The Pavilion of China at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, titled CO-EXIST, curated by Ma Yansong, founder and principal partner of MAD Architects, and organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s republic of China, will open to the public on Saturday May 10 at the Arsenale.
Bringing together twelve groups of interdisciplinary exhibitors, CO-EXIST presents ten works that explore the dynamic interplay between traditional Chinese spiritual philosophy and rapidly advancing contemporary technology, set against the backdrop of industrial civilization's shift toward the age of intelligence.
Ma Yansong explains the exhibition’s motif in the preface:
“If the Industrial Era was about rationality and efficiency, the Intelligent Era must re-center humanity and nature. In classical Chinese philosophy, “nature” is beyond the mainstream discord as symbols, materials, or techniques. It is a worldview of harmony between heaven and humanity, where the self and the cosmos intertwine as one, and all existence resonates with one’s emotions—gardens, architecture, and cities were all spatial manifestations of this wisdom.
As China has experienced four decades of urbanization, an endeavor achieved by a colossal population—Chinese architects now stand at the preface of the Intelligent Era, confronted with new topics such as the different ecological, social, and cultural identity perceptions caused by the ‘compressed modernity’. How can we extend the definition of architecture as culture, with new technology as its skeleton, to transform linear progressions into multi-spatiotemporal experiences? As a metaphor of emergence, inclusion, diversity, and a continuum of imagination, the traditional Chinese wisdom of “nature” maybe what guides us a cosmology of coexistence (天人合一tian ren he yi).
CO-EXIST and its presented works draw inspiration from and cast imaginations upon this wisdom by stratifying diverse epochs, cross-disciplines, technological advancements, and methodologies, answering to the motion of "one place, one solution". It manifests more as a pilgrimage—Chinese architects in action with different stakeholders collectively in search of an inclusive and sustainable path towards a new era with diversity and humanity, an era imbued with emotional depth that defiantly rejects the mundane.”
CO-EXIST
Pavilion of China at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia
Curator: Ma Yansong
Dates: May 10, 2025 - November 23, 2025
Venue: Arsenale - Magazzino Delle Cisterne, Castello 2169/F - 30122 Venezia, Italy
Organization
Organizer: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China
Co-Organizer: China International Culture Association
Commissioner: China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd. (CAEG)
Executive Agency: China International Exhibition Agency
Supporter: Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Italy
