Chinese Voices on Palladio: exhibition curated by Politecnico opens in Beijing

THE "VOICES ON PALLADIO"

At the heart of the exhibition are fourteen of the most influential figures in contemporary Chinese architecture – Yung Ho Chang (former Dean at MIT), Gong Dong (member of the Académie Française), Li Xinggang (Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering), Li Han, Zhu Pei, Wang Hui, He Jianxiang, Jiang Ying, Hua Li, Doreen Heng Liu, Zhang Li (Dean of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University), Fang Xiaofeng, Xu Haohao, and Feng Jiang.

Each architect has been invited to engage with Palladio's ideas through installations, drawings, models, and site-specific works. Their voices also accompany the exhibition through a series of video interviews specially produced by the curators and filmmaker Andrea Verdelli, offering different perspectives on the significance of Palladio's thought for contemporary architectural practice.

"Our dialogue with these architects invites us to reconsider Palladio not as a distant figure of Western classicism, but as a living source of ideas, an intellectual reference capable of inspiring contemporary architectural practice and debate. Through this intercultural perspective, Palladio became the starting point for an exploration of architecture as a shared heritage between East and West – explain the curators – We approached the architects not to assess Palladio's 'influence', but rather to understand whether, and in what ways, his drawings, writings and buildings still help them think about the architecture of our own time. We also wanted to ask whether Palladio deserves, in their eyes – free from preconceived notions of his status as an untouchable icon – the title of a 'classic', capable of conveying a universal architectural message despite cultural and temporal distance".

"With Chinese Voices on Palladio, Politecnico di Torino reaffirms its commitment to building bridges between cultures, disciplines and scientific communities through research. This exhibition is the outcome of a long-standing collaboration with Tsinghua University and our valued Italian and Chinese institutional partners, including the Embassy of Italy in Beijing and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing. It demonstrates how academic cooperation can evolve into an international cultural project – says Rector Stefano Corgnati – For our University, this exhibition represents far more than an exhibition itself: it shows that knowledge grows when different cultures meet, question one another and jointly develop new visions for the future of architecture and cities".

"The collaboration between two leading academic institutions has resulted in a project that explores the continuing ability of Palladian principles to inspire contemporary architectural thought, once again highlighting the richness of the historical cultural dialogue between Italy and China", says Massimo Ambrosetti, Ambassador of Italy to the People's Republic of China.

For nearly all the participating architects, the first encounter with Palladio took place during their university studies, where he was typically introduced as one example of the "otherness" of Western architecture. For some, this first encounter occurred while studying in the United States. However, almost all agree that the decisive moment came when they travelled to Italy.

These first-hand experiences revealed two recurring themes. On the one hand, architects reflected on the relationship between their own design practice and Palladio's work – not in terms of influence or imitation, but as an open dialogue and critical engagement. On the other, for a generation deeply aware of the passage of time, encounters with Palladio's buildings and landscapes evoked China's own historic landscapes and architectural heritage: bridges, waterways, temples, imperial cities, mausoleums and gardens. Taken together, these reflections transformed the dialogue "with Palladio" into a collective narrative that reveals contemporary Chinese culture's profound relationship with its own past – a genuine "duty of memory" in the face of the rapid transformations of recent decades.

Alongside the architectural section, the exhibition presents a new photographic series by Lois Conner, created specifically for the project. Through twelve photographic diptychs, the images establish a refined visual dialogue between Palladian architecture in the Veneto region and contemporary Chinese landscapes, which Conner has documented for more than four decades, revealing unexpected cultural, spatial and symbolic affinities between East and West.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK AND FUTURE INITIATIVES

As part of the celebrations marking the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and China in 2025, the Embassy of Italy in Beijing and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing launched a programme of initiatives dedicated to Andrea Palladio, with the ambition of "translating" the story of a stonemason who became a universally celebrated architect for Chinese audiences, while placing his legacy in dialogue with Chinese architecture.

In a country where architecture has become one of the principal drivers of urban transformation over recent decades, these initiatives introduce to China the figure widely regarded as the "greatest architect of the past five centuries".

From 4 February to 15 May, the National Museum of China in Beijing hosted Geometry, Harmony and Life. The Architecture of Andrea Palladio from Antiquity to the Classical Tradition, the first major exhibition in Asia dedicated to Andrea Palladio's architecture. Curated by Donata Battilotti (University of Udine), Guido Beltramini (CISAAP), Massimo Bray (Treccani), and Fernando Marías (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), the exhibition offered Chinese audiences an in-depth introduction to Palladio's life and architectural legacy. During its three-month run, it attracted more than half a million visitors, confirming the Chinese public's strong interest in Italian architectural culture and the Renaissance master.

Chinese Voices on Palladio represents the natural continuation of the exhibition devoted to the historical figure of Palladio, extending the discussion into a contemporary and international dimension by exploring the ongoing relevance and influence of his work in fostering architectural reflection and cultural dialogue between Italy and China.

Following the close of the exhibition, the seminar Palladio Universale will be held this autumn. Dedicated to the relationship between Chinese and Palladian architecture, the event will bring together leading Italian and Chinese scholars, academics, and architectural experts from major universities for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.

Photos by Andrea Verdelli