(AB)NORMAL + APRIL to Curate the Italian Pavilion at the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale

The Italian Pavilion at the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale will be curated by Studio (AB)NORMAL and APRIL, selected by Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli with their proposal *TEMPORANEA*. The project will be presented at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition, directed by architects Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, which will take place in Venice from 8 May to 21 November 2027. The appointment marks a new opportunity for a younger generation of architects to engage with the role of architecture today, examining its relationship with time, cultural production and the changing ways in which people experience space.

At the centre of *TEMPORANEA* is the idea that architecture cannot be understood solely through permanence or the lifespan of a building. Its value can also emerge from its capacity to create experiences, foster relationships and shape collective imaginaries. The project translates this perspective into a dynamic scenographic device, conceived as an environment in continuous transformation. Through a combination of different elements and disciplines, the installation will explore the many forms contemporary architectural practice can take, responding to contexts that are increasingly fluid and interconnected. The proposal brings architecture into dialogue with contemporary art, design, fashion, cinema and performance, connecting these fields through a shared approach to space and its possibilities. Rather than presenting architecture as a fixed discipline, *TEMPORANEA* aims to reflect its ability to operate across different formats, scales and cultural contexts. The temporary condition becomes a way to investigate how spaces can be reinterpreted and how design can respond to the questions, aspirations and uncertainties shaping the present, particularly from the perspective of younger generations.

The selection followed a two stage public process promoted by the Ministry of Culture’s Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity. The final shortlist included *Italian Resonances, proposed by Stefano Boeri, and Il nuovo nell’antico. Italia laboratorio d’Europa, by Paolo Zermani, alongside TEMPORANEA. The evaluation committee, chaired by Costantino D’Orazio and including Giovanni Francesco Tuzzolino, Lorenza Baroncelli, Paolo Desideri and Fabio Novembre, highlighted the quality, originality and feasibility of the selected proposals before unanimously recommending the final shortlist to the Minister. In explaining the decision, Alessandro Giuli described the appointment as an investment in emerging talent and in the ability of younger architects to interpret and transform contemporary society. He emphasised the participatory dimension of the proposal and its engagement with impermanence, evolving languages and the different ways in which new generations experience time and public space. The project, he noted, offers an opportunity to reconsider the spaces and relationships that shape collective life through experimentation and new perspectives.

The curatorial team brings together six professionals whose experience spans architecture, research, communication, fashion and cultural production. (AB)NORMAL was founded by architects Mattia Inselvini, Davide Masserini and Luigi Savio. Their practice moves across architecture, design, fashion and culture, building on international experience that includes work with OMA and AMO. APRIL, founded by Alessandro Farinella and Francesco Maria Tiribelli, with Monica Moschini as part of the team, works across architecture, creative direction, exhibitions, installations, fashion and editorial projects. The collaboration combines complementary forms of expertise, from spatial design and research to the production and communication of cultural projects.

(AB)NORMAL -  © Piercarlo Quecchia DSL Studio.jpg
 

For (AB)NORMAL, the appointment represents an opportunity to give greater visibility to a broad and often underrepresented landscape of Italian design culture. In their statement, the studio described TEMPORANEA as a way to explore an idea of architecture measured not by duration, but by its ability to generate experiences, relationships and collective imaginaries. The project also seeks to bring forward a more plural understanding of Italian design, connecting established disciplines with experimental practices and different forms of creative production. The evaluation committee praised the proposal for addressing temporariness through an original and contemporary approach, describing the installation as a scenographic structure made of different elements that together form a coherent vision. Its ability to represent the changing nature of architectural work and to connect this with different expressions of Made in Italy was a key part of the assessment.
 

Discover our interview with (AB)NORMAL regarding the theme for Fuorisalone 2026