The Department of Architecture and Design conceived the installation at the entrance to the Padiglione Centrale at the Giardini della Biennale, in collaboration with Barabasi Lab and the Center for Design at Northeastern University (Boston) and with the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Camera di commercio di Torino, Reply and Secap S.p.a.
TORINO, Italy, May 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- La Biennale di Venezia (10 May-23 November 2025) is a key venue for architectural culture, a platform for global debate, criticism and visibility. But what is "behind the scenes" of such a complex event? The curatorial dynamics and the operational process behind the results often elude traditional narratives.
Thanks to an interdisciplinary approach, combining network science, information design, data visualisation and the ethnography of architecture, the special project Constructing La Biennale, developed by the Department of Architecture and Design-DAD of Politecnico di Torino in collaboration with the Barabasi Lab and the Center for Design of Northeastern University in Boston (USA) tells the process behind the next Biennale Architettura "INTELLIGENS. NATURAL. ARTIFICIAL. COLLECTIVE", curated by Carlo Ratti, an alumnus of Politecnico di Torino. The project helps visitors to better understand the complexity of events of this magnitude: starting with the data collection and processing on the history of La Biennale, the installation explores the curatorial process as a collaborative enterprise. Following the work of the curatorial team and using both big-data and ethnographic tools, it captures the complexity behind the "construction" of Biennale.
An all-Turin consortium, including Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Camera di commercio di Torino, Reply and Secap S.p.a., supports the project, which also saw the contribution of the Department of Network and Data Science of the Central European University.
The installation Constructing La Biennale is located in the most significant and visible place of the event, the façade of the Padiglione Centrale at the Giardini: the building, currently under restoration, has been masked with a "counter façade" that welcomes visitors with a 30-metre wide cloud of dots, tracing the history of La Biennale Architettura (1974-2023). The nodes represent designers and collaborators, aggregated to their projects as a collective. Colours provide a vivid representation of how ideas reemerge over time, building a narrative on contemporary architectural design.
Based on this research on the historical evolution of La Biennale Architettura and its intricate ecology, the data of the current edition – e.g. the number of participating architects, the size and origin of the teams, the projects and their themes – were processed in data clusters, maps and diagrams. Another 23-metre wall offers a critical visualisation of the curatorial process of this year's exhibition: Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. The range of selected proposals and projects is explored from an ethnographic point of view: the curatorial team and the many other actors contributing to this edition were interviewed, followed, filmed. The result is an unprecedented representation of a complex network of people, works and themes that have coagulated, stratified (or dissipated) over time.
Thus, invisible negotiations, mediations and technical efforts emerge, but also working materials (sketchbooks, plans, sketches, models, prototypes), as well as the interaction between global networks, local contexts and interdisciplinary diplomacy, which often remains hidden behind the scene.
"The presence of Politecnico di Torino at La Biennale Architettura di Venezia demonstrates Politecnico's great consideration of construction and technological innovation in this sector, which is key for providing concrete answers to the challenges posed by the ecological and energy transition, and sustainability," comments Deputy Rector of Politecnico di Torino Elena Baralis. She then continues: "Our University has coordinated four contributions that converge in La Bienniael's installation: that of Network Science, with the Barabasi Lab in Boston; that of Information Design from Northeastern University; the ethnographic one by Albena Yaneva, and finally the architectural design curated by the designers themselves from the Department of Architecture and Design. A group of excellence from an academic point of view, using quantitative-technological methods based on big data and networks, and qualitative-humanistic methods of the ethnography of architecture”'.
"Since in previous Biennale it was the figure of the curator who attracted most of the attention and emphasis, this time we explicitly announce the presence of a complex machine, made up of over two thousand people, including those who participate, those who curate, those who build and those who promote. This collective intelligence is represented as faithfully as possible by our installation”, said Michele Bonino, Director of the Department of Architecture and Design and curator of the project.
The presence at La Biennale will be an occasion for visibility not only for Politecnico, but for the City of Turin and its tradition in the fields of architecture and construction. This year’s edition sees for the first time an architect from Turin, Carlo Ratti, as the exhibition curator (since 2000, the edition directed by Massimiliano Fuksas, there were no more Italian curators).
As emphasised by Guido Bolatto, Secretary General of the Camera di commercio di Torino: “Thanks to Politecnico and Carlo Ratti, Turin's first curator of the event, there will be a lot of the city of Turin in Venice at the next Biennale, through the installation of the special Construction la Biennale project. A highly visible portal at the entrance to the exhibition, which will highlight our excellence in planning, design, scientific research, telling the story behind the scenes of such a complex event and the value of the people who work there”.
"We have enthusiastically supported this project – concluded Giuseppe Provvisiero, President and CEO of SECAP Spa – not only because we are proud to support the Politecnico’s Department of Architecture and Design for one of the most important cultural events in our country, but above all because we have long chosen to inspire our work with the philosophy of Good Building. We are convinced that the ethical aspect, based on the logics of economic, social and environmental sustainability, must be the foundation of the architecture of the future. Events such as La Biennale play a crucial role in promoting this vision, which also implies a conscious and avant-garde use of technology".
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