The awards of the Biennale Architettura 2023

The international Jury of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia composed of Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli (president, Italy); Nora Akawi (Palestine); Thelma Golden (US); Tau Tavengwa (Zimbabwe); and Izabela Wieczorek (Poland), has decided to present the following awards:

Golden Lion for Best National Participation:

BRAZIL
Terra [Earth]
Commissioner: José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, president of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Curators: Gabriela de Matos and Paulo Tavares
Exhibitors: Ana Flávia Magalhães Pinto, Ayrson Heráclito, Day Rodrigues with the collaboration of Vilma Patrícia Santana Silva, Fissura collective, Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká (Casa Branca do Engenho Velho), Juliana Vicente, Mbya-Guarani Indigenous People, Tukano, Arawak and Maku Indigenous Peoples, Tecelãs do Alaká (Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá), Thierry Oussou, Vídeo nas Aldeias
Venue: Giardini

One special mention has been awarded to the following National Participation:

GREAT BRITAIN
Dancing Before the Moon
Commissioner: Sevra Davis, Director of Architecture Design Fashion at the British Council
Curators: Jayden Ali, Joseph Henry, Meneesha Kellay and Sumitra Upham
Exhibitors: Yussef Agbo-Ola, Jayden Ali, Mac Collins, Shawanda Corbett, Madhav Kidao, Sandra Poulson
Venue: Giardini

Golden Lion for the best participant in the 18^th Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future to:

DAAR
Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal
(Stockholm; Bethlehem)
Dangerous Liaisons section
Venue: Corderie, Arsenale

Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the 18^th Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future to:

Olalekan Jeyifous
(Brooklyn, USA)
Olalekan Jeyifous (n. Ibadan, Nigeria, 1977)
Central Pavilion, Giardini

The Jury has decided to award three special mentions to the following Participants:

Twenty Nine Studio / Sammy Baloji
(Brussels, Belgium)
Sammy Baloji (b. Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1978)
Dangerous Liaisons section
Venue: Corderie, Arsenale

Wolff Architects
(Cape Town, Republic of South Africa)
Ilze Wolff (b. Cape Town, Republic of South Africa, 1980)
Heinrich Wolff (b. Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa, 1970)
Dangerous Liaisons section
Venue: Corderie, Arsenale

Thandi Loewenson
(London, UK)
Thandi Loewenson (b. Harare, Zimbabwe, 1989)
Force Majeure section
Central Pavilion, Giardini

Furthermore, Demas Nwoko, Nigerian born artist, designer and architect, is the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition. The acknowledgment was recommended by Lesley Lokko, curator of the Biennale Architettura 2023, and approved by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia.

The Awards Ceremony of the 18^th International Architecture Exhibition took place on Sunday May 20^th 2023 at Ca’ Giustinian, the headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia.

Golden Lion for Best National Participation to Brazil for a research exhibition and architectural intervention that center the philosophies and imaginaries of indigenous and black population towards modes of reparation.

Special mention as National Participation to Great Britain for the curatorial strategy and design propositions celebrating the potency of everyday rituals as forms of resistance and spatial practices in diasporic communities.

Golden Lion for the best participant in the 18^th Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future to DAAR – Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal for their long-standing commitment to deep political engagement with architectural and learning practices of decolonization in Palestine and Europe.

Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the 18^th Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future to Olalekan Jeyifous for a multimedia installation that explores a worldbuilding practice that expands public perspectives and imaginations, offering visions of a decolonized and decarbonized future.

Special mentions to the participants in the 18^th Exhibition The Laboratory of the Future to:

Twenty Nine Studio / Sammy Baloji for a three parts installation that interrogates the past, present, and future of the Democratic Republic of Congo, through an excavation of colonial architectural archives.

Wolff Architects for an installation that reflects a collaborative and multimodal design practice as well as a nuanced and imaginative approach to resources, research, and representation.

Thandi Loewenson for a militant research practice that materializes spatial histories of land struggles, extraction, and liberation through the medium of graphite and speculative writing as design tools.