Under the title Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the Architecture Biennale tackles a number of pressing issues that are presented to us in a rather blunt way, yet also offer glimmers of hope. At least this is the message conveyed by the German Pavilion which, after flooding the central hall with video images of the catastrophic situation caused by climate change, leads us into the next room—a space with three lush green trees—and finally into the last area, dominated by an inscription urging respect for nature. The vision proposed by the Italian Pavilion, housed in the Tese delle Vergini and titled Terrae Aquae. Italy and the Intelligence of the Sea, curated by Guendalina Salimei, is decidedly less optimistic. Italy’s relationship with its seas is dramatic, and this is a fact. As for the exhibition layout, Pierluigi Panza of Corriere della Sera ironically points out: “No respectable Italian Pavilion can go without a beautiful array of ‘innocent’ pipes that are anything but innocent,” and further: “Large touch screens illustrate the research of inclusive, global university and academic groups, using AI-generated videos that are as fascinating as they are oversimplified. This expressive format has become the mantra of our times and is present at the Biennale at the highest levels.”
Pavilion of BELGIUM ‘Building Biospheres’. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Let’s return to a more positive, optimistic view: entering the Belgian Pavilion brings instant relief as we find ourselves among about two hundred plants native to subtropical regions. These plants, unable to move, influence their habitat by transforming the surrounding environment—a transformation we can feel and breathe with them. In the exhibition Building Biospheres, landscape architect Bas Smets and neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso study how to harness the natural intelligence of plants to generate microclimates. But there are many proposals that inspire hope. The French Pavilion, currently closed for renovation, has planned to construct a temporary structure to host the many proposals from architecture schools, focusing on six themes: Living with what exists / with proximity / with the abyss / with vulnerabilities / with nature and living beings / with united intelligences. At the entrance of the Arsenale, one is overwhelmed by impressive installations, evocative proposals, and special effects. A moment of calm comes upon reaching the robotics section: another compelling proposal for construction, especially in an age of human tragedies on the job. In some cases, we see already functional realities, like in Uzbekistan’s Pavilion titled A Matter of Radiance. This national pavilion focuses on the scientific modernist structure of the Sun Institute of Material Science—originally called the Sun Heliocomplex—built in 1987 near Tashkent and still one of only two large solar furnaces in the world. The pavilion explores its potential, the significance of the site, and its relevance for science and culture, while also questioning urgent contemporary challenges that this technology could help address.
Pavilion of GREAT BRITAIN. “GBR: Geology of Britannic Repair”. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
In the United Kingdom Pavilion, the dialogue established with Kenya on the themes of colonial reparations and renewal is particularly interesting. The Pavilion reveals an architecture defined by extraction—one that generates inequality and environmental degradation. GBR – Geology of Britannic Repair examines how architecture responds to the colonial legacies of geological extraction, such as that in the Rift Valley, a vast geological formation stretching from Turkey to Mozambique. Within the pavilion, the installations by international artists are striking, including a 1:100 bronze reconstruction of what is called the Parliament of Baboons. About 150 km west of Nairobi, in the caves of Mount Suswa, there is a chamber whose roof partially collapsed, letting in light and reviving life. Here, baboons gather; hence, the Biennale jury recognized in this project an attempt to imagine a new relationship between architecture and geology, awarding it a special mention. At this year’s Architecture Biennale, the Golden Lion went to Bahrain for the project Canicola, curated by Italian Andrea Faraguna, which focuses on how to confront rising temperatures. And speaking of the growing importance and visibility of Arab countries in the fields of Art and Architecture, another highlight is the construction of the Qatar Pavilion: a house of exchange and wonder for the world—a place for multiple dialogues promoting peace. It will also be a venue for showcasing the art, architecture, and creativity of Qatar and the entire region, including the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Pavilion of CANADA “Picoplanktonics”. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
The Canadian Pavilion hosts an innovative living exhibition titled Picoplanktonics. In the context of the current global climate crisis, the Living Room Collective has developed an exhibition that explores the potential of collaboration between humans and nature. Composed of 3D-printed structures originally created at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and containing live cyanobacteria capable of carbon capture, Picoplanktonics investigates our potential to co-create spaces that regenerate the planet rather than exploit it. The exhibition by the Living Room Collective is the result of four years of research by Andrea Shin Ling and various interdisciplinary collaborators: these are the largest living structures ever built using a one-of-a-kind biofabrication platform capable of printing living structures at architectural scale. The Canada Pavilion has thus been adapted to provide enough light, humidity, and heat to allow the living cyanobacteria inside to grow, thrive, and transform. Then there is the Peruvian Pavilion: Living Scaffolding—a wooden structure evoking Aymara boats and Venetian stilts—invites visitors on a sensory journey that recreates the essence of the floating Uros Islands in the heart of Lake Titicaca. It celebrates the centuries-old ingenuity of local communities and their ancestral knowledge. The use of totora, an endemic plant with which the Uros islands are built and continually regenerated, becomes the voice of a vision of collective, ephemeral, and sustainable living. A dialogue between tradition and sustainability: an architecture that not only builds spaces, but deep connections.
Pavilion of PERU. “Living Scaffolding” Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
One could go on endlessly, as the proposals are endless, but we will stop here, reflecting and asking ourselves whether, at times, the Architecture Biennale is not more nourishing and futuristic than the one dedicated to the visual arts.
Info:
Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective
19th International Architecture Exhibition
From May 10 to November 23, 2025 (closed on Mondays)
Held at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera, Venice
labiennale.org/it
Emanuele Magri teaches History of Art in Milan. Since 2007 he has been writing abroad for Juliet art Magazine. Since the 1970s he has dealt with writing and visual arts. He created taxonomically defined worlds, in which he experimented with the self-referentiality of language, such as “La Setta delle S’arte” in which ritual clothes are made starting from words with multiple meanings, the “Treaty of genetic art” in which a series of plants is obtained from grafts of human organs, eyes, hands, mouths, etc., and the project “Fandonia”, a city where everything is double and hybrid.
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