Portugal’s Venice Pavilion Reimagines Paradise Amid Crisis and Change

As the 19th International Venice Architecture Biennale approaches, Portugal’s official contribution, Paraíso, hoje. (Paradise, today.), offers a compelling and timely reflection on the environmental and social realities shaping both its national territory and global discourse. Open to the public from May 10 to November 23, 2025, and launching with a public event on May 8 from 7–10pm, the project presents a radical and immersive installation curated by Paula Melâneo, Pedro Bandeira, and Luca Martinucci, with deputy curators Catarina Raposo and Nuno Cera.

The Portuguese Pavilion doesn’t merely present architecture as a matter of design. It positions the field as a critical lens through which we can interrogate how societies construct, imagine, and inhabit their realities. In the face of climate change, housing instability, economic inequality, and territorial imbalances, the pavilion raises a vital question: What if paradise is not a memory or a promise, but something we can reclaim today?

A Nation Between Two Worlds

Portugal’s natural beauty—its coastlines, rural expanses, and rich cultural landscapes—has long attracted tourists and investors alike. However, this allure conceals significant pressures. Over 80% of the population resides along the coast, while the interior struggles with depopulation, forest mismanagement, and recurring wildfires. Only 2% of the country’s forests are publicly owned, making sustainable stewardship a near-impossible task.

This imbalance mirrors deeper systemic challenges. As rising temperatures, coastal erosion, and resource extraction accelerate, the divide between affluent urban development and neglected rural areas grows sharper. Portugal finds itself at a crossroads between thriving globalization and the erosion of ecological and social cohesion.

Architecture in a Time of Crisis

Initially tempted to present an empty pavilion—a symbol of quiet resistance to the rush and chaos of contemporary life—the curators ultimately chose engagement over silence. Paraíso, hoje. argues that architecture, despite its entanglement with speculative development and industrial exploitation, remains a vital tool for change. It can still help us reshape materials, systems, and imaginations.

Framed not as a conclusion but as an invitation to reflection and action, the exhibition proposes optimism as a design strategy. Rather than mourn paradise as lost or fantasize it as distant, it insists that our shared future must be rooted in the present—aware, intentional, and inclusive.

The Exhibition: Installation and Atlas

The pavilion unfolds through two central components:

1. An immersive installation that blends architecture, art, and technology. Activated by visitor interaction, it presents a hybrid digital-physical environment informed by a vast archive of recent video material from across Portugal. This space challenges visitors to confront the fragile balance between natural and built environments.

2. An interactive Atlas, functioning as a collective, critical archive. Structured around themes like regeneration, networks, leisure, and simulacrum, the Atlas explores how architecture shapes lived experience at every scale. Projects were selected through an open call titled Where is Paradise?, inviting the public to contribute photographs and proposals that reflect alternative visions of Portugal’s future.

The Atlas also features contributions from prominent figures including António Guerreiro, Maria Manuel Oliveira, Nuno da Luz, and interviews with landscape architects Aurora Carapinha, João Gomes da Silva (Global), João Nunes (PROAP), and Luís Paulo Ribeiro (Topiaris).

Dialogue Beyond Venice

The curators extend the project beyond Venice through a series of conversations, including a roundtable on May 10 (9:30–11am) and other discussions in partnership with the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and online platforms. These forums aim to stimulate public debate on how architecture can act with accountability—recognizing its role in both shaping and healing the world.

Curator Paula Melâneo emphasizes that Paraíso, hoje. is not a retreat into idealism, but a call to responsible imagination: “We must accept that while paradise may never be perfect or complete, we have the power—and the duty—to make our world more equitable, sustainable, and humane today.”

Commissioned by Portugal’s Directorate-General for the Arts (DGARTES) and organized by the Ministry of Culture, Paraíso, hoje. is more than a national representation. It’s a profound and participatory reflection on how architecture can confront crisis not with despair, but with purpose.