The exhibition by Lord Norman Foster and Charles Sandison of Foster + Partners, in collaboration with film director Carlos Carcas, welcomes the visitors to the Venice Biennale. The multi-media installation is their contribution on the theme, ‘common ground,’ the theme of the current event which is interpreted as the history of architecture and the public spaces of the city.

In a dark room resembling a dungeon like space, the video installation, ‘impermanence’ shows the contrasts of the changing face of the urban landscape influenced by social and political factors. The changing face of the west and the rapid development of cities in what we have come to term third world countries. Social unrest and anarchy within our society and the superstructures needed to accommodate a constantly expanding world, to satisfy the needs of transportation and leisure activities.

In ‘radiant city’ the exhibition deals with environmental contrasts of a multicultural society expressed in pictures and text, the perfection of the insect world where every creature has a role in its microcosm. The thought provoking exhibition presents a changing world with a faint hope for symbiotic harmony in the confused times of the day.