The Polish Pavilion
19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture
Since its origins, architecture has had the fundamental purpose of sheltering and protecting. But how does it succeed in doing so today? In a time marked by constant change and growing instability, the Polish Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale offers a compelling exploration of architectural anthropology with the exhibition "Lares and Penates: On Building a Sense of Security in Architecture."
The goal of the multidisciplinary team—comprising the historian Aleksandra Kędziorek, artists Krzysztof Maniak and Katarzyna Przezwańska, and architect Maciej Siuda—is to examine architecture not from the designer's viewpoint, but through the eyes of those who live within it. By suspending judgment, the project gives space to fears, desires, and deep-seated needs, navigating both the emotional and the rational realms.
"Lares and Penates were Roman deities charged with protecting the household hearth. In many languages today, they still evoke the idea of guardianship and domestic safety," explains Aleksandra Kędziorek. "In tune with Carlo Ratti, curator of the 2025 Architecture Biennale, who includes the word 'intelligens' in this year's exhibition title, we look to lares and penates as a universal code—rooted in ancient tradition and deeply embedded in our collective human intelligence."
Careful research conducted across Poland reveals customs and gestures still practiced today and passed down across generations: a candle placed in the window to ward off storms, a garland hung—"wiecha" in Polish— at building sites to prevent accidents, an ancient threshold salvaged from a village marking the symbolic boundary between outside and in, or a rod used to locate underground veins at new construction sites.
At the same time, the exhibition draws attention to safety features and infrastructure aligned with contemporary regulations, such as the emergency exit or the fire alarm. These elements, already part of the Pavilion's architecture, are framed and highlighted as part of the display. Also included are peepholes, alarm systems, and padlocks—devices through which we watch and protect, often unseen.
With a humanistic gaze, the exhibition constantly weaves together the regulatory and emotional layers of architecture—two domains often perceived as separate. Thus, a fire extinguisher—quintessentially utilitarian—is set into a niche decorated like a fresco, or framed in a Venetian-style mosaic, revealing its symbolic and reassuring qualities.
The exhibition eschews digital abstraction. Instead, visitors encounter a constellation of found or assembled objects, presented at full scale and celebrated for their material presence within an essential scenography. These tactile, three-dimensional models are rooted in a shared cultural memory.
A fertile and vital undercurrent is one to be rediscovered as it points the way toward a more conscious architecture, one that meaningfully addresses the realities of the contemporary world. A contribution from the Polish Pavilion to the theme launched by curator Carlo Ratti for the 2025 Architecture Biennale: "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective."
CREDITS
Authors: Aleksandra Kędziorek, Krzysztof Maniak, Katarzyna Przezwańska, Maciej Siuda
Commissioner of the Polish Pavilion: Agnieszka Pindera, Director of Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Organiser: Zachęta – National Gallery of Art
Patron: ORLEN
Exhibition Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Paradyż
Supported by: Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts
In cooperation with: Polish Institute in Rome
Media Partners: Architektura & Biznes, Autoportret, LABEL, PAP, Polskie Radio, Elle Decoration, TVP Kultura, Vogue Poland
