Public Program Padiglione Italia

Public Program

The Sea of Intelligence. Dialogues

Guendalina Salimei, curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, has placed the theme of the sea at the center of the curatorial reflection. Her vision expands the Mediterranean to include the nearby oceans, treating it as a vital element of Italian culture that shapes its coasts and territory. The analysis is focused on the design of the boundary between land and water, understood as an integrated system of architecture, infrastructure, and landscape. This perspective is crucial in an era marked by the profound impacts of climate change, which are also affecting Italy’s coastlines.

The Mediterranean shapes the shores with hundreds of port cities and a territory that stretches far inland: the sea can be felt even from the heights of the Alps and the Apennines. Looking at Italy from the sea means changing one's point of view. Based on this premise, and thanks to a multidisciplinary team of outstanding designers, researchers, and artists, the Italian Pavilion is not just a physical space but a great laboratory of ideas and projects for the future. At the heart of this discussion is the public program The Sea of Intelligence. Dialogues, part of the broader project Terrae Aquae. Italy and the Intelligence of the Sea.

A calendar of events will accompany Terrae Aquae. Italy and the Intelligence of the Sea throughout the entire 2025 Architecture Biennale, from June to November. These initiatives will animate the Italian Pavilion and take place in other Italian cities as well, featuring lectures, presentations, and workshops with authoritative voices from international debates and design practices focused on the sea. The events are conceived and curated by the Italian Pavilion team led by Guendalina Salimei, or proposed by institutions and organizations such as cultural foundations, port authorities, municipalities, regions, local associations, universities, and research centers. The program also includes short thematic series curated by leading figures in architecture and specialized publishing.

The Opening Event

On Monday, June 1st, with strong public participation, the public program The Sea of Intelligence. Dialogues of the Italian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale officially began. The opening event was The earth still sings, a performance and textile installation by artist Thomas De Falco, held at the International Sculpture Park of Villa Fürstenberg in Mestre (Venice), the historic headquarters of Banca Ifis.

In line with the artist’s poetic, the action unfolded through the technique of wrapping, creating a textile sculpture through the interaction of two performers and the symbolic, both present and absent, figure of a child cradled in their arms. The performance was accompanied by the ethereal sounds of soprano Silvia Colombini, forming a bridge between various worlds.

The work celebrates the relationship between land and sea. It symbolizes a connection to the earth—represented by the male figure—and the courage to set sail toward the sea, a metaphor for freedom, embodied by the female presence. The male performer, bound by textile threads like the roots of a tree, holds and supports the female performer who leans forward like a ship’s figurehead, yearning for other shores. In her hands, she holds a dove—a bird that once signaled the return to land for those on the Ark, and today stands as a symbol of peace, more necessary than ever.

The music, composed and performed by Colombini, weaves sea and land together in sound. Her voice underscores the strength of women—seen as pillars, as Mother Nature, as supporters and spokespersons of the world—and highlights the difficulty of achieving goals and victories.