98 HISTORICISM VERSUS COMMUNICATION THE BASIC DEBATE OF THE 1980 BIENNALE The first Venice Architecture Biennale in 1980 provided a vital springboard for Post-Modernism, providing it with an international stage. The Strada Novissima, with its facades by eminent architects of the time, is now a seminal image of 20th- century architecture. As Léa-Catherine Szacka explains, the prominence given to the past in the show’s theme was a point of contention among the exhibition’s organisers. This has had an enduring impact on architectural culture to this day. Léa-Catherine Szacka opposite: Visitors at the opening of the ‘The Presence of the Past’ exhibition in Venice on 27 July 1980. The exhibition was held in Venice’s Corderie dell’Arsenale, an old and unused shipyard that was once the industrial heart of the city but never previously accessible to the public. The exhibition remained open until 19 October 1980. above: The multistranded exhibition included eight different sections. First were the entrance gate and the Teatro del Mondo, both temporary constructions by Aldo Rossi. After entering the Arsenale, visitors were treated to three homage exhibitions to Ignazio Gardella, Mario Ridolfi and Philip Johnson, as well as a historical display on the Corderie dell’Arsenale. Then came the famous Strada Novissima where a staircase (behind Portoghesi’s facade) led to the exhibition of the younger generation situated on the mezzanine floor. Also on the mezzanine was an exhibition dedicated to the Italian Neo-Liberty architect Ernesto Basile. At the end of the Strada Novissima was the Critics exhibition. Two small displays – Natura-Storia and L’Oggetto Banale – the latter curated by Alessandro Mendini and Studio Alchimia, were at the end of the route.