International Exhibitions of Architecture and Selective Cross-Histories

A review of Helen Thomas, ed. Architecture in Islamic Countries: Selections from the Catalogue for the Second International Exhibition of Architecture Venice, 1982/83. Zürich: gta Verlag, 2022, 120 pages, 55 illus. ISBN 978-3-85676-436-4. Gta Verlag’s 2022 reissue of the 1982–83 Venice Biennale Architecture in Islamic Countries catalogue is a timely invitation to reevaluate its history. This review assesses both the new catalogue’s original content and the newly commissioned essays, highlighting criticisms of Pier Paolo Porteghesi’s curatorial approach, primarily driven by a postmodernist methodology rather than a decolonization commitment. Its significance notwithstanding, the new catalogue replicates some of the original’s limitations in thoroughly engaging with the Islamic world’s architectural cultures during the 1980s, reflecting ongoing challenges in integrating these histories into Western-dominated architectural discourse.