"Dezeen killed the traditional form of the biennale" says Venice Architecture Biennale curator

The traditional purpose of an architecture biennale has disappeared, this year's Venice Architecture Biennale curator Carlo Ratti told Dezeen ahead of the event's opening this weekend.

According to Ratti, images and information about interesting projects around the world being widely available online has changed the role of a biennale.

"We could say that Dezeen, amongst others, killed the traditional form of the biennale," Ratti said.

"Traditionally biennales were a place where you would go learn about the best things that people were doing across the planet. But now you can look at that in real time, because you look at that on the internet, on Dezeen, or on social media and so on."

"I love the idea of turning Venice into a petri dish"

This dramatic shift in how information is shared has meant that the biennales have had to change, the Italian architect and engineer said.

"That means that the biennale should have a different role," he said.

"For me, that role is not about showcasing existing knowledge and existing projects, but as a venue to experiment and develop new projects."

Rather than showcasing projects that many people may already be aware of, Ratti hopes to develop new ideas at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale.

"I think of this biennale as a lab – a place where you develop, you don't showcase what already is, but you develop new ideas, you create new teams," he said.

"I love the idea of turning Venice into a petri dish, where you get almost 1,000 people from different disciplines, from different generations, from different countries, coming together and doing things together," he continued.

"What comes out is this kind of great collective experiment."

Opening this week, the Venice Architecture Biennale is the most significant event in the architecture calendar. This year's biennale is themed Intelligens Natural Artificial Collective and will focus on how architecture and cities will adapt to climate change.

"I would say this is a people-focused biennale, because, no doubt, the climate is one of the biggest challenges we all face as people," said Ratti in a previous interview with Dezeen.

Today we have exclusively revealed many of the pavilions at the 2025 biennale, including the British pavilion, the German pavilion and the Danish pavilion.

The Venice Architecture Biennale takes place from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at various locations across Venice, Italy. See Dezeen Events Guide for information about the event, plus other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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