2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture Shortlist

The Canada Council for the Arts is pleased to announce the shortlist of candidates in the running to represent Canada at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, from May 24 to November 23, 2025.

Those shortlisted have been invited to fully develop their proposals and to participate in an interview with the Commissioner and members of the selection committee.

The Canada Council for the Arts will announce the team and proposal that will represent Canada at the 2025 Venice Biennale of Architecture in May 2024.

Discover the shortlist

Kuujjuaq Air Terminal Building (ATB). Photo by André Leclerc.

Pikkuminartut (Things that you want to own, that are desirable) is a group of mainly Inuit people, organizations, architects, curators, designers and multimedia artists. Through their personal and shared experiences, they have a vibrant history of presenting exhibitions that explore intersections of contemporary architecture, Inuit storytelling and art. This team at the forefront of Inuit expression and architectural co-creation intends to explore how the power and complexity of Inuit storytelling expand cultural knowledge around contemporary architecture on Inuit Nunangat lands.

Half a Concert, New Currency & SHEEEP Studio, August 2022. Photo by Kazeem Kuteyi.

The Mixtape Collective is a diverse crew of cultural instigators who are leading the global discourse in architecture and urbanism as it intersects with and conveys the complexities of multi-disciplined artistic expression. The team is composed of architects, urban planners, artists and cultural curators who are passionate about exploring the intricacies of art, culture and the built environment. The collective is committed to building bridges not just across communities, but across and within practices to reckon with contradictions inherent in contemporary Canadian architecture practice.

Courtesy of AK A

FIELD+ is a research and design collective that brings together AK A/FLDWRK, Andrew King’s 35 years of design and academic research practice and Lev Bratishenko’s 15 years of curatorial practice with a national network of collaborating curators, artists, researchers, teachers and activists who will grow with and through the project’s development. The mandate of the collective is to provoke architecture into responsible action and declaring its positions, and to question the norms of the biennial exhibition format.

Bio-functional living structure capable of carbon sequestration. Photo by Beda Schmid.

Led by biodesigner Andrea Shin Ling, the Living Room Collective is a group of architects, scientists, artists and educators who work at the intersection of architecture, biology and digital fabrication technologies. The collective seeks to move society away from exploitative systems of production to regenerative ones by inventing design methods and processes that centre on natural systems. They intend to use the platform of the Venice Biennale to generate national and international conversations that ask: How does one fabricate a biological architecture? What are the conditions of stewardship? What are the strategies to instigate this at scale, regionally and globally?

Courtesy of KANVA

KANVA + LAURENCE DAUPHINAIS is composed of architects, designers and artists who have demonstrated a commitment to producing innovative and meaningful public projects through social engagement. KANVA, founded by Rami Bebawi and Tudor Radulescu, is an established multidisciplinary architectural firm, engaged in the promotion of a sensitive architecture based on a creative, open design approach. Laurence Dauphinais is a multidisciplinary creator, director, playwright, screenwriter and actor, with an affinity for integration of technology, who has produced interactive and participative narratives.