The official Brazilian representation at the 18. International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with the project Terra [Earth] has received the main prize from the international jury of the exhibition.

The show is curated by Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares and features the participation of the Mbya-Guarani Indigenous people, Tukano, Arawak and Maku Indigenous peoples, Tecelãs do Alaká (Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá), Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká (Casa Branca do Engenho Velho), Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, Ayrson Heráclito, Day Rodrigues with collaboration of Vilma Patrícia Santana Silva (Grupo Etnicidades FAU-UFBA), Fissura collective, Juliana Vicente, Thierry Oussou and Vídeo nas Aldeias.

According to the Venice Biennale jury, the Brazilian Pavilion was victorious for presenting “a research exhibition and architectural intervention that center the philosophies and imaginaries of Indigenous and Black population towards modes of reparation”.

On receiving the award, the curators Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares said: “We are very happy to have received this opportunity, inspired by Lesley Lokko, to present Brazil as a diasporic territory, with great ancestral contributions by the Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous communities. We believe that those are the technologies that must form part of the solutions to create a different and more egalitarian future for humanity and to restore and protect our natural world.”

The realization of the Brazilian Pavilion is a result of a concerted effort by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo and the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of Brazil.

For José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, President of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo and commissioner of the Brazilian Pavilion, “it is a great honor to have organized this exhibition with curators Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares, who were invited by Fundação Bienal de São Paulo due to their impactful work with Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous cultures, which is now internationally recognized by the Biennale di Venezia. Congratulations to the curators and to all the different projects and communities that are represented in Terra!”.

The Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, who was present at the opening ceremony of the Brazilian Pavilion, says: “We are very happy with this award that repositions Brazil in the international architectural scene with the exhibition Terra, a show that brings to the Biennale di Venezia the origins of our country. Congratulations to curators Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares, and to all who worked with our pavilion. And congratulations to Brazil! Long live Brazilian culture!”

The winners were selected by a jury made up of Italian architect Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Palestinian architect Nora Akawi and American curator Thelma Golden, alongside co-editor of Cityscapes Magazine Zimbabwean Tau Tavengwa and Polish architect Izabela Wieczorek. The 18. International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia has as a central theme The Laboratory of the Future and is curated by Lesley Lokko, Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist.

Know more about the winning exhibition on La Biennale di Venezia‘s website.

Know more about Terra on the exhibition’s website.