Brazil has just announced its participation in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, opening on May 10, 2025, with a pavilion curated by the Plano Coletivo group. Architects Luciana Saboia, Eder Alencar, and Matheus Seco will lead the project, representing Brazil with an multidisciplinary approach that bridges architecture, nature, and social infrastructure. Titled "(RE)INVENTION," the Brazil Pavilion will be open from May 10 to November 23, 2025, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil. The exhibition reflects on the recent archaeological discovery of ancestral infrastructure in the Amazon to examine the contradictions and socio-environmental conditions of contemporary cities.
The Brazil Pavilion's exhibition design reflects a commitment to addressing socio-environmental challenges. Through a curatorial vision rooted in collaboration, the project will bring together contributions from researchers, professors, architects, and artists across the country. Ultimately, the pavilion seeks to explore how architectural practices can mediate between natural and built environments, responding to the Biennale's theme, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., proposed by general curator Carlo Ratti.
The curatorial team's proposal reflects deeply on Brazil's unique relationship with its natural and urban environments. Drawing inspiration from how, more than 10,000 years ago, Indigenous peoples shaped landscapes through sophisticated infrastructures that integrated technical knowledge with environmental adaptation, the exhibition questions how collective intelligence, both ancient and modern, can reshape our approach to habitation amid ongoing socio-environmental crises.
Related Article
"Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective": Carlo Ratti Announces Theme and Title for 2025 Venice Architecture BiennaleThe curators, Luciana Saboia, Eder Alencar, and Matheus Seco, bring expertise to the Brazil Pavilion. Saboia, a professor and researcher, is known for her critical work on landscape and metropolitan peripheries, emphasizing environmental and social transformation. Alencar, a founding partner of ARQBR Arquitetos, focuses on creating architecture that harmonizes with local contexts and landscapes. Seco, co-founder of BLOCO Arquitetos, has earned recognition for his thoughtful approach to design, which respects site-specific constraints while exploring innovative solutions. Together, they form a team committed to using architecture as a tool for socio-environmental action.
The exhibition will be structured in two acts. The first act highlights the way ancestral Amazonian societies engaged in balanced environmental management, challenging previous notions of the region as untouched wilderness. The second act shifts to contemporary Brazil, showcasing how architecture and infrastructure can be reinterpreted through inherited and adapted design strategies.
One of the key exhibition elements, the "Garden-Platform," will demonstrate how existing structures can be adapted with ecological sensitivity. A linear structure that once required constant irrigation has been transformed into a naturalistic garden of native and adaptive species that respond to the seasonal cycles of Central Brazil's biome. Other strategies showcased in the exhibition explore how architecture can appropriate existing spaces to create new identities, reinforcing the idea that urban landscapes can be sites of continuous reinvention.
The exhibition design will offer a nuanced dialogue on the role of architecture as both a cultural artifact and a tool for addressing global challenges. Minimal interventions will define the spatial experience of the Brazil Pavilion, with installations resting on the floor in the first exhibition room, while the second room will feature suspended CLT panels, stone counterweights, and steel cables forming a delicate system of balance. This approach ensures that materials used in the exhibition can be disassembled, repurposed, or recycled after the event. The Brazil Pavilion invites visitors to consider how the convergence of local knowledge and global discourse can promote a vision of urban and environmental coexistence that is both innovative and inclusive.
This year's participation reaffirms Fundação Bienal de São Paulo's long-standing commitment to elevating Brazilian architectural thought on an international stage. Since its creation in 1964, the Brazil Pavilion in Venice has been a platform for exploring the country's artistic and cultural identity, and this year's project continues that legacy, turning the spotlight on Brazil's response to critical global issues.
Titled "Intelligens," the exhibition will be running from May 24th to November 23rd, 2025 in Giardini, the Arsenale, and various landmark locations throughout Venice. Many countries have announced their participation in the biennale. The Belgian pavilion will be transformed by an exhibition titled "Building Biospheres for the 19th Biennale Architettura. Similarly, the Türkiye Pavilion has announced their project, "Grounded," curated by Ceren Erdem and Bilge Kalfa. Finally, Iceland has presented Lavaforming, a project led by architect Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
