The Brazilian Pavilion has been announced as the 2023 Golden Lion winner for national participation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which launched to the public this weekend. The South American country's win came alongside several more honours revealed for more national contributions as well as individual installations in curator Lesley Lokko's main show, and of course the Golder Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2023 which went to Nigerian artist, designer and architect Demas Nwoko.
2023 Golden Lion: Brazilian Pavilion
Co-curators of the Brazilian Pavilion Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares look at notions of decolonisation, national identity, diaspora, indigenous knowledge systems, as well as around Brasília and modernism, while connecting to Lokko's main theme through the vector of the African diaspora. Titled 'Terra', the exhibit draws on the past to compose 'possible futures, focusing on the role of land in shaping our understanding of heritage and identity.'
The pavilion features projects born of Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian knowledge about land and territory, as well as bespoke commissions such as an audio-visual piece by Brazilian filmmaker Juliana Vicente, archival photographs complied by historian Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, the ethno-historical map of Brazil by Curt Nimuendajú, and the Brasília Quilombola map.
The biennale's international jury panel this year was composed of Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli (president, Italy); Nora Akawi (Palestine); Thelma Golden (US); Tau Tavengwa (Zimbabwe); and Izabela Wieczorek (Poland). More awards included a special mention for the British Pavilion, titled 'Dancing Before The Moon'; the Golden Lion for the best participant in the 18th Exhibition 'The Laboratory of the Future', which went to DAAR's Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal; the Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the 18th Exhibition 'The Laboratory of the Future' to Olalekan Jeyifous; and three further special mentions to Twenty Nine Studio / Sammy Baloji, Wolff Architects, and Thandi Loewenson.
