the brazilian pavilion links past with present at the biennale
At the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, Brazil presents (RE)INVENTION, a two-part exhibition curated by Luciana Saboia, Eder Alencar, and Matheus Seco of Plano Coletivo. Through a critical lens on infrastructure and ecology, the show connects ancient Amazonian knowledge with contemporary urban practices, occupying the Brazilian Pavilion until November 2025.
In an exclusive interview with designboom, the curators explain how they reframed Indigenous spatial strategies as models for today’s environmental urgencies. ‘While not strictly architectural, these earth formations have been reinterpreted through architectural tools (…) enabling a new reading of their spatial intelligence,’ they note, referencing vast geoglyphs unearthed by lidar in the Amazon. The installation in this first act uses biodegradable wood and rests directly on the ground to reflect Indigenous relationships to land.
The second act turns toward the urban present, curating Brazilian case studies that challenge dominant models of infrastructure. Projects range from low-impact, affordable construction to hybrid systems that operate between the formal and informal city. ‘These examples suggest that infrastructure, when grounded in local knowledge and environmental conditions, can support a more symbiotic coexistence between people, built environments, and ecosystems,’ share the curators. Structurally, the exhibition embodies this philosophy: suspended wood panels, counterweight stones, and steel cables form a balanced system, both physically and metaphorically. ‘This literal structural balance becomes a metaphor for the broader ecological and social equilibrium the exhibition seeks to promote,’ they explain.
view of the installation at the Brazil Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, part of the exhibition (RE)INVENTION | image © ReportArch / Andrea Ferro Photography / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
(RE)INVENTION uses minimalist visuals and adaptable materials
Beyond historic and contemporary analysis, through the (RE)INVENTION exhibition, the Brazilian Pavilion also gestures toward speculative futures. ‘It offers a powerful outlook into the future by drawing a continuous line between ancestral knowledge, present-day practices, and future possibilities,’ explains Plano Coletivo. The exhibition’s minimalist visual language and adaptable materials are meant to invite reflection. Under Carlo Ratti’s Biennale theme Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., the project argues that AI and sustainable futures must also make space for traditional, collective knowledge. ‘By proposing that the forest itself is a result of human-nature collaboration, the exhibition opens up a critical dialogue between ancestral and technological intelligences,’ they add.
Ultimately, (RE)INVENTION offers a call to action. In Brazil and beyond, it challenges architecture’s extractive tendencies and proposes design as a cyclical, relational process. ‘It explicitly aligns itself with circular design principles… and suggests a shift from architecture as object to architecture as process — an open system of relationships rather than a static end-product,’ they state. By positioning Indigenous, local, and informal practices as valid forms of intelligence, the pavilion pushes the discipline to rethink its priorities. ‘Ultimately, (RE)INVENTION aims to reframe architecture as a collaborative and continuous act of learning from what already exists,’ say the curators. Read on for the full interview with Plano Coletivo, where we unpack the thinking behind Brazil’s quietly radical vision.
Brazil presents (RE)INVENTION
interview with plano colectivo
designboom (DB): How did the recent archaeological discoveries in the Amazon shape the design of the exhibition? Can you share someexamples of how those findings were turned into architectural ideas or materials?
Plano Coletivo (PL): This vision directly informed the first act of the exhibition, which presents geoglyphs—vast, geometric earthworks uncovered by laser scanning technologies, often invisible beneath the forest canopy. While not strictly architectural, these earth formations have been reinterpreted through architectural tools such as topographic maps and drawings, enabling a new reading of their spatial intelligence. By framing these ancient interventions as a form of landscape architecture, the exhibition positions them as precedents for sustainable environmental design. In material terms, the Amazon room installation incorporates wood—echoing the biodegradable construction materials used by ancient Amazonian peoples. The elements rest directly on the ground, evoking the deep physical and symbolic relationship that these societies maintained with the soil.
the two-part exhibition is curated by Luciana Saboia, Eder Alencar, and Matheus Seco of Plano Coletivo
DB: How does the exhibition question traditional ideas of infrastructure? What new ways does it suggest to connect infrastructure with nature and culture?
PC: This is particularly evident in the second act of the exhibition, which presents selected examples from Brazilian cities that demonstrate alternative infrastructural approaches. These include low-impact constructions, projects with high affordability and accessibility, and hybrid solutions integrating formal and informal urban systems. Labeled as ‘strategies,’ these examples suggest that infrastructure, when grounded in local knowledge and environmental
conditions, can support a more symbiotic coexistence between people, built environments, and ecosystems.
suspended wood panels, counterweight stones, and steel cables form a balanced system
DB: The exhibition has two parts: one about the past and one about the present. Does it also provide an outlook into the future, and how?
PC: Yes, the exhibition offers a powerful outlook into the future by drawing a continuous line between ancestral knowledge, present-day practices, and future possibilities. While one part of the exhibition reveals how past societies lived in balance with their environment, and the other analyzes current urban and architectural practices that echo similar principles, the overall experience prompts visitors to reflect on how such lessons can shape future cities. Through its visual language—stripped-down line drawings in red and black—and its material composition, the exhibition avoids spectacle and instead fosters thoughtful interpretation. It invites visitors to project these strategies onto their own contexts and imagine future urban scenarios where balance, adaptability, and coexistence guide design decisions. Even if not free of contradictions, these visions offer constructive paths forward amid today’s climate and urban challenges.
