Apply for the intern programme for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023!

Archinfo, the Information Centre for Finnish Architecture, is organising an international trainee programme in conjunction with the Finnish exhibition at the 2023 Venice Biennale of Architecture. The internship is available to students of architecture, landscape architecture and interior architecture at Aalto University, University of Oulu, and Tampere University.

Each internship’s duration is about nine weeks. The internships take place from 15 May to 27 November 2023 with the trainees acting as exhibition personnel for the Finnish pavilion in Venice.

The trainee programme was first organised for the 2018 Biennale, and the positive experiences are a good foundation for continuing and developing the programme after the worst of the Covid pandemic.

The deadline for applications is 18 December 2022. Please read the trainee programme’s introduction and application instructions below before sending your application.

What does the traineeship offer?

You can negotiate credit for the traineeship with your university. The trainees will also have the following unique opportunities:

• participating in the largest and most recognised architecture event in the world, including entertainment
  
• learning in-depth about the theme of the Finnish pavilion and acting as its messengers
  
• acquiring practical experience of event production and audience development in architecture in an international setting
  
• learning in-depth about the Venice Giardini parkland and the architecture of Venice
  
• forming international connections and experience life in Venice.

Who is the trainee programme for?

The trainee programme is open to students of architecture, landscape architecture and interior architecture in Finland’s universities that offer higher education in architecture. In particular, the programme is targeted at master-level students. The positions require a good command of both spoken and written English, and any other language skills are considered beneficial. We also appreciate the following in applicants:

• an interest and knowledge of the field and history of Finnish architecture
  
• the ability to work independently and responsibly in an international operating environment
  
• people skills for guiding visitors and handling public events
  
• communication and documentation skills.
  

What are the duties of trainees?

The trainees work in the Finnish pavilion on four days a week and take responsibility for overseeing the exhibit and serving the visitors.

Trainees’ duties include:

• opening, monitoring, and closing the exhibition daily
  
• explaining the exhibit and Finnish architecture to the visitors both spontaneously and as part of guided tours
  
• auxiliary communication tasks, such as producing images and short texts
  
• other duties negotiated with the trainee’s university regarding their studies.
  

Archinfo inducts the trainees in their duties, the content of the exhibition, and life in Venice in April 2023 in Helsinki. The Venice portion of the traineeship starts with practical and safety training. The trainees are supported in Venice by their local supervisor and in Finland by the exhibition’s project manager.

When does the traineeship take place?

The traineeships take place from 15 May to 27 November 2023, divided into three periods of about nine weeks each. Three trainees will be selected for each period. We will accommodate the wishes of the applicants regarding the timing of their traineeship as much as possible.

The traineeship’s workweek is about 33 hours. The Venice Biennale of Architecture is open on six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday (with some exceptions), and work primarily takes place on these days.

What expenses are covered by the trainee programme?

Archinfo will procure and pay for one rented flat for the trainees in Venice. The three trainees of each period will share the flat and have separate bedrooms.

The traineeship is unpaid except for a per diem of €15 for living expenses. In addition, public transport tickets will be reimbursed. The traineeship includes free access to all exhibitions at the Biennale and the local museums.

The trainees may include the traineeship in their studies and receive credit from their university (negotiated separately as course credit, for example). The trainees may also request financial aid from their university in the form of a grant (e.g. Erasmus) and travel allowance.

How do I apply for the traineeship?

Send us your free-form application in English along with your CV by 18 December 2022 to venice@archinfo.fi. Please state in your application any periods between 16 May and 27 November 2023 when you are not available for the traineeship.

We will start interviews in early January and inform the applicants of our decisions in February.

Send your application here

TRAINEE PROGRAMME ENQUIRIES:

Archinfo
Sini Parikka, project manager, Finnish pavilion 2023
sini.parikka@archinfo.fi, +358 40 351 6470

ENQUIRIES REGARDING UNIVERSITIES AND STUDIES:

Tampere University
Professor Panu Lehtovuori
panu.lehtovuori@tuni.fi, +358 50 525 0252

University of Oulu
Professor Janne Pihlajaniemi
janne.pihlajaniemi@oulu.fi, +358 40 572 0895

Aalto University
Professor Jenni Reuter
jenni.reuter@aalto.fi, +358 50 305 5704

VENICE BIENNALE OF ARCHITECTURE

The Biennale Architettura will be held for the eighteenth time in 2023 under the title “The Laboratory of the Future”. The exhibition is open to the public between 20 May and 26 November and curated by Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian-Scottish architect and author.

The Venice Biennale started in 1895 with the first International Art Exhibition, and since 1980, architecture has had its own biennale. It has become the number one international arena for displays of architecture: the 2021 Biennale had 300,000 visitors.

Read more on the official website of La Biennale di Venezia

THE FINNISH PAVILLION

Designed by Alvar Aalto, the Finnish pavilion was finished in the Giardini parklands in 1956. The small wooden building was originally intended to be temporary, but it is now conserved, and its architecture is one of Giardini’s most famous. Archinfo is the commissary of the Finnish pavilion by appointment of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

See photographs of the pavilion in 1956

THE 2023 EXHIBITION

An open call for concepts was declared for the 2023 exhibition. The chosen proposal discusses the water and nutrient cycles and the role of architects in envisioning future solutions. The exhibition’s themes hold global significance, but the roots of the concept are in Finnish cultural heritage. The exhibition was created by architect and artist Arja Renell, graphic designer Antero Jokinen, and architects Eero Renell, Barbara Motta, Emmi Keskisarja, and Janne Teräsvirta.

Read the news article about the 2023 exhibition concept

ARCHINFO OVERSEES THE FINNISH PAVILLION

Archinfo is the commissary of the Finnish pavilion's exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture by appointment of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In 2021, the Finnish pavilion hosted the New Standards exhibition curated by Laura Berger, Philip Tidwell, and Kristo Vesikansa. It explored the time in Finnish history when architects and industrial companies worked together to answer the burning question of housing the Karelian evacuees. Prefabricated houses developed amidst war reshaped Finland’s construction industry and resulted in international exports: Puutalo Oy houses were exported to more than 30 countries in the 1940s and 1950s. The exhibition told the astounding success story of Puutalo Oy.

Explore the New Standards exhibition

Our exhibition for the 2018 Biennale, Mind-Building, curated by Anni Vartola, explored the development of Finnish library architecture from the late 19th century to the modern day. This culminated in the opening of the Helsinki Central Library Oodi in December 2018.

Read the Mind-Building catalogue