VENICE — Turkey’s entry in this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale asks why the event even exists. It is the kind of earnest inquiry you would expect of students, and that’s precisely who is posing it.

The project, produced by 122 architecture students from 16 countries, tackles the contradiction of staging a flagship event for the architecture world’s elite called “Freespace,” says curator Kerem Piker.

“Not everyone can go to the Biennale, whether it’s because of the cost of admission or the difficulty in obtaining a visa or other obstacles,” he tells Al-Monitor. “This is an effort to open the discussion to everyone, because the debate over architecture requires broader participation.”

“Vardiya,” which means "shift" in Turkish, occupies a darkened floor in the Arsenale, Venice’s centuries-old shipyard. Sail-like canopies that hang from the ceiling shroud video screens that introduce topics for discussion. Throughout the event's six-month run, the students, selected from 450 applicants, will take shifts running a slate of public events that include lectures and workshops, transforming the space into one of communion.