The Laboratory of the Future: Biennale Architettura 2023 returns to Venice

Curated by Lesley Lokko, Scottish architect, professor of architecture and writer with Ghanaian citizenship, the eighteenth Biennale Architettura returns to the lagoon city and will bring to the city the works of 89 participants (over half of whom from Africa or the African diaspora) who will exhibit their projects on the theme of change.

The Exhibition, which will be divided into six parts, will be a kind of workshop, a laboratory where architects and practitioners across an expanded field of creative disciplines will draw out examples from their contemporary practices that will chart a path for the audience to weave through, imagining for themselves what the future can hold. “After two of the most difficult and divisive years in living memory, architects have a unique opportunity to show the world what we do best: put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common.” (statement from curator Lesley Lokko).

64 National Participations will organize their exhibitions in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini (27), at the Arsenale (22) and in the city centre of Venice (14). Niger will participate for the first time at the Biennale Architettura.

The Exhibition program will be enriched by Carnival, a six-month-long cycle of events, lectures, panel discussions, films, and performances, that explore the themes of the Biennale Architettura 2023. Politicians, policymakers, poets, filmmakers, documentary makers, writers, activists, community organisers and public intellectuals will share the stage with architects, academics, and students. This public event programme is increasingly a form of architectural practice that attempts to bridge the gulf between architects and the public.

The venues of the Biennale can be reached in a few vaporetto stops from the Venice Lido. Here all the information.