The curatorial proposal for the 2025 Triennale will address the question How heavy is a city? (How heavy is a city?). Combining architectural, art and science projects, spatial and territorial analysis, its main intention is to create an environment conducive to discussions that point to an understanding of how architecture, cities, technology and the biosphere can interact.
Today, measuring the city or asking how much it weighs is starting to outline a new configuration, where we share responsibilities with its agents, shaping and changing the Earth. The boundaries of the city have been redefined and in this process of transformation we look at questions about what the city is today and the role that architecture can play. Asking how heavy a city is means opening a space for research on architecture, its agency, design and cohabitation. It is to establish a new unit for evaluating discipline.
The winning proposal is curated by Ann-Sofi Rönnskog and John Palmesino, who founded the Territorial Agency, a UK-based organization that combines architecture, analysis, advocacy and action to intervene in contemporary territories. With work exhibited at leading events such as the Chicago Biennale (with Greenpeace), DOCUMENTA11, COP26 Glasgow and the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale, among many others, the duo received, in 2021, the Grand Prix of the European Commission STARTS Prize 2021, dedicated to interdisciplinary projects that combine science, technology and the arts, for the Oceans in Transformation study.
José Mateus, president of the Triennale says: “Six editions past and more than 15 years after our founding in 2007, we are once again directing our gaze towards the constantly changing city, as this time of the Great Acceleration reveals to us. A 7th edition that will function as an experimental place for the development of knowledge about the Technosphere, making room for cutting-edge technologies, through research, cooperation and debate between figures, independent project teams and academic institutions from around the world. ”
Following the international call for proposals, the Triennale received a total of 29 curatorial proposals from 15 different countries, of which 23 came from European countries, with 4 proposals coming from Portugal, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, 3 proposals from Italy, 2 proposals from France, Germany and Mexico, and one proposal from Austria, Belgium, Chile, South Korea, Slovenia, Spain, India and the USA
The last Lisbon Triennale, which took place from September 29 to December 5, 2022, had more than 64,000 visitors who came to discover the four exhibitions and other proposals and initiatives by Terra, an edition curated by Cristina Verissimo and Diogo Burnay.