Brazil wins the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale

For the first time in history, the Brazilian Pavilion has become the winner of the Golden Lion at the 18th Venice International Architecture Biennale . The award ceremony, which took place last Saturday (20) at Ca' Giustinian, the headquarters of the Venice Biennale, recognized the project – which was dual curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares – thanks to its "exhibition of research and architectural intervention that centers the philosophies and imaginaries of the indigenous and black population in ways of reparation". With the title " Terra ", the Brazilian Pavilion placed the earth at the center of the debate : both as a poetic and as a concrete element in the exhibition space. In this way, the pavilion – completely grounded – puts visitors in contact with so-called ancestral architectures , that is, those created by indigenous, quilombola and sertanejo communities, as well as Candomblé temples ; therefore, directly meeting the theme of the 2023 Venice Biennale, " Laboratory of the Future ". This is also the first time that the Venice Biennale has put the spotlight on Africa and the African diaspora . With the motto “it is impossible to build a better world if we do not first imagine it”, the exhibition does not aim to portray a single story, but to tell “several stories that reflect the dazzling and unnerving kaleidoscope of ideas , contexts, aspirations, and meanings that respond to the questions of their time”, in the words of Lesley Lokko, a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic and novelist, who curated the event this year.

Regarding the project, the curators said: “Our curatorial proposal starts by thinking about Brazil as land . Land as soil, fertilizer, ground and territory. But also land in its global and cosmic sense, as a planet and common home for all human and non-human life. Land as memory, and also as future , looking at the past and heritage to expand the field of architecture in the face of the most pressing contemporary urban, territorial and environmental issues.” On social media, Gabriela de Matos , the first black curator in the history of the Brazilian pavilion, said: " I have been thinking for some time how important it would be for the global architecture scene to know about Afro-Brazilian architecture, which emerges from the African diaspora and unfolds in a unique way of being and doing. (...) Well, here we are, just two days after the opening of “Terra”, the exhibition that is the result of this reverence for this ancestral knowledge and forms, and so the recognition of this comes through the Golden Lion for best national participation for our Brazilian pavilion." The voting jury for the 2023 Venice Biennale included Italian architect and jury president Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli ; Nora Akawi from Palestine; American Thelma Golden ; Tau Tavengwa from Zimbabwe; and Izabela Wieczorek from Poland.