A special project by Fondazione Venezia Capitale Mondiale della Sostenibilità / Venice Sustainability Foundation (VSF) for Biennale Architettura 2025
10 may > 23 november 2025
Tesa dell’Isolotto, Darsena Grande dell’Arsenale, Venice
A living laboratory of innovation and adaptation, Venice is the complex product of multiple intelligences. The "Intelligent Venice" exhibition tells the story of an extraordinary millennia-old project, a history of medieval inventions and contemporary technologies, of interventions on nature and anthropization, of survival and resilience strategies, through which the city has developed its ability to survive a hostile environment for centuries, thanks to the constant exercise of intelligence.
The "Intelligent Venice" exhibition is in the Tesa dell'Isolotto, near the Darsena Grande of the Arsenale, the sole survivor of the eighteen 14th-century squeri (shipyards) that were subsequently demolished in 1880.
The exhibition spans 500 square meters and includes over 5,000 archival images; more than 1,000 historical maps from the most authoritative databases; over 3 hours of video projections; and 5 interactive multimedia panels.
One of the interactive multimedia panels is Navigating the Venice Archipelago. Lagoon Stories for Sustainable Futures, an interactive multimedia exhibit developed by Venice International University in collaboration with the University of Padua and is displayed in the Italian pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025.
Visitors engage with this immersive exhibit using a large touch screen to explore the history of the city and its lagoon, choosing different thematic itineraries: water and food, public health, city defense, religious settlements, historic ceremonies and festivities, and sustainability in the present day.
