Press Memo Lest We Forget Call Out

The National Pavilion United Arab Emirates (UAE) la Biennale di Venezia, commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and under the support of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development, is pleased to announce a call for material for its upcoming exhibition at the 14th International Architecture Exhibition. The exhibition is curated by Dr Michele Bambling, Creative Director of the Lest We Forget initiative. It will be held from June 7 – November 23, 2014, in the National Pavilion’s new permanent pavilion located in the Arsenale – Sale d’Armi.

Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the UAE is curated by Dr. Michele Bambling in collaboration with the research team of Adina Hemple, Marco Sosa and Hanan Sayed Worrell. Examining the architectural history of 1914-2014, this exhibition focuses on the early years of nation building and the initial encounter with modernism during the 1970’s to the 1980’s. Through empirical records from architects and engineers as well as the voices and photographs of residents, the exhibition aims to contextualize the modernist architecture of the UAE within a global framework, while showing its adaptation to the culture and climactic conditions of the region.

Functioning as a provisional laboratory of archival research and drawing upon primary material, the project seeks the stories, photographs and memories of the people who experienced these spaces during the hyper-pace of development.