Türkiye Pavilion at Venice Biennale Explores Soil as Living Cultural Archive

At the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, the Türkiye Pavilion unveils Grounded, a deeply reflective and forward-looking exhibition curated by Ceren Erdem and Bilge Kalfa. Running from May 10 to November 23, Grounded investigates soil not merely as earth beneath our feet but as a dynamic medium that carries the ecological and cultural imprints of humanity’s past, present, and potential futures.

A New Perspective on Soil

Grounded reconceives soil as more than an inert material—it is an active archive of natural intelligence and a living ecosystem. The exhibition’s core thesis centers on soil’s role as a vessel of ecological and cultural memory. It draws attention to soil’s capacity to store stories of past civilizations, support biodiversity, and reflect environmental changes triggered by human development.

Coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and presented under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, the pavilion is co-sponsored by Schüco Türkiye and VitrA. The collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the project exemplifies Türkiye’s growing commitment to sustainability and cultural heritage in architectural practice.

From Göbeklitepe to Global Dialogue

The exhibition takes inspiration from Türkiye’s archaeological legacy—most notably, Göbeklitepe, one of the world’s oldest known sacred sites. Grounded connects such ancient places with modern ecological imperatives, advocating for the integration of traditional, soil-based construction techniques into contemporary sustainable design. This approach not only emphasizes material sustainability but also respects and preserves cultural continuity.

By juxtaposing ancient ecological wisdom with present-day research, the exhibition constructs a powerful argument for a future architecture that is symbiotic with natural systems rather than extractive.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The pavilion brings together a wide array of voices, including architects, artists, researchers, and designers. Individual participants such as Hüseyin Aksoy, Michael Akstaller, E. Füsun Alioğlu & Senem Akçay, Ali Mahmut Demirel, Sinem Dişli, Yelda Gin, Ali Miharbi, Özgül Öztürk, Serkan Taycan, and Orkan Telhan contribute personal interpretations of soil’s physical and metaphorical layers.

Collaborative teams including Bire-Pan, Common Action Walls, Herkes İçin Mimarlık & Poçolana Works, Mono Earth, Ozruh, Rec II, ReYard House, Solidified, and Yalın Architects contribute to the exhibition’s architectural and conceptual richness. These contributors explore both traditional and experimental soil-based practices, grounding their work in site-specific knowledge while engaging in global discourse.

Challenging Environmental and Cultural Erasure

Grounded addresses the environmental and cultural consequences of industrialization, mining, and construction. The curators underscore the often invisible degradation occurring not just on the surface but within the deeper strata of the Earth. The loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and the erasure of intangible heritage are presented as interconnected issues that demand architectural, political, and ethical attention.

In doing so, the pavilion challenges the audience to consider soil not as a passive material but as an active participant in the built environment. It prompts critical reflection on how contemporary design can honor ecological interdependence and foster a shared future rooted in respect—for the Earth, for history, and for each other.

A Vision for Coexistence

The exhibition ultimately posits a model of architectural practice where soil is not extracted, but engaged with; where ancient techniques inform innovative futures; and where architecture supports the health of both ecosystems and communities. In aligning construction with regeneration, Grounded envisions a path toward coexistence with nature that is both visionary and grounded in real-world practice.

This compelling presentation situates the Türkiye Pavilion as a key site of dialogue at the 2025 Biennale, reinforcing the urgent need for architecture to adopt practices that reflect ecological awareness and cultural sensitivity.