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—the Venice Biennale, from May 24 to November 23, 2025.
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 expands cultural knowledge around contemporary architecture on Inuit Nunangat lands.
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.
FIELD+ is a research and design collective that brings together AKAFLDWRK, 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.
Led by bio-designer 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 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?
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.
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 selection committee is comprised of the following members:
Aziza Chaouni, architect, principal, Aziza Chaouni Projects (Toronto/Morocco)/associate professor, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)
David Garneau, Métis painter, curator and critical art writer/professor, Visual Arts Department, University of Regina (Regina, Saskatchewan)
Sepake Angiama, curator and educator/artistic director, Institute for International Visual Art (London, United Kingdom)
Daniel Pearl, architect, principal, L’OEUF Architectes (Montréal)/Professor, School of Architecture, University of Montréal (Montréal, Quebec)
Siamak Hariri, architect, founding partner, Hariri Pontarini Architects (Toronto, Ontario)
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. Learn more about Canada’s representation at the Venice Biennale. For more information about the Canada Council for the Arts, visit canadacouncil.ca.