Venice, Italy’s floating city, is home to an intricate network of canals, St Mark’s Basilica, and the Venice Biennale – one of the oldest and most prestigious cultural celebration in the world.
This year, titled ‘Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.’ 66 nations, countries, and republics (including Qatar, Oman, Togo, and Azerbaijan for the first time ever) exhibit via pavilions. They are showcasing the work of over 750 of the world’s very best creatives ranging from design studios to world-renowned architects – all kinds of creative thinkers – who do their best to answer some of the world’s most pressing questions at the moment, through innovate design and creative solutions. The curator of Venice Biennale 2025, Carlo Ratti, explains the exhibitors will explore “a definition of ‘intelligence’ as an ability to adapt to the environment with limited resources, knowledge, or power.” Unsurprisingly, the climate was at the forefront of many of these designs, as was gender politics and over population.
If you have the chance to visit Venice this year, we really urge you to go to the Biennale. You’ll leave with a new appreciation for the human creative capacity to innovate under difficult circumstances (environmental, social, financial and political), discover new forms, textures, materials and colours. No matter what kind of creative discipline you’re really interested in, there is so much inspiration to be found here.
The Venice Biennale 2025 opens to the public today, 10 May, and will run until 23 November 2025. Prototypes, mock-up sketches, large-scale installations, videos, immersive experiences, and even an Aperol Spritz-making robot later – here is Citizen Femme’s guide to the unmissable exhibits to catch this year.
GIARDINI DELLA BIENNALE
The Giardini della Biennale on Venice’s furthest tip is the original home to the biennale. A large waterside park, this spot now houses many permanent pavilions, which the exhibiting nations fill with work by their most promising talents.
Swiss Pavilion
The Swiss Pavilion is an immediate highlight: five women from the Annexe group have curated this incredible tribute to one of Switzerland’s first ever female architects (and one of the country’s very best) the late Lisbeth Sachs. In her time (the mid 1900s), Sachs designed Kunsthalle art gallery. Kathrin Füglister, Amy Perkins and Myriam Uzor from Zurich (in collaboration with artist Axelle Stiefel and graphic designer Elena Chiavi) are bringing her modernist style back to life in a tribute Lisbeth Sachs, and also to draw attention to the stark gender inequalities in the industry. Exploring the collective memory and “presence”, different snippets of storytelling inside the installation will create a soundscape to accompany the meaningful design.
Australia Pavilion
Although halfway across the world, the Australian exhibit focussed on “Home”. This year, the national pavilion spotlighted indigenous knowledge systems and architecture, to draw attention to the communities that play a significant part in the nation’s past, present, and, undoubtedly, future. Conceived by the Creative Sphere of First Nations architects, a sandpit formed the centre of the exhibition – to add a sensory aspect – while sculptural pieces by over 100 students lined cabinets around the walls.
Germany Pavilion
“Stress testing” is at the heart of Germany’s exhibit this year, titled STRESSTEST. This isn’t some sort of maths exam, rather a very stark acknowledgement of the severe impacts of climate change on human populations. A large cube emitting heat demonstrates the new climates we are facing – accompanied with several charts and diagrams showing how many degrees temperatures are rising across the world. How will we live in these cities when they become unlivable? Germany’s solution is concrete, creative, and political, but most of all, it demands immediacy.
Brazil
Earlier this year, new studies and research found advanced ancient agricultural systems and ancient civilisations in the Amazon. Taking inspiration from this clever Amazonian architecture, Eder Alencar, Matheus Seco, and Luciana Saboía turn back towards these simple (yet innovative) and sustainable methods as solutions for the future, which faces overpopulation and many, many climate issues.
Great Britain Pavilion
In a UK-Kenya collaboration, Owen Hopkins, Dr Kathryn Yusoff, Kabage Karanja, and Stella Mutegi have joined forces to intersect a larger range of disciplines and geographies, allowing the UK’s established presence at the biennale to give attention to the innovative work of many Kenyan creatives. Titled Double Vision, the UK’s pavilion is covered in strings of large clay beads made from agricultural waste, to represent the displacement caused by colonialism. Architecture and colonialism have never been separate, and this idea continues throughout the exhibit.
Serbia Pavilion
Serbia has a rich history with wool, the basis of traditional clothing, furnishings, and more. So, Serbia exhibited a room swathed in intricately knitted white wool, strung from the ceiling, hand-knitted by humans in clever patterns. It might look deceptively simple, however solar panel-powered machines are unravelling this hard work over the course of the biennale, until nothing is left. What does this say about the relationship between humans and machines?
ARSENALE
Arsenale is the second main location for the Venice Biennale, housed in waterside warehouses and old ship docks.
Uzbekistan Pavilion
Courtesy of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF)
Walk into the brick-walled warehouse space that is Uzbekistan’s pavilion, and a large mirrored piece of engineering glares back at you. This is the ‘Sun Heliocomplex’ originally designed and built in 1987, one of the USSR’s biggest scientific endeavours. Modernist scientific structure – and the sun – is at the heart of this installation, and how science has always been used to look to the future.
Oman Pavilion
Surrounded by lots of pavilions looking forward to newness, Oman’s pavilion – the country’s first ever exhibit at Venice Biennale – looked back to the nation’s history. A sablat is an ancient community in Oman, describing the architecture of historic houses and villages, and curator Majeda Alhinai looks at these models as a way of promoting community via cultural exchange in the future.
UAE Pavilion
“Pressure Cooker” – the UAE’s pavilion for 2025 – questions sustainable food production, whether the demand is increasing (as our population increases) but lands – especially in the Middle East – become increasingly arid. Currently the fast demand in overconsumption and overpopulation compared to the natural cycles of growing our ingredients is jarring. Food scarcity is a threat, feeling more real by the day, and so the need for sustainable food production is as important as ever. Azza Aboulam (another amazing female designer) is the clever curator behind the installation, featuring food grown in these new design solutions.
COLLATERAL
Collateral events aren’t part of the core programme, but take place around Venice, and are available to visit over the course of the biennale.
SITU x Fondazione Prada
In the grand 18th century Palazzo Ca’ Corner della Regina (which now houses Fondazione Prada’s presence in Venice) 300 rare images, documents, texts, videos, and more span almost 1,000 years of history examining an incredible range of topics: health, environment, migration, war …
Fondation Cartier
Le Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain is housing an incredible in-depth look at the architect, Jean Novel’s, new commission for a future site at Place du Palais Royal in Paris. The immersive model features retracting spaces and interactive tools.
UNESCO x Royal Commission for AlUla
This joint collaboration proposes over 50 visitor centres for UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, and Global Geoparks all proposing new creative solutions for interacting with – and conserving – these places of history.
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