The 19th edition of one of the world's most renowned architectural events opens to the public this week. The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. and curated by Carlo Ratti, will run from Saturday, May 10, to Sunday, November 23, 2025. This year's edition stands out for both its scale and its expanded range of venues, partly due to the ongoing renovation of traditional sites such as the Central Pavilion in the Giardini. The event is set to transform Venice into what the curator describes as "a living laboratory."
The inauguration ceremony, to be held on May 10, will also feature the announcement of the official awards by the International Jury, chaired by Hans Ulrich Obrist and composed of Paola Antonelli and Mpho Matsipa. On this occasion, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement will be presented to philosopher Donna Haraway, while the Special Golden Lion in Memoriam will honor the late architect Italo Rota. Alongside the international exhibition, national participations and a broad range of special events will explore the Biennale's invitation, making this one of the most extensive architecture exhibitions in the Biennale's history.
The Biennale curated by Carlo Ratti calls for a paradigm shift in architectural practice, moving from climate mitigation to adaptation in response to the accelerating environmental crisis. Formed through an open curatorial process and the global Space for Ideas platform, the exhibition brings together over 300 contributions from more than 750 participants across generations and disciplines, championing collective intelligence and inclusive authorship. Organized around the themes of Natural, Artificial, and Collective Intelligence, the International Architecture Exhibition features modular, interconnected installations that address real-world challenges and culminate in Out—a section that turns to space exploration as a conceptual framework for confronting Earth's crises. The main exhibition is housed in the Arsenale, with additional projects and events taking place throughout the city of Venice.
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In this edition, 65 nations will present exhibitions across the Giardini (26 pavilions), Arsenale (25), and other venues in the city center (15), including first-time participants from Azerbaijan, Oman, Qatar, and Togo. Each national exhibition is independently organized and funded by its respective government or cultural body, and is not required to follow the central curatorial theme, allowing for a wide range of interpretations and approaches. Due to ongoing renovations, some countries, such as France and Brazil, have adapted their strategies or relocated their exhibitions. Among national pavilions is also the Holy See's Opera Aperta at Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, and the City of Venice's pavilion, Libraries. Building Venetian Intelligence, transforming the Giardini space into a symbolic collective library. In addition, La Biennale di Venezia presents this year two Special Projects: Margherissima, an urban prototype for Forte Marghera led by students of the Architectural Association (London) with Nigel Coates; and On Storage, the Pavilion of the Applied Arts curated by the V&A Museum and DS+R, which examines the architecture of storage through a new six-channel film titled Boxed.
The International Architecture Exhibition and National Pavilions are accompanied by 11 Collateral Events approved by the curator and organized by non-profit institutions worldwide. These events, held in various locations throughout Venice, contribute complementary perspectives to the main exhibition. Running in parallel with the Biennale exhibitions is GENS, the official public programme designed to engage a wide audience through conferences, workshops, and activations that explore human adaptation to global challenges. Developed in collaboration with international institutions such as COP30, C40, and the Davos Baukultur Alliance, GENS began on May 8 with workshops at the Speakers' Corner in the Corderie dell'Arsenale. Designed by Christopher Hawthorne, Johnston Marklee, and Florencia Rodriguez, the Speakers' Corner will also host Restaging Criticism, a series of events on contemporary architectural critique. The GENS programme will be continuously updated on the Biennale's website.
As a complement to the professional events and exhibitions, the event comprises three main educational initiatives: Biennale College Architettura, the Educational Programme, and the Biennale Sessions. Launched in 2023, Biennale College Architettura is a student competition supporting professionals under 30, providing them mentorship and visibility. For the 2024-25 edition, eight winning projects were selected from over 200 applicants from 49 countries and will be exhibited, out of competition, at the International Architecture Exhibition. Alongside this, La Biennale's Educational Programme offers activities designed to actively engage audiences, including students, families, professionals, and educators, through guided tours, interactive workshops, and hands-on experiences led by trained facilitators. Complementing these efforts, the Biennale Sessions initiative provides universities, academies, and higher education institutions with tailored three-day group visits, logistical support, and access to workshop spaces within the exhibition venues.
A special project titled Intelligent Venice: la più antica città del futuro, organized by the Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF) in collaboration with La Biennale di Venezia, represents a commitment to environmental resilience. Located in the Arsenale, the exhibition explores Venice as a centuries-old model of adaptation, where historical ingenuity and contemporary technology have enabled survival in a fragile ecosystem. This project aligns with The Biennale's broader climate action strategy, launched in 2021, which reconsiders all institutional activities through the lens of environmental sustainability. With visitor mobility identified as the main source of emissions, awareness campaigns will be deployed to promote sustainable attendance. Complementing these efforts is the Circular Economy Manifesto, introduced by curator Carlo Ratti in collaboration with Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which calls for a transformative design approach minimizing waste, recirculating materials, and regenerating natural systems.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
