CARLO RATTI to curate THE 19th Venice Architecture Biennale

 

La Biennale di Venezia’s Board of Directors has announced Carlo Ratti as the curator for the upcoming International Architecture Exhibition, The Biennale Architettura 2025. This 19th edition is scheduled to run from May 24 to November 23, 2025. President Roberto Cicutto recommended the appointment, which received support from Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the President of La Biennale di Venezia for the term spanning March 2024 to 2027. In response to the announcement, Ratti shared: ‘We architects like to think we are smart, but real intelligence is everywhere. The disembodied ingenuity of evolution, the growing power of computers, and the collective wisdom of the crowd. To face a burning world, architecture must harness all the intelligence around us. I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to curate the Biennale Architettura 2025.’

carlo ratti named curator of venice architecture biennale 2025
portrait of Carlo Ratti, image by Sara Magni

 

 

 

Carlo Ratti: shapING Architecture, Urbanism, and Innovation

 

Carlo Ratti, an architect and engineer, holds teaching positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Politecnico di Milano. He serves as the director of the Senseable City Lab and is a founding partner of CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, with offices in Torino, New York City, and London. Ratti completed his education at the Politecnico di Torino, École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, and pursued further studies, including an MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge. His doctoral thesis was completed as a Fulbright Scholar at MIT.

Recognized as one of the leading scholars in urban planning, Ratti has co-authored more than 750 publications, including the recent Atlas of the Senseable City published by Yale University Press in collaboration with Antoine Picon. He is a frequent presenter at TED and regularly contributes opinion essays to several esteemed international media outlets such as The New York Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Project Syndicate, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, and El Pais. Additionally, he holds the position of Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization.

 

Carlo Ratti’s involvement in curatorial projects spans various countries and prestigious platforms. He has held roles such as program director at the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow, curator of the BMW Guggenheim Pavilion in Berlin, and curator of the Future Food District pavilion at Expo 2015 Milan. Furthermore, he served as the chief curator of the 8th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen (UABB) in 2019, co-curator of the second Porto Design Biennale in 2021, and Creative Mediator for the acclaimed Urban Vision at the European Nomadic Biennale Manifesta 14 Prishtina in 2022. Ratti’s architectural work has been displayed in prominent venues such as New York City’s MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art), La Biennale di Venezia (International Architecture Exhibitions), the Design Museum in Barcelona, the Science Museum in London, and MAXXI in Rome. Notably, three of his projects – the Digital Water Pavilion, the Copenhagen Wheel, and Scribit – were recognized by TIME Magazine among the ‘Best Inventions of the Year’.

carlo ratti named curator of venice architecture biennale 2025
image by Andrea Avezzu, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia (also full header image)