Last spring in Venice, Italy, the sounds of banjo music filled an American porch. People from all walks of life were sitting on porch steps, lounging in swinging chairs and swaying to the music. 

Ross Altheimer and Maura Rockcastle of Minneapolis were there. 

“I was just super emotional at that point,” Altheimer says. "Sitting and feeling the porch on a world stage, that was actually activated, that people were surrounding and hearing the banjo.” 

It was the opening of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the world’s biggest architecture and design fairs…

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