In-Between | Japan Pavilion at the 19th Architecture Biennale
La Biennale di Venezia, Venice
May 10 – November 23, 2025

The Japan Foundation announces the Japan Pavilion exhibition at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which will be held in Venice from 10 May to 23 November 2025. IN-BETWEEN, this is the title of the exhibition, which will be curated by architect Jun Aoki, fully follows the theme proposed by the curator of this edition of the Biennale Architettura 2025, Carlo Ratti: “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”.

At the root of the climate crisis lies the way we humans relate to our surrounding environment. It stems from a human-centered arrogance that regards humans as the subject and the environment as an object to be manipulated and used.

Jun Aoki, the curator of the Japan Pavilion proposes a reflection that unless we fundamentally change this attitude, there can be no true solution to the climate crisis. What the Japan Pavilion presents is a new-and at the same time, ancient-attitude and vision to replace this long-standing perspective. In short, it is the idea that humans must stand on a horizon where we and the environment are equal, a realm beyond the subject-object dichotomy. In the old Japanese language, this is expressed as ma, or the “In-Between.”

Image courtesy of The Japan Foundation

Image courtesy of The Japan Foundation

Hence, the invitation to rethink our perception of the subject-object dichotomy and to update our intelligence. What is proposed is the idea of ma, or “in-between time-space.” Originally, ma referred not only to the in-between time-space in the everyday sense but more to the tension that arises from the dialogue between two things, and the idea that this tension acts as a metaphysical object. Based on this idea, the subject is neither in us humans nor the world outside of us; rather, subjecthood exists in a world of a completely different realm, the in-between. In the in-between, there is no distinction among humans, non-humans, nature, and man-made objects. The in-between is the very state of dialogue among those elements, and the new nature of intelligence lies in this space.

Image courtesy of The Japan Foundation

Image courtesy of The Japan Foundation

This project takes the Japan Pavilion as the experimental grounds for pursuing this new kind of intelligence. The elements that make up the pavilion – the Hole, Wall Columns, Outer Walls, Brick Terrace, Pensilina, Tilted Loop Path, and Yew Tree – with the human team of curators and two artist-architect pairs, engage in a dialogue, both fictionally and actually. Together, we imagine a future of the Japan Pavilion – a near future, where things are just a little different.

more. www.venezia.biennale.japan