Lu Wenyu (left) and Wang Shu (right). Image courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
The curators of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2027, Chinese architects Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, today revealed the theme for the 20th International Architecture Exhibition, and it arrives with a title that sounds less like a curatorial statement and more like a direct challenge to the profession: Do Architecture — For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality.
If recent architecture biennales have often leaned toward theory, speculation, and research-heavy installations, the current curatorial team seems intent on pulling the conversation back toward the physical act of building itself. “We believe that architecture is not only something to be discussed but, more importantly, something to be done first-hand,” the curators explained in the announcement. “The philosophy of architecture is a philosophy of how to do: A practice that confronts real reality, in real places, through real construction.” Their framing repeatedly returns to construction, craftsmanship, local materials, and what they describe as “real reality.”
Previously on Archinect: Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu appointed curators of the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale
The curatorial statement also raises a long list of tensions that many architects are already wrestling with daily: “In the face of global climate change, can active and passive approaches to design, strategy, and technology work alongside one another? Can land and architecture coexist? Can more natural materials and local craftsmanship overcome conceptual and technical barriers to stand alongside modern design and construction as their primary components? Can memory and innovation coexist dialectically? Can the efficiency of modern design and construction coexist with slower, more meaningful forms of craftsmanship? Can we resolve the conflict between urban and rural models of development? Is there a way for them to coexist while preserving the vulnerable character of rural areas?”
For Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia, the appeal of Wang and Lu’s approach lies precisely in its resistance to spectacle. In announcing their appointment, he praised the pair for returning architecture “to its most concrete, physical, and essential dimension,” describing their work as a counterpoint to global standardization and image-driven design culture. “Through the reuse of materials, traditional craftsmanship, and slow transformation processes, they propose a vision of architecture that incorporates the past as a living matter of the present.”
The 2027 exhibition will run from May 8 through November 21 across Venice’s usual constellation of Giardini, Arsenale, and citywide venues.
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