The International Jury of the Biennale Architettura 2025

The International Jury of the 19^th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is composed of Hans Ulrich Obrist (President), Swiss curator, critic, and art historian, Artistic Director of the Serpentine in London; Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Director, Research and Development at MoMA in New York; and Mpho Matsipa, South African architect, lecturer, and curator.

The composition of the Jury was approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia upon the recommendation of Carlo Ratti, the Curator of the 19^th Exhibition titled Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. (10 May – 23 November 2025), with the following motivations:

Hans Ulrich Obrist (Switzerland) – President – through his work he has redefined the profound significance of the curator’s role. Through exhibitions, artistic directions and publications, he has championed the duties of openness and co-participation as fundamental principles in the processes of cultural production in the contemporary world. His curiosity across all disciplines, his dialectical flair and talent as a tireless interviewer have placed him at the centre of one of the most extensive international networks of creators of art and architecture. He possesses both historical memory and a future-oriented perspective in equal measure, and will bring these gifts to bear in guiding the jury to formulate its judgment on the works of the participants in the Exhibition.

Paola Antonelli (Italy), Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Director, Research and Development at MoMA in New York, brings into play a deep understanding of the connections between design, technology and society. She has achieved international recognition as a key figure in exploring and defining the new frontiers of design, conceived within an absolutely multidisciplinary framework. The ability of her work to address important social and environmental issues, while speaking a language that is accessible to a wider non-specialist public, resonates closely with the vocation of Biennale Architettura 2025.

Mpho Matsipa (South Africa), an architect, teacher, curator and Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture, was selected to be a member of the jury for her capacity to bring together critical research and the practice of design, exploring the complexity of contemporary urbanism in the African and global contexts. Matsipa earned her Ph.D in Architecture at University of California UC Berkeley and was a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has taught and practiced professionally in the United States, South Africa, Germany and the United Kingdom. She brings a unique perspective to the impact of cultural and political dynamics on architecture, with special attention to urban transformations in South Africa and other countries of the African continent, exploring the potential of cities to be spaces of inclusion and innovation, based on the concept of “spatial justice”.

The International Jury will award the following official prizes:

• Golden Lion for best National Participation
• Golden Lion for best participant in the 19^th International Exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.
• Silver Lion for a promising participant in the 19^th International Exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.

The Jury may also award:

• a maximum of one special mention to National Participations
• a maximum of two special mentions to the participants in the 19^th International Exhibition Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.

The Awards Ceremony will be held in Venice on Saturday, 10^th May 2025.

Hans Ulrich Obrist (1968, Switzerland) is the Artistic Director of Serpentine in London, and Senior Advisor at LUMA Arles. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show World Soup (The Kitchen Show) in 1991, he has curated more than 350 exhibitions. In 2011 he received the CCS Bard Award for Curatorial Excellence, in 2015 he was awarded the International Folkwang Prize, and in 2025 he received the Prix François Morellet. Obrist’s recent publications include 140 Ideas for Planet Earth (2021), Edouard Glissant: Archipelago (2021), James Lovelock: Ever Gaia (2023) Remember to Dream (2023), Worldbuilding: Gaming and Art in The Digital Age (2024) and A Life In Progress (2025).

Paola Antonelli (1963, Italy) joined The Museum of Modern Art in 1994 and is the Museum’s Senior Curator of Architecture & Design, as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research & Development. Her work investigates design in all its forms, from architecture to logos, furniture, and video games, often expanding its reach to include overlooked objects and practices. Her exhibitions, lectures, and writings contemplate design’s intersection and interaction with other fields (from technology and biology to popular culture) and with life – that of individuals, communities, all species, and all planets. Her goal is to promote design’s understanding, until its positive influence on the world is universally acknowledged.  She has lectured all over the world, written many essays and books, and curated shows at MoMA and in other international institutions. In recent years, following the XXII Triennale di Milano – the 2019 Broken Nature, devoted to the idea of restorative design– and the 2020 MoMA exhibition Material Ecology, on the work of architect Neri Oxman, she installed Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design (2022), Refik Anadol: Unsupervised (2022), Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design (2023), and most recently Rafaël Rozendaal: Light (2024) and Pirouette: Turning Points in Design (2025). Since 2014, she has produced a renowned series called MoMA R&D Salons – thematic gatherings demonstrating the potential of museums as R&D departments for society –– and since 2020, together with critic and author Alice Rawsthorn, she has run the podcast and platform Design Emergency, which celebrates design’s crucial role in society and culture. 

Mpho Matsipa (1977, South Africa) is a South African-born architectural theorist, curator, and educator. She is Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Co-Director of Spatial Justice at University College London. Her current research investigates design ecosystems in the aftermath of extractivism, deploying critical methodologies framed through Africa-as-Method and Black Counter-Cartographies. A former Fulbright and Loeb Fellow, Dr. Matsipa has held numerous research fellowships in South Africa. Her curatorial practice spans international platforms, including the African Mobilities exhibition at the Architecture Museum, Pinakothek der Moderne (Munich), Studio-X Johannesburg, and co-curation of the South Africa Pavilion at the 11th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. She has also contributed to key curatorial projects at the Sharjah Architecture Triennale, La Biennale di Venezia and the Lubumbashi Biennale. Dr. Matsipa is the co-founder of The Gathering_SA/Salon, a platform dedicated to African women, femme, and non-binary design practitioners. Her critical essays, podcasts, and spatial storytelling explore the intersections of ecology, diaspora, and subjugated histories across Africa, Europe, and the United States. She is currently working on a serial publication project in collaboration with Chimurenga titled African Mobilities – A Library of Circulations, dividing her time between Johannesburg, London, Lagos, and New York.