The festival welcomes Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Few art festivals have a global reach. That’s just one of the many reasons that the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025 in Venice, Italy, is special. La Biennale di Venezia is more than 130 years old, and the spin-off is now in its 19th edition. Running from 10 May to 23 November, it welcomes artists from around the world, including Saudi Arabia, UAE and, for the first time, Oman.
La Biennale di Venezia is a cultural institution which dates back to 1895. The festivals include the Biennale Musica, Venice Biennale of Architecture, Venice Dance Biennale and Venice Film Festival. And, of course, the prestigious Biennale Arte 2024, which is commonly referred to as the Venice Biennale.
Every two years, the Biennale Arte welcomes artists from around the world. Previous artists have included Hans Ulrich Obrist, Pablo Picasso and Peggy Guggenheim. The Arsenale and Giardini are home to national pavilions, which are managed by a country’s Ministry of Culture. It’s like the Olympics of art, and an artist is put forward to represent a country.
Venice Biennale of Architecture features over 750 participants, including architects, artists, chefs, coders, engineers, mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, and writers. This year’s theme is: Natural Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Collective Intelligence. The exhibition culminates with the theme Out, and asks if space is a solution to the crises we face on Earth.
Biennale Arte’s curator Carlo Ratti explained: “The Exhibition will search for a path forward, proposing that intelligent solutions to pressing problems can take many forms. It will present a collection of design proposals and many other experiments, exploring a definition of “intelligence” as an ability to adapt to the environment with limited resources, knowledge, or power.”
Biennale Arte’s President, Roberto Cicutto, added: “An itinerary in the form of a mandate for the year 2025. In which every section is wilfully sealed with a question mark, the punctuation of possibilities and thus abode of the future. The answers to these questions will lay the foundations for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition.”
The Middle East at the Venice Biennale of Architecture
The UAE was the first country in the Middle East to participate in the Biennale Arte. In 2009, the first exhibition explored the country’s developments. Over the years, the exhibitions have ranged from Nujoom Alghanem’s installations on displacement to Kenichi Teramoto and Wael Al Awar’s take on sustainable cement. And in 2021, the UAE was awarded the Golden Lion for the Best Participation at La Biennale Architettura – the Oscars of the art world.
Emirati architect Azza Aboualam has made her mark as the first Emirati female curator at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Pressure Cooker investigates the relationship between architecture and food production in the UAE and proposes solutions for sustainable food production. The artwork reimagines the greenhouse and offers a different perspective on food security regionally and globally.
Saudi Arabia first participated in Biennale Arte in 2011, and is also participating in Venice Biennale of Architecture. The Um Slaim School: An Architecture of Connection has been curated by Beatrice Leanza. The project draws inspiration from the architectural heritage in the capital, Riyadh. The exhibition explores how place shapes everyday stories. Taking Riyadh as a case study, it features images, films, models and writings.
Oman has made its debut at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Omani architect Majeda Alhinai created the work Traces. She explains: “Traces is about designing for interaction and memory. Architecture, at its core, is a social framework. This project proposes the Sablah not just as a typology from the past, but as a living model for collective futures”.
Participating countries also include Albania, Great Britain, Morocco, Uzbekistan and more.
Tickets are available now for the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
GO: Visit www.labiennale.org for more information.