partners of the project are the National Technical Museum in Bucharest and the Plant Genetic Resources Bank in Suceava.

"The NOW HERE THERE project represents an invitation to explore a possible future, where innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration play a key-role in finding solutions to the global problems humanity is facing. We wanted to create a space where visitors could interact with ideas and innovations in the field of architecture and beyond and think about how we can build a greener, more sustainable and fair future for all. This exhibition urges us to be active in transforming the future and to get involved in the change of mentality necessary to make this switch possible. Together we can create a future where everything matters, everything is connected and everything is inclusive," said Dr. Emil Ivanescu, architect, curator, according to the press release.

The Romanian Pavilion at the Venice International Architecture Biennale, which will take place between May 20 and November 26, will be a generator of ideas, bringing to the fore the creative journey of innovations or inventions born as a result of interdisciplinary collaboration, becoming a space designed to generate dialogue, questions and answers translated into ideas for an inclusive and sustainable future, for society and the environment. The ideas and objects presented will be the ingredients of a dialogue about the future, ICR says.

Visitors will be able to interactively explore four research areas: Romanian Technical Innovations and Inventions, Lateral Pedagogies, the Instant Garden/Genetic Seed Bank and the Co-Future Thinking Installation as an activator of ideas, all representing a way of education through research, innovation and social activation, looking for new solutions to respond to a future centered on people and context.AGERPRES(RO - author: Andreea Rotaru, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - editor: Maria Voican)