“Opera aperta”. Pavilion of HOLY SEE
19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
Special Mention for Best National Participation
Opera Aperta is a living practice of collective repair. This process, involving an international team led by architects Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO and MAIO Architects, curators Marina Otero Verzier and Giovanna Zabotti, and local collectives, proposes repair as a radical act: one that extends beyond buildings to care for institutions, communities, ecosystems, and the fragile ties between them.
Over the next six months, the project will breathe new life into the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice di Castello. Located in Venice’s Castello district, the building dates back to 1171, when it was founded as a hospice for pilgrims. It later became the oldest hospital in the historic center and was transformed in the 18th century to host a kindergarten, a school, and a boarding house. In 2001, the City of Venice designated it for cultural activities. Today, it is temporarily managed by the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, which is overseeing its restoration as a lasting legacy for the city and its community.
In restoring the existing structure, the team will carefully draw and attend to its cracks and leaks, its efflorescences, mold, and rot. Rather than seeing these conditions as pathologies or flaws to be erased, they are understood as thresholds through which new possibilities may emerge. They are part of a larger metabolic process, signs of life in a living structure inhabited by microorganisms that thrive in Venice’s salty environment, alongside insects, spiders, birds, and the humans who call it home.
Tending to these conditions and representing them through detailed architectural drawing honors the layered histories embedded in place, while also recognizing the lives of those who came before us and those yet to come. It acknowledges that the world is always simultaneously emerging and decaying, breaking down and regenerating.
This process of social and ecological repair unfolds across scales, bringing together diverse forms of labor, knowledge, and embodied experience. Local artisan specialists in the recovery of works in stone, marble, stucco, wood, and metal will lead the restoration work. Their practice, supported by experimental sessions organized by the UIA–Università Internazionale dell’Arte, ensures that traditional techniques are passed on.
A communal table, hosted by the cooperative nonsoloverde, an organization dedicated to supporting disadvantaged groups, brings together visitors and local residents, creating a space for encounters and shared meals. Throughout the building, rooms will gradually become rehearsal spaces for students from the Conservatory of Music of Venice and their impromptu audiences.
Here, repair is not only structural but relational. The project advocates for an architecture that is responsive rather than prescriptive; a site of cultural and material engagement deeply rooted in the communities it serves: Venice, its inhabitants, those in transit, and the newly arrived.
Opera Aperta is an opportunity to position architecture as an act of stewardship, and to infuse both the discipline and the world at large with a renewed sense of purpose in these uncertain times.
CREDITS
Commissioner: His Eminence Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of The Holy See.
Curators: Marina Otero Verzier, Giovanna Zabotti.
Art Direction and Architectural Design: Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO (Tatiana Bilbao, Alba Cortés, Isaac Solis Rosas, Helene Schauer); MAIO (Anna Puigjaner, Guillermo López, Maria Charneco, Alfredo Lérida).
Graphic design: Estudio Herrera (Maricris Herrera).
Lighting Design: cube.bz
Drawing assistance: Paco Tébui
Organization: His Excellency Monsignor Paul Tighe, Cristiano Grisogoni
Executive production: COR arquitectos (Roberto Cremascoli, Edison Okumura, Marta Rodrigues).
Construction management: Mattia Marzaro, Nicola Picco (Restauro)
Set Up: Lares – Lavori di Restauro – s.r.l., Euroedile s.r.l. / Pilosio s.r.l.
