“Portugal has a fundamental role in the global world through architecture and its possibilities for social and urban transformation,” stated Dalila Rodrigues. She emphasized the “fundamental role” assigned to architects in Portugal and to those “working outside and for outside of Portugal, both in terms of thought and responses to problems and challenges of the contemporary world, as well as in practice, project, exhibition design, teaching, research, and publishing.”
In her speech in Venice, Dalila Rodrigues also referred to the Lisbon Architecture Triennale as “a great international forum that crosses different fields of knowledge, proposing readings and responses” to current issues, and to the Casa da Arquitetura in Matosinhos, which “has allowed for an increasing projection of Portuguese Architecture,” while also praising the “academic institutions” in the sector, according to the speech text released by her office.
The official representation of Portugal at the International Architecture Exhibition — Venice Biennale this year returns to the Fondaco Marcello building, facing the Grand Canal, with the project “Paraíso. Hoje” (Paradise. Today), consisting of an Atlas with 700 images of the territory and a digital installation sensitive to the movements of visitors.
The project, authored by architects Paula Melâneo, Pedro Bandeira, and Luca Martinucci, and associate curators Catarina Raposo and Nuno Cera, responds to the challenge of this edition of the Venice Biennale – “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” – considering climate change and its impact on the lives of populations.
Dalila Rodrigues described the Portuguese project as “a metaphor for thinking about architecture in its relationship with the territory and the environment, but also architecture as a cultural construction of landscape,” possibly defining “Paraíso, Hoje.”
Just over a year after taking office and less than two weeks before new legislative elections that will result in a new Government, the current Minister of Culture highlighted the importance of “critical thinking as a structuring means in the definition of public policies” for the sector, considering it “fundamental to think and rethink principles and ends, to question, to pose questions and follow paths that may lead to answers […], almost always plural and always provisional.”
Dalila Rodrigues also recalled that “Paraíso, Hoje” was chosen for the first time under her leadership, from an initial phase of an open competition, resulting in the selection of three finalist projects.
This biennale will also feature Portuguese participation with architect João Branco involved in the Spanish Pavilion, which has the theme “Internalities – Architectures for Territorial Balance.”
This pavilion also bears the mark of the Portuguese company ArtWorks in two of its projects: a wooden structure by Carles Oliver and David Mayol, designed to reduce the carbon footprint, and an installation by curators Manuel Bouzas and Roi Salgueiro Barrio, exploring territorial balance with scales, frames, and LedNeon lights.
The Vatican Pavilion is curated by the Portuguese Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça and has the theme “Obra Aberta” (Open Work).
The 19th Venice Architecture Biennale features 66 official representations from different countries. It will open to the public next Saturday and will close on November 23, 2025.
