Competition
Results of the competition for a curatorial project of the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice in 2025
The Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Hanna Wróblewska, has accepted the Jury’s recommendation of the winning project Lares and penates. On building a sense of security in architecture, presented by curator Aleksandra Kędziorek, featuring Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska and Maciej Siuda to be shown at the Polish Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice (La Biennale di Venezia) in 2025.
The second stage of the competition for a curatorial project of the exhibition in the Polish Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice took place on 28 October 2024 at Zachęta — National Gallery of Art. he Jury, appointed by Hanna Wróblewska, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, included: Anna Barlik, Anna Cymer, Michał Duda, Marlena Happach, Donata Jaworska, Kacper Kępiński, Ewa Porębska, Bolesław Stelmach, Łukasz Stępnik, Justyna Szylman, Jarosław Trybuś. From 45 exhibition proposals qualified to enter the competition the Jury, in an open vote, selected the project Lares and penates. On building a sense of security in architecture, presented by curator Aleksandra Kędziorek, featuring Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska and Maciej Siuda. The deliberations concluded with the following statement of the Jury:
The entry Lares and penates. On building a sense of security in architecture refers to the tradition of treating architecture as a widely-understood safe haven from elements, catastrophes and wars. Questioning the fact of architecture being able to build safe surroundings, the work recalls both real (technical) and culture-rooted practices giving people the feeling of agency. To what extent are those formal and customary methods of providing a sense of security effective? Are the seemingly irrational elements able to bring a new view of the future of architecture and generate a new repertoire of solutions in the name of creating inteligent practices combining knowledge and intuition?
The entry Uninvited guests, submitted by Adam Przywara, featuring Diana Lelonek, topoScape and Archigrest was selected as the reserve project.
19. International Architecture Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia
10 May–23 November 2025
general curator: Carlo Ratti
Polish participation in the 19. International Architecture Exhibition is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland
In accordance with the provisions of the competition rules, all projects submitted to the competition are made public in the form chosen by the organiser. Exhibition concepts and scenario summaries of all projects are made available, while full scenarios with visualisations are available only with additional consent from the team members.
Documentation of the projects shortlisted for the second stage is published in whole, excluding the cost estimates.
Competition announcement
The Minister of Culture and National Heritage and Zachęta — National Gallery of Art are announcing a COMPETITION for an exhibition project for the Polish Pavilion to be presented at the 19th International Exhibition of of Architecture in Venice in 2025, whose general curator is Carlo Ratti.
The competition is open and made up of two stages. For the first stage, please submit:
- the general concept of the exhibition, stating the main theme,
- an overall visualisation of the exhibition
- an overall cost estimate of the exhibition.
The competition is geared toward all curators or teams of curators interested in taking part. The project curator or at least one person in a curator team should hold:
— a higher education,
— a good knowledge of issues in contemporary architecture, curatorial experience in organizing exhibitions,
— a knowledge of English to a degree facilitating free communication, including giving interviews, guiding curator’s tours.
In the competition procedure, the first and last name of the curator (or curator team) is concealed in both stages (I and II). The competition documentation may provide the names of the artists/architects to be presented in the exhibition. The design proposals submitted at each stage should include a sealed envelope closed with an emblem (a separate envelope for each stage), containing:
— the same emblem – submitted in both stages;
— the first and last name(s) of the curator(s) – submitted in both stages;
— address, email address and telephone number of the curator(s) – submitted in both stages;
—CV of the curator(s), with the following information: education, experience in making exhibition designs and level of proficiency in the English language – submitted only in stage II;
— a ‘Curator’s Declaration’, filled in and signed, attachment no. 2 in the Regulations, filled in by each curator – submitted in both stages;
— the ‘Artist’s Statement’, filled in and signed, attachment no. 3 in the Regulations –- submitted only in stage II
The general concepts of all the exhibitions admitted for assessment, submitted in stage I, will be made public after the competition results are announced. The general visualisations of the exhibitions submitted in stage I will only be put on show with the teams’ written consent; the overall cost estimate is not made public.
The deadline for submitting projects for stage I is 20 September 2024. By this date it must arrive at the organiser’s address, at:
Zachęta — National Gallery of Art
Pl. Małachowskiego 3
00-916 Warsaw
in an envelope marked ‘Biennale Architektury 2025’
The planned date for publishing the results of stage I is: 24.09.2024.
The labiennale.art.pl web site will announce the emblems of the teams that qualify for stage II. The project designers should supply the documentation for stage II by 21.10.2024. As the applicants’ names are concealed, the organiser will not be reaching out to participants to submit these documents.
Full conditions and rules of participation in the competition are to be found in the competition regulations.
Downloads:
—competition regulations [pdf]
—floor plan of the Polish Pavilion [zip]
For more information on the competition: Michał Kubiak m.kubiak@zacheta.art.pl, Anna Kowalska a.kowalska@zacheta.art.pl.
19th International Architecture Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia
10 May–23 November 2025
general curator: Carlo Ratti
more on the Architecture Biennale 2025
The title of the Biennale Architettura 2025 is Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. Explaining his choice Carlo Ratti said that «the title of the International Architecture Exhibition is usually announced both in English and in Italian. In 2025 it will be condensed into a single word for both languages via the common Latin precedent: intelligens. The title Intelligens is linked to the modern term “intelligence,” but it also evokes a wider set of associated meanings. In fact, the final syllable, “gens” is Latin for “people”. A new, fictional root emerges, suggesting a future of intelligence that is inclusive, multiple, and imaginative beyond today’s limiting focus on AI.»
«The 19th International Architecture Exhibition will be about the built environment and the many disciplines that shape it. Architecture is at the center – Curator explained – but not alone. It is part of an extended sphere that integrates art, engineering, biology, data science, social and political sciences, planetary systems sciences, and other disciplines – linking each and all of them to the materiality of urban space.
The built environment is one of the largest contributors to atmospheric emissions, placing architecture among the main culprits in the degradation of our planet. As the climate crisis accelerates, must we resign ourselves to this role, or are we still able to offer solutions, substantial and non-cosmetic, effective and quick to achieve?
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.
Objects, buildings, and urban plans will be arranged along the axis of a multiple and widespread intelligence – organized as natural, artificial, collective, and combinations of the three. While some ideas are destined to fail, others may point us toward redemption.
The Exhibition will cast architects in the role of “mutagens” stimulating natural evolutionary processes and sending them off in new directions. Learning from many sciences, this exhibition hopes to accelerate the transformation of the present through fearless trial and error, and to find a better future in the process».
AN EXHIBITION FOUNDED ON FOUR METHODOLOGICAL PILLARS
Transdisciplinarity: architectural projects will be collaborations between multiple professionals, with the objective of advancing scientific knowledge whenever possible.
Living Lab: as the Central Pavillion at the Giardini will be under renovation in 2025, it will be replaced by a number of special projects that will leverage Venice and the outdoor areas of the Biennale Exhibition venues as a Living Lab, merging interacting forms of intelligence.
Space For Ideas: at a time of crisis, we need to embrace a collaborative approach to design. As of May 7, 2024, a public venue for the submission of ideas is open on the website of La Biennale, fostering an expansive heterogeneity of voices, visions, and suggestions.
Circularity Protocol: the Exhibition aims to set unprecedented goals for circularity. A Circularity Manifesto will be developed to define clear directions and a new standard for the future of cultural events.