The Croatian Pavilion presents "Intelligence of Errors" at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, an artistic and research-driven project that repositions spatial and policy-related errors as generative tools for design. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the exhibition is curated by Ida Križaj Leko, a practicing architect and head of the interdisciplinary university specialist program Urban Studies at the University of Rijeka. In dialogue with the central Biennale theme, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the pavilion investigates how recognizing and analyzing errors can contribute to the development of collective intelligence under non-ideal conditions.
Rather than approaching errors as flaws to be corrected, Intelligence of Errors examines them as byproducts of human actions or omissions that shape the environment. The project invites a shift in perspective, toward staying with the error and learning from it, as a means to reveal the friction between design intentions and reality, and to open space for alternative futures. The concept builds on Error Harvest, an educational framework developed for navigating complex socio-technological and spatial systems. It provides adaptable methods for working with errors, not as setbacks, but as points of resistance that offer insight into systemic conditions. This approach allows for the creation of new knowledge and design strategies that respond to context-specific challenges.
In Venice, Intelligence of Errors is grounded in phenomena and practices emerging from the Croatian architectural context, while also addressing patterns of error that recur across geographies. The project invites broader engagement, suggesting that every locality contains both unique and shared design challenges that can inform collective thinking. The pavilion's spatial manifestation, housed in the Arsenale, takes the form of the Institute of Errors, a mobile research and design entity. Functioning as the core of the exhibition, the Institute brings together architects, planners, researchers, engineers, and other actors to contribute to an evolving body of knowledge. Central components include the Repository of Errors and three Imaginariums, which together serve as tools for investigation and platforms for reimagining how errors might inform future practices.
The Repository is a newly established analogue and digital archive that classifies spatial errors into three categories: Products, Resources, and Surplus. Though it begins with a focus on the Croatian context, the Repository is conceived as an evolving platform with international applicability. The three Imaginariums propose design responses to selected errors from each category. "Wicked Product" reconsiders the informal logic behind illegal vacation settlements to reimagine tourist infrastructure. "Resource Freezone" transforms underutilized brownfield sites into experimental zones for shared use. "Layering Surplus" explores the architectural potential of waste and excess in developing climate-resilient modes of habitation. Together, these speculative projects offer alternatives to dominant top-down planning practices, advocating for more adaptive, inclusive, and situated approaches to the built environment.
"Intelligence of Errors" joins a broader conversation unfolding at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, where national pavilions are exploring how traditional, digital, and collective forms of intelligence can inform architectural practice in the face of global uncertainty. Serbia Pavilion's Unraveling: New Spaces expresses special care for materials and calls for rethinking architecture as impermanent and adaptable, Lebanese Pavilion presents The Land Remembers, an exploration of ecocide and environmental healing, and Portugal Pavilion's Paraíso, hoje envisions a future of inclusive, plural, and imaginative intelligences that move beyond the current focus on AI.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
