by Rem Koolhaas

A global overview on architecture seen through the history of the last 100 years. The emphasis of the 2014 Biennale is on architectural history. Each country will be asked to narrate its own one over the last one hundred years in relation to the idea of modernity, whether it was accepted or rejected. One hundred years ago it was possible to talk about national architecture but this is no longer the case. Why have we reached a situation in which we all build the same things? In 1914 we could meaningfully speak about Chinese, Swiss, or Indian architecture. One hundred years later, under the pressure of many factors war, various political regimes, multiple conditions of development, architectural movements, individual talents, chance, personal paths and technological developments architecture that was once specific and local has become interchangeable and global. National identity seems to have been sacrificed on the altar of modernity. This is the real issue that everyone invited to the Biennale is called on to address.