Vogadors was presented today at the Moritz brewery in Barcelona, in an event attended by Vicenç Villatoro and Àlex Susanna, the Director and Associate Director of the IRL, the two curators, Jordi Badia and Félix Arranz, and representatives from the nine architecture studios that make up the proposal for the pavilion. This evening, at 7.30 p.m., there will be a presentation of the project at the headquarters of the Architects Association of Catalonia, in Plaça Nova.
 
During the lunchtime presentation, Vicenç Villatoro said that, "we believe that taking part in the Venice Architecture Biennale is a key achievement in terms of its ambition and impact. It is a significant event because it allows individual work to be projected under the collective brand of Catalan culture; this, in essence, is the principal mission of the IRL." Villatoro asserted that "architecture is, needless to say, culture, and it is an activity that also requires a special form of projection, above all in a context as complicated as the present." He also expressed his gratitude for the involvement of the project's sponsors, Roca and LAMP, since "it is unusual that public activities such as this receive the support of the private sector, and this is especially important in the current economic climate."
Àlex Susanna, for his part, set out the three aims underlying the IRL's participation in this event: "To assert our architectural tradition, framed at the same time in a contemporary context; to give a boost to a sector that is particularly affected by the recession; and to allow it to be seen and heard in a setting as striking and decisive as the Venice Biennale, based on the precedent of taking part in two Art Biennales". Susanna also pointed out that the project's selection process used a public tender and an independent panel of judges, "as set out in the Best Practice Guide for Museums and Galleries".
As regards the winning project, Susanna emphasized that it represents an approach that is inherent in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, "which is not a new thing but stems from a common tradition, and is also the assertion of a generation of young architects with international recognition."
The two curators, Jordi Badia and Félix Arranz, emphasized that "contextualization is also important, and hence in the first part of the pavilion there are 160 works documented". Information about them can be obtained through the QR codes.
Badia and Arranz also explained that the selected works have five points in common, that are based on "bringing architecture back to the people, not wishing to stand out in the surroundings and making rational use of resources for ethical reasons." They then went on to set out the nine chosen projects, remarking that "there could have been many more".
 
* Collage House, by Bosch.Capdeferro Arquitectures
* House in Bunyola, by Francisco Cifuentes
* Nursery school in Pratdip, by Núria Salvadó and David Tapias
* House for three sisters, by Blancafort Reus Arquitectura
* La Seca, by Meritxell Inaraja
* Can Ribas, by Jaime J. Ferrer Forés
* Swimming pool, changing rooms and sports hall in Jesús, by Arquitecturia
* Josep Sureda Secondary School extension in Blanes, by SMS Arquitectos
* Amposta Art and Design College, by David Sebastian and Gerard Puig
 
The curators also cited a text by Jorge Oteiza that is inspired by the Mediterranean, which both separates and unites Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, and encapsulates the philosophy of Vogadors:
 
"Whoever goes forward creating something new, does so like a vogador,
moving forward, yet rowing backwards, 
looking towards the past, towards what exists, 
to reinvent its essence."
 
The display documents architecture that is sober and constructed out of very simple materials, yet endowed with enormous technical and intellectual sophistication, and imbued with a solid ethical and social basis, capable of building with a conscious permeability with its surroundings, people and life, without renouncing the more abstract and plastic values ??of emotion.
The aim is to show that this type of architecture is not only an automatic response to an economic crisis, but that it is also a cultural and aesthetic trend that connects an entire intellectual, technical and social tradition of architecture in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, which has been maintained even when the international context demanded more formal and expressive approaches. It also connects with international trends in which one could already  see the excesses of some styles of architectures in recent years. Now its appropriateness is recognized due to the context of contemporary sensitivity, the result of the current economic and environmental situation.
This is a project that aims to foster international debate on this trend and integrate Catalonia and the Balearic Islands as one of the cultural and intellectual production centres of a markedly contemporary architecture.
The Selection Process
The proposal by Jordi Badia and Félix Arranz was selected by an independent panel of judges, nominated by the Institut Ramon Llull from the 45 applications received. The panel was chaired by Jordi Garcés, winner of the 1991 FAD Award for the Vall d'Hebron pavilion and made up of: Lluís-Xavier Comerón, senior member of the Architects Association of Catalonia; Joan Morey, senior member of the Architects Association of the Balearic Islands; Fernando Marzá, architect and member of the Architects Association of Catalonia; Miquel Vadell, architect and person in charge of competition office of the Architects Association of the Balearic Islands; Marta Vall-Llossera, architect and director of the COAIB School; Marta Malé, architect and acting director of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia; Daniel Giralt-Miracle, critic and art historian; and Àlex Susanna, associate director of the Institut Ramon Llull. 
 
The Architecture Biennale
The Venice Architecture Biennale has been held since 1980, after the growing importance of architecture in the Art Biennale since the mid-1970s. Currently it alternates with the Art Biennale, and shares the exhibition structures and spaces.
The director of the 2012 edition is the prestigious architect David Chipperfield, who has entitled it "Common Ground".