Holy See aims to initiate processes at architectural ‘Biennale’

By Maria Milvia Morciano

“To face a world on fire, architecture must be able to harness all the intelligence around us,” said architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale, as he introduced the theme of the 2025 edition of the international exhibition: “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”

Now for the third time, the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education is participating in the event, with a pavilion entitled “Opera Aperta” (“Open Work”). For the first time, the Vatican Pavilion will have a permanent home in the complex of the Ex Casa di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice.

At a press conference presenting the Vatican exhibit, Giovanna Zabotti, Art director and vice-president of Fondaco Italia, curator of the Holy See’s 2025 Pavilion, explained: “In a Biennale led by Carlo Ratti, where the theme is ‘Intelligens,’ the Pavilion responds with the idea of a community intelligence. We asked ourselves how the Pavilion could respond to what the mission, the philosophy of the Pavilion itself wants to express. This is how the ‘Opera Aperta’ project was born, the result of a collective experience involving professionals from all over the world: Mexican, Spanish, and Catalan studios; Austrian collaborators; representatives of the Holy See; and numerous Venetians.”

"This joint effort, "she continued, "aims to recover not only a building, but also a social connection. As Cardinal Mendonça said, quoting the words of Pope Francis: ‘We do not need to occupy spaces, but to inaugurate processes.’ The Holy See Pavilion is a true building site, where architects, communities, associations and visitors to the Biennale are placed in a system.”

Interpretation

Explaining further, Dr Zabotti said, “The theme of restoration has given us the opportunity to work on this common home of ours. The intervention involves a complex of buildings that have been empty for years. We are trying to restore meaning to this silence, through an architectural language of listening and recovery. It is not so much a pavilion to visit, but to inhabit.”

One particularly fascinating aspect of the exhibition space is that it will be covered by a veil: “It will be blindfolded,” like a sick person undergoing treatment, but it will open up at various points of intervention. The visitor will have encounter universal languages such as art, recovery, restoration. An 18th century altar will be restored, with the work taking place day by day under the eyes of the public.

Additionally, a special role has been reserved for music: many spaces will be dedicated to young musicians from Venice and the world, who will be given instruments and will be able to play, having booked in advance. “This place will be inhabited by music, by restoration, by architecture, but above all by those who live these spaces: associations, visitors, communities,” the curator went on to explain.

The protagonists of the project

The studios invited to shape the Vatican Pavilion are Mexico City’s Tatiana Bilbao Estudio and the MAIO collective. There will be many female presences and this is a very important aspect of the exhibit, according to organizers. “We are proposing a pavilion that is also a vision for the future: a concrete reflection on how the Church can contribute to outlining new guidelines in architecture,” Zabotti explained, concluding, “This is a real research, an action of care, of repair. We want to activate processes that bring people together, recovering the memory of those who inhabited these places and offering it to those who wish to experience them today. ‘Opera Aperta’ is not a casual title: it is a real building site, from a social point of view as well.”

Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, said, “The Biennale this year is not just about artificial intelligence, but intelligence in a broad sense: human, natural, collective. Our pavilion reflects on community intelligence, which is often neglected, but fundamental. We are smarter together: we activate understandings and desires that, alone, we could not generate.”

This reflection is deeply inspired by the Encyclical Laudato si', which is ten years old this year. “The words of Pope Francis,” he explained, “are a concrete guide: “The important thing is not to colonise spaces, but to inaugurate processes.” Two words are central to our pavilion: restore and repair.” The Prefect went on to explain the significance of these two words: “Restoring a building that has been closed for years means healing its wounds, but also opening it up to life and relationships. To repair is also to take care of the neighbourhood, of local associations, of links between people, between local and international.”

Hands and hearts

Finally, Cardinal de Mendonça remarked: “To care for an old object, to repair it and open it to the world is a generational act. The building that houses the pavilion was the first hospital for pilgrims in Venice: today it comes back to life, involving people of all ages. Pope Francis reminds us that there is an intelligence of hands and hearts, not just of the mind. With hands, head, and heart, together we build a social and cultural experience. ‘Opera Aperta’ is an invitation to action, an opening to the world.”

A process of repair

Architect Tatiana Bilbao, who chairs the BilbaO Estudio, was also invited to collaborate on “Opera Aperta.” She said, “We are happy to propose a radical idea, which centres architecture as a process of repair. Not only repairing spaces physically, but also socially, in dialogue with the community of Castello.”