As one of the most important and visited contemporary architecture exhibitions worldwide, the Venice Architecture Biennale extends beyond the grounds of the Giardini and the Arsenale, aiming to engage the entire city in discussions on relevant issues, challenges, and opportunities within the architectural profession. This year's Biennale, curated by Carlo Ratti, explores the theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," inviting visitors to consider how architecture, technology, and nature intersect to shape the future.
As part of this year's event, 11 collateral exhibitions organized by various national and international institutions offer a range of perspectives on topics such as sustainability, cultural landscapes, and adaptive architecture. These exhibitions, spread throughout Venice, contribute to the broader conversation on the evolving role of architecture in addressing global challenges and promoting a more sustainable and interconnected future.
Discover the 11 Collateral Events scheduled for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, along with their respective locations and dates.
Catalonia in Venice_Water Parliaments: Projective Ecosocial Architectures
Docks Cantieri Cucchini, Castello 40/A
10 May – 23 November 2025
Commissioned and produced by Institut Ramon Llull, the exhibition is curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert, Mireia Luzárraga, and Alejandro Muiño. Building on the United Nations' assertion that "the climate crisis is primarily a water crisis," Water Parliaments proposes a redefinition of architectural practice as a multispecies, collaborative endeavor grounded in the interdependence between humans, non-humans, and water systems. The exhibition examines the role of streams, deltas, reservoirs, and wetlands in shaping cultural landscapes, traditional practices, and ecosystems, with a focus on the Catalan, Valencian, and Balearic contexts, while addressing global ecological challenges. The project highlights four key components: "The Laboratories of Futures: More than 100 Local Voices," "The Exhibition at Docks Cantieri Cucchini, Venice," "The Book: 100 Words for Water: A Vocabulary," and "The Atlas: Water Architectures."
Deep Surfaces. Architecture to enhance the visitor experience of UNESCO sites
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, Castello 4930
10 May – 23 November 2025
Organized by UNESCO in partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla, the exhibition presents a selection of visitor centres from UNESCO-designated sites around the world, including World Heritage sites, Biosphere Reserves, and Global Geoparks. Featuring over 50 projects, ranging from newly constructed buildings to adaptive reuse of historical structures, small-scale interventions, and centres under development, the exhibition explores how site-specific architectural solutions engage with the cultural, natural, and social contexts of each location. It explores the role of architecture within broader site management strategies, including heritage conservation, accessibility, local economic engagement, and social inclusion. By positioning visitor centres as potential platforms for education and community engagement, the exhibition aims to reflect on how these spaces can contribute to sustainable development and support responses to contemporary global challenges.
Intelligens. Talent EUmies Awards. Young Talent 2025
Palazzo Mora, Cannaregio 3659
10 May – 23 November 2025
Under the title Intelligens. Talent EUmies Awards Young Talent 2025 is part of the official Collateral Events of this year's Biennale Architettura, with an exhibition and hosting the EUmies Awards Day with the Awards Ceremony and debates. Organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe as part of the EUmies Awards, the exhibition will feature all the shortlisted, finalists, and winning projects. On 19 June, the EUmies Awards Day will take place, featuring the announcement of the winners and the Awards Ceremony.
NON-Belief: Taiwan Intelligens of Precarity
Palazzo delle Prigioni, Castello 4209
10 May – 23 November 2025
Organized by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the collateral event NON-Belief: Taiwan Intelligens of Precarity is curated by Cheng-Luen Hsueh, with co-curators Ping-Sheng Wu, Meng-Tsun Su, and Sung-Chang Leo Chiang, in collaboration with a team from the NCKU Department of Architecture. Aligned with the Biennale's overarching theme, Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the exhibition examines the concept of "precarious intelligens", a form of adaptive knowledge shaped by experiences of natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, and the broader forces of globalization. Rather than viewing precarity solely as a condition of vulnerability, the exhibition proposes it as a framework for critical engagement with global systems.
Parallel Worlds, Exhibition from Macao, China
Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126/A
10 May – 23 November 2025
Commissioned by The Macao Museum of Art, under The Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, the exhibition is curated by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu. Macao's participation explores the city's layered urban fabric as a "cultural landscape." The exhibition interprets Macao through four parallel worlds: its historic core, symbolic casino architecture, modern urban grid, and emerging digital realm, each reflecting the city's navigation between tradition and modernity. Featuring narrative photography by Iwan Baan and installations by students and faculty from the China Academy of Art and the University of Saint Joseph in Macao, the project offers a spatial dialogue that connects cultural memory with future imagination and highlights Macao's evolving role as a site of multicultural exchange and architectural reflection.
Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive
Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126
10 May – 23 November 2025
Commissioned by the Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive is a collateral event of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. Curated by Fai Au, Ying Zhou, and Sunnie S.Y. Lau, the exhibition responds to Chief Curator Carlo Ratti's theme, "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," by exploring the collective intelligence embedded in Hong Kong's under-recognized public infrastructure. Composite buildings, market complexes, estate centres, and vernacular housing, many facing redevelopment, are presented as potential markers of future heritage. Installed across the indoor and outdoor spaces of Campo della Tana, the exhibition features archival materials alongside a bamboo scaffold constructed by Hong Kong's shifu, evoking both the city's circular construction practices and its shared precarity with Venice.
Rooted Transience: AlMusalla Prize 2025
Abbazia di San Gregorio, Dorsoduro 172
10 May – 23 November 2025
Presented by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation as a Collateral Event of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Rooted Transience showcases the winning design of the inaugural AlMusalla Prize 2025 by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with Rayyane Tabet and AKT II, alongside shortlisted entries by AAU Anastas, Asif Khan, Dabbagh Architects, and the Office of Sahel AlHiyari. Curated by Faysal Tabbarah and exhibited at the Abbazia Di San Gregorio, the show examines the musalla, a transient prayer space, as a generative architectural typology rooted in impermanence and adaptability. Full-scale fragments of the winning design, first unveiled at the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, are presented in dialogue with archival materials, exploring how material practices derived from the Saudi date palm can inform sustainable and context-responsive architectural strategies.
The Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain by Jean Nouvel
Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
10 May – 14 September, 2025
As a Collateral Event of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, The Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain by Jean Nouvel offers an in-depth look at the architect's latest commission for the Fondation's future site at Place du Palais-Royal in Paris. Through a large-scale sectional model and immersive display, the exhibition reveals a design conceived as a dynamic tool for exhibition-making, featuring adjustable platforms, retractable ceilings, and responsive architectural elements. Echoing the Fondation's longstanding commitment to architecture as a medium for interdisciplinary dialogue, the project demonstrates how spatial flexibility can support a wide spectrum of contemporary creative practices.
The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology
Palazzo Diedo - Berggruen Arts & Culture, Cannaregio 2386
10 May – 23 November 2025
As a Collateral Event of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology is presented by Berggruen Arts & Culture. Installed across two floors of Palazzo Diedo, the exhibition brings together two leading research initiatives, Antikythera's Planetary Sapience and MIT Architecture's Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet, to explore architecture's role at the intersection of planetary systems, technological transformation, and climate crisis. Antikythera frames the Earth as a computational megastructure through historical artefacts and immersive media, while MIT Architecture presents forty faculty projects that reimagine material, energy, and sustainability paradigms in response to environmental urgencies.
The SKYWALK by Platform Earth
La Fucina del Futuro, Calle San Lorenzo, Castello 5063/B
10 May – 11 September 2025
SKYWALK is presented by Platform Earth and curated by Nadja Romain, organized in partnership with TBA21 Academy's Ocean Space. The exhibition proposes an elevated walkway above the Venetian Lagoon's salt marshes, providing an immersive experience that highlights the area's biodiversity. Designed by artist Petroc Sesti with support from Laura Onofri and the University of Padua, the project aims to enhance public access to these ecologically sensitive areas while contributing to their protection and restoration. Developed in collaboration with architect Ivan Harbour and RSHP, the design focuses on low-impact, high-performance solutions for environmental architecture in Venice.
unEarthed / Second Nature / PolliNATION
Giardini della Marinaressa, Riva dei Sette Martiri
10 May – 23 November 2025
Curated by Dr. Enric Ruiz Geli and Dr. Anne-Lise Velez, and led by the Virginia Tech Honors College, unEarthed / Second Nature / PolliNATION explores the intersection of architecture, nature, and sustainability through a transdisciplinary approach. It focuses on the importance of pollination and interspecies architecture, with an emphasis on the rich biodiversity and traditions of Venice's wetland environments. Through projects and installations, the exhibition aims to foster a positive coexistence between humans and nature, while promoting sustainability and environmental consciousness. It highlights the work of Virginia Tech Honors College students and faculty and features contributions from Cloud 9 Architecture, including a range of global projects addressing issues like climate change and sustainable design.
