During the Biennale, the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia offers a public program entitled BUILT/UNBUILT on Relational Pedagogies and Participatory Spatial Practice (or how to build collective spatial knowledge).
In particular, the Um Slaim School activates an investigative process to collectively prototype an alternative pedagogical initiative to be established in Riyadh post-Biennale. The project explores how architecture can help rewire stakeholders’ relations among natural, social, and technological systems that work with nature and support virtuous relationships of cocreation and codependence.
The public sessions are built around four core thematic investigations; each takes different formats of encounter and articulation, including lectures, performances, screenings, readings, and walks, to produce concrete ideas as well as theoretical contributions that will be collated in a publication to be launched in November 2025.
Program:
- Archiving Otherwise, June 27–29, 2025
- Material Ecologies, September 27–29, 2025
- Pedagogies of Proximity and Relation, October 10–12, 2025
- Building Participatory Infrastructures, November 22–23, 2025
The program is curated by Beatrice Leanza and co-led by Maryam AlNoaimi.
Find the full programme at saudipavilion.org/built-unbuilt
About
La Biennale di Venezia is an institution established in 1895 in Venice (IT). It is today acknowledged as one of the most prestigious cultural institutions. La Biennale di Venezia stands at the forefront of research and promotion of new contemporary art trends and organizes events in all its specific Departments: Art (1895), Architecture (1980), Cinema (1932), Dance (1999), Music (1930), and Theatre (1934) – alongside research and training activities.
The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia supports and celebrates the Kingdom’s artistic and architectural community. It serves as a meeting space for dialogue between creative minds, and an exchange of concepts and ideas. The pavilion provides a permanent home for research and ideation from the nation’s leading cultural voices.