Dark Clouds: Architectures of Security, Resistance and Solidarity
Polish Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
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At this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale, a few of the exhibitions in the national pavilions focus on the theme of security. Each approaches it differently: by reflecting on fears and real threats, mental safety, protective infrastructures, and grassroots resistance practices or ways of building resilience. The fact that these exhibitions represent countries from the same geographical region is no coincidence.
On the last day of the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2025, we invite the public to take part in an event whose point of departure is the exhibitions in the Polish, Ukrainian and Latvian pavilions. The Polish Pavilion – Lares and Penates – focuses on the technical and cultural means through which we construct a sense of safety through architecture. Landscape of Defense in the Latvian Pavilion presents the defense infrastructure of NATO's external border from the perspective of residents of border areas. The Ukrainian Pavilion – DAKH (ДАХ): Vernacular Hardcore – explores intersections between traditional building methods and improvised constructions during times of war; as well as the necessary intersection between practices of reconstruction, displacement and resistance. The program will culminate in a short DJ set/sound performance – Dakh Components: Hardcore Odesa Signals – by Nikolay Karabynovych.
The event is coorganized by the teams of Polish and Ukrainian Pavilions, with the support of Razom for Ukraine.
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10.05 – 23.11.2025Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in ArchitectureFrom the very beginning, architecture’s primary role has been to protect. The set of anxieties that accompany its inhabitants has evolved – people still turn to architecture to seek shelter from weather or the elements, but nowadays they also contend with climate catastrophe, wars or the prospect of mass migration. Does architecture have the tools to protect us from adversity? What practices taken from the construction and use of buildings can we employ to provide us with sense of security?
Polish Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di VeneziaPolish Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia