The Venice Biennale has a long history dating back to the end of the 19th century. It was founded as an institution through which national Italian art could develop and as an international platform where artists and architects could present themselves, create connections and discuss new trends in art and architecture. Exhibitions dedicated to architecture already existed before the Venice Architecture Biennale. Still, it was the Biennale as an institution that raised architecture exhibitions to an international level by setting up a dedicated section for architecture. As early as 1968, at the centre of the student protests (which were not directly directed against the Venice Biennale, but were part of broader international social and political movements), an exhibition dedicated to architecture was opened at the Venice Biennale for the first time. However, a separate section dedicated exclusively to architecture was not presented until 1980 at the first Architecture Biennale in Venice, whose curator Paolo Portoghesi chose the theme "The Present of the Past", thus breaking with the assumptions of modernism and steering architectural practice in the direction of postmodernism. In the years of the Architecture Biennale, the themes followed current architectural trends, but also more general social trends. At the end of the 20th century, a theoretical turn towards ethics began, centred on considerations of human rights, justice and democracy. Under the influence of critical theories such as post-colonial theory, feminist theory and queer theory, the theory and practice of architecture turned to the ethical, socially conscious and responsible design of private and public spaces. This change, as well as the growing awareness of global environmental problems and the accelerated development of technology, influenced the theme of the seventh Venice Architecture Biennale: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics.