The American philosopher Donna Haraway and the Italian architect and designer Italo Rota (2 October 1953 – 6 April 2024) have respectively been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia - Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective. (Giardini and Arsenale, 10 May – 23 November 2025).
The decision was approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, upon recommendation by Carlo Ratti, Curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition.
The awards ceremony and inauguration of Biennale Architettura 2025 will be held on Saturday 10 May at Ca’ Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia. The Exhibition will open to the public on the same day at 11am.
THE MOTIVATIONS
On the decision to award the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Donna Haraway, Carlo Ratti stated: “Donna Haraway is one of the most influential voices in contemporary thought, straddling the social sciences, anthropology, feminist criticism, and the philosophy of technology. Over the past four decades, she has explored, in a multidisciplinary manner and with a constant capacity for linguistic invention, issues such as the impact of technological evolution on our biological nature and the ways in which the environmental context of the Chthulucene redefines the boundaries between human and nonhuman. Haraway invented this definition - after the American writer H.P. Lovecraft - as alternative to the term “Anthropocene” (normally used to define the human impact on Earth) to emphasise the urgency of the co-existence and symbiosis with other species. Donna Haraway, ©Clara Mokri
From whichever route one approaches the convergence of multiple forms of intelligence in shaping our future, the legacy of Donna Haraway will appear. Her work and philosophy, radically critical but simultaneously optimistic and imaginative, are distinguished by their commitment to creating alternative worlds: to constructing positive visions in which the difficulties of the present can be overcome or mitigated through the making of new myths and the cultivation of new kin. Her contributions to the way we understand science, technology, race, gender, geography, and the environmental history of humanity have left indelible marks on the study of each, and their precedence to the notion that natural, artificial, and collective intelligences act together is self-evident. As designers grapple with a rapidly transforming present in which nature, technology, and society all present symptoms of divergence from the world as we know it, Haraway’s theory empowers us and her observations guide us. With gratitude we recognize the lifetime of visionary literature she endows to the future, and we applaud her inspirations to architecture expressed in this exhibition and far beyond”.
The Curator has motivated the choice to award the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam to Italo Rota as follows: “Italo Rota was a forerunner. His vision was that of a world in which the relevance of living entities and biology in general, nature in the broadest possible definition, and finally science and applied technology were united in a single breathing entity. Throughout his life, he had the extraordinary ability to traverse the second half of the twentieth century and the first quarter of the new century by flying above the major styles and cultures of design, establishing himself as one of the most original figures in Italian and European architecture.Italo Rota, ©claudio moschin
Raised under the wing of masters such as Franco Albini, Vittorio Gregotti, and Gae Aulenti, he cultivated a unique eclecticism and a rare ability to combine poetic vision and extreme analytical lucidity. A man of boundless culture, a passionate collector and researcher of both Wunderkammer objects and technological devices, and a generous teacher, he has contributed to the creation of some of the most influential cultural venues in Europe in recent decades, with projects such as the restoration of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Museo del Novecento in Milan. His cultural legacy is well expressed by the title of his last monograph, Solo diventare natura ci salverà (“Only Becoming Nature Will Save Us”) (Milan: Libri Scheiwiller, 2023)”. “The adventure of the Biennale Architettura 2025 – Carlo Ratti added – began together with Italo Rota at the end of 2023. It was tragically interrupted with his passing a year ago, on April 6, 2024. This is why I am particularly pleased that the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia accepted my proposal to award Italo with the high honor of the Special Golden Lion for Liftetime Achivement in Memoriam. Also significant is the recent decision of the Ministry of Culture - through the Soprintendenza ai Beni Archivistici e Bibliografici of Lombardy - to place a bond to attract his work to the national cultural heritage. I am equally happy, finally, to be able to present at the Arsenale the work of Margherita Palli, Italo's life and work companion, whose contribution will ideally continue our initial research.”
The Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam will be accepted by Margherita Palli, set and costume designer, participant in the Biennale Architettura 2025 with the project Material Bank: Matters Make Sense, together with Stefano Capolongo and Ingrid Maria Paoletti (Department of Architecture, Built Environment, and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano), Konstantin Novosëlov (National University of Singapore).
Previously, the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam of the Biennale Architettura was awarded to the Italian naturalised Brazilian architect, designer, set designer, artist and critic Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) at the recommendation of Hashim Sarkis, curator of the Biennale Architettura in 2021; to the Japanese architect Kazuo Shinohara (1925-2006) at the recommendation of Kazuyo Sejima, curator of the Biennale Architettura in 2010.
Furthermore, the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement was awarded in 2020 to the architect Vittorio Gregotti (1927-2020), artistic director of the Visual Arts Department of La Biennale from 1975 to 1977, who in fact ushered architecture into the institution, organising many significant exhibitions in this discipline.
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Press release and photos courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
Cover photo: Donna Haraway, Photo by Clara Mokri. Italo Rota, courtesy of Triennale Milano
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