Main Exhibition: cover me softly

The theme of each biennial is most strongly reflected in the curatorial exhibition, which represents the result of in-depth research and exposes a theme relevant to the relationship between architecture, city and society.

The curatorial effort of each edition aims to set a discourse connected to relevant international themes, interpreting them through and for the uniqueness of the local and hyperlocal context.

To cover is to work with what’s already there. Cover also means shelter. To protect or hide. To conceal or disguise, to extend over time or space. To run for cover, to cover one’s back.

cover me softly, the main exhibition of the 2024 Beta Biennial, is an exploration of covers across disciplines, mediums, and geographies. Counter to notions of copying, stealing, imitating, and bootlegging that may each come with their own ethical slant, the cover provides an alternate set of relational vocabularies for understanding how transferences of knowledge and structures of authorship are circulated through art and design. By centering our vast interconnectedness, cover me softly opens new realms of possibility for doing, making, and being.

The 2024 Beta Biennial brings together a wide selection of architects, designers, musicians, artists, activists, photographers, writers, directors, and those that refuse categorization in a choreography of public exhibitions and programs from September 13th through October 27th.