The second Venice Architecture Biennale directed by Paolo Portoghesi raised questions about a
postmodernity throughout realms extending south and east from the Mediterranean where
modernity and decolonisation were converging. Though the exhibition on architecture in Islamic
countries was largely forgotten these questions are ever more relevant. Selected texts by
Portoghesi Medhi Kowsar and Udo Kultermann from the original exhibition catalogue which was
published only in Italian are translated for the first time for an English-speaking readership
and accompanied by commentary. Following an introduction by the editor Esra Akcan reflects on
the historical and socio-political contexts of the exhibition. In addition Asli Çiçek and
Véronique Patteeuw consider the catalogue itself from an architectural history perspective.
Together this historical and contemporary material suggests starting points for investigating
this broadly overlooked biennale.
