People-oriented Biennale

Kazuyo Sejima, Japan’s Pritzker Prize-winning architect and the first woman to curate the prestigious Venice architecture show, says it should be all about people.

“Of course form is very important, because form is one attitude for relating to the surroundings,” Sejima told AFP last Thursday after unveiling the 12th edition of the Biennale in the lagoon city.

“But at the same time people’s activity is to me very important. People also are involved in the process of creativity,” said Sejima, 54, dressed all in white on a hot summer’s day.

Sejima, whose Tokyo studio SANAA, co-founded with Ryue Nishizawa, created the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and London’s Serpentine Gallery, said the architect’s view of space “can give people opportunities”. (AFP)

She pointed to the example of a public park enjoyed by people of all ages and walks of life.