A First Nations team of Creative Directors comprising Dr Michael Mossman, Emily McDaniel and Jack Gillmer-Lilley has been selected to represent Australia at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, known as the ‘Olympics of Architecture’.
Their design concept, HOME, is a response to the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, which was rejected by a majority in every state and left a mark on the history of First Nations advocacy.
As the 2025 Australian national pavilion, HOME seeks to celebrate First Nations people in the form of an earthy, Indigenous education amphitheatre where First Nations culture and knowledge is acknowledged and communicated on an international scale. The pavilion will debut in Venice in May 2025.
A lecturer and researcher at the University of Sydney School of Architecture Design and Planning, Mossman says, “This is the first Venice Architecture Biennale following the Australian referendum to amend the Australian Constitution for a Voice to Parliament. While the result presented a setback to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agency and self-determination at a constitutional level, it opened opportunities for impactful dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, which we will continue with HOME.”
Gillmer-Lilley, a Worimi and Biripi Guri architect, adds, “The pavilion design and participatory interaction invites First Nations making, storytelling and yarning to facilitate relationships and ideate a concept of culturally safe spaces within the context of institutional architectures.”
He continues that the design team collaborate through yarning to bring together diverse narratives. “The Australian pavilion at the Biennale will celebrate cultural exchange, Country and cultural knowledge systems to enable conversations and connection on a global scale working towards First Nations-led methodologies to reconsider architectural practices towards sustainability, net zero carbon and material circularity.”
Together with Clarence Slockee, Kaylie Salvatori, Elle Davidson and Bradley Kerr, plus global ambassadors, the creative team will bring cultural programming to the pavilion in Venice, including storytelling and performances.
McDaniel says, “HOME is a generous and timely offering to the Venice Architecture Biennale that will welcome visitors as active contributors and participants. Through design, enlivened public conversations, cultural practice and ceremony, we will facilitate a shared and collective experience that resonates with international audiences and recognises the criticality of First Nations knowledge.”
The 2025 Venice Biennale Curatorial Committee, which selected HOME from 21 entries, were looking for visions that encapsulate Australian architectural practices and contemporary relevance on an international scale.
The 19th International Architecture Exhibition is being curated by Italian architect, engineer and scholar in urban planning, Carlo Ratti, with the title Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.
Read: A giant gumnut will define Australia to the world at Expo 2025
HOME will welcome visitors in the Australian Pavilion, which recently won the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice Biennale with kith and kin by First Nations artist Archie Moore.
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