The 19th International Architectural Exhibition “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” closed today, Sunday 23 November 2025. Venice Biennale, curated by Carlo Ratti, with 298 thousand tickets sold (+5% in 2023), in addition to 17,584 spectators during the pre-opening days. Thus, this Architecture Biennale became the most watched Architecture Biennale considering the high pre-opening visitor participation compared to the record for the 2021 edition. There were 758 architects invited to the International Exhibition and 303 participating projects.
Therefore, the president of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, commented on the results: “In recent months, researchers, professionals and families have gathered in the Corderie dell’Arsenale and Giardini of the Venice Biennale to celebrate – through the Carlo Ratti Architecture Exhibition – a moment of participatory knowledge and growth. The projects on display and the ‘Gens Public Programme’ initiative have provided visitors with valuable tools to understand our complex times. Greeted with stunning public success – also considering the closure for the restoration of the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, which will be restored and renewed for the 2026 Art Biennale – from now on the International Architectural Exhibition is organized and therefore belongs to the Future, the time of all of us, Gens endowed with Intelligence”..
Curator Carlo Ratti himself stated: “I am very pleased with the success of the Architecture Biennale. The Public Program also recorded an extraordinary participation, with hundreds of workshops constantly enlivening the Speakers’ Corner in the Arsenale. Thousands of participants took turns on the stage, united by the call of collective intelligence, the central theme of this edition. However, the true legacy of the Biennale is not measured by its immediate popularity, but by what remains over time. I therefore propose two criteria. The first relates to its impact on architectural practice. This year’s theme invites us to mobilize everything the form of intelligence that we have to face climate change and adapt the built heritage to new environmental conditions, correcting the mistakes of the past accepting bold and experimental challenges, going beyond the limits of their daily practice from Pietrangelo Buttafuoco: together we share an extraordinary adventure”.
50% of visitors to the 2025 Architecture Biennale come from abroad and 50% from Italy. The presence of the younger generation and students under 26 years old was quite significant, amounting to more than 84,000 or the equivalent of 28% of the total visitors. There were 996 participants in the Fragile Category Project for the Accessible Biennial (71 groups). These data confirm the Biennale’s ongoing attention to activities related to the accessibility of cultural heritage and especially contemporary art to people with disabilities or in situations of social difficulty or marginalization.
Three inmates from the penitentiaries of Venice, Padua and Treviso took part in the 2025 Architecture Biennale, carrying out work activities included in the multi-year Venice Biennale project, created in collaboration with the Venice penitentiary and with the association Seconda Chance, which operates within the scope of an official protocol with the Penitentiary Administration Department of the Ministry of Justice. This initiative, based on the constitutional principles of re-education and social reintegration, offers temporary work opportunities to prisoners as an integral part of their recovery journey.
There were 2,351 accredited journalists in the pre-opening days alone, of which 1,345 journalists represented all the most important international, generalist and specialist newspapers. In addition, journalists gradually obtain accreditation during the month of Mostra from agencies, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and online publications. Press reviews provide extensive coverage across geographic regions, with more than 3,000 articles as well as numerous reports and specials on TV, radio, specialty magazines and international online platforms.
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and the Special Golden Lion for Remembrance, awarded at the suggestion of the Curator, were awarded respectively to the American philosopher Donna Haraway, and to the Italian architect, planner and designer Italo Rota (2 October 1953 – 6 April 2024).
The International Jury, chaired by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Swiss curator, critic and art historian, Artistic Director of the Serpentine in London, with Italian Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design, and founding director of the Research and Development sector of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; and Mpho Matsipa, South African architect, teacher and curator, decided to award the following official prizes: the Golden Lion for the best National Participation in the Kingdom of Bahrain; two special concerns as National Participation in the Holy See and the United Kingdom; Golden Lion for best participation at Canal Café (Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Natural Systems Utilities, Sodai, Aaron Betsky, Davide Oldani); Silver Lion for his promising participation in “Reckoning Empires: Genealogies of Technology and Power Since 1500” (Kate Crawford, Vladan Joler); two special mentions for the participation of “Alternative Urbanism: Self-Organized Markets in Lagos” (Tosin Oshinowo, Oshinowo Studio) and “Elephant Chapel” (Boonserm Premthada).
There were 52,383 (3,205 groups) participants in educational activities and guided tour services; 29,685 young people and students who took part in educational activities; 4,961 teachers were involved in educational activities at the exhibition. 22,698 adults participated in guided tours (+22% compared to 2023). Content published at the 2025 Architecture Biennale on the social platform Facebook,
