The 24th International Exhibition of Triennale Milano opened to the public on May 13, 2025, at the historic Palazzo dell'Arte. Running until November 9, this edition explores the theme of "Inequalities", continuing Triennale Milano's tradition of addressing urgent global issues through the lenses of art, architecture, and design. The exhibition is formed by two main sections: one that presents a curated selection of exhibitions and installations by individual artists and teams, and another that features international participations, including national pavilions and their contributions. At the opening ceremony on May 12th, the Bee Awards were presented to recognize selected contributions across the exhibition. From both the exhibitions and the international participations, the jury awarded one winner and one honorable mention each.
The spatial and exhibition design has been developed by six studios: Abnormal, GISTO, Grace, Midori Hasuike, Studio Orizzontale, and Sopa Design Studio. Curated by 28 individuals and teams, the program includes eight thematic exhibitions and ten special projects. The exhibition spans 7,500 square meters and features contributions from 341 authors representing 73 countries. Among the contributors are Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley; Hans Ulrich Obrist and Natalia Grabowska; Norman Foster and the Norman Foster Foundation; Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Theaster Gates; and several academic and cultural institutions, including the Politecnico di Milano. The jury, composed of Paola Antonelli (Chair), Senior Curator of Architecture and Design and Director of Research and Development at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; journalist and author Ifeoluwa Adedeji; and Maria Porro, President of Salone del Mobile.Milano, evaluated the projects on the basis of originality and relevance to the exhibition's theme.
The Award for Best Original Project was given to "Two Sides of the Same Coin" by Laura Kurgan, Dan Miller, and Adam Vosburgh, part of the exhibition "We the Bacteria. Notes Toward Biotic Architecture." The Mention for Original Project was awarded to "Grenfell. Total System Failure" by Kimia Zabihyan, presented within the "Cities" exhibition. In the category of international participations, the Best Pavilion Award was presented to the Lebanese Pavilion for the exhibition "And from My Heart I Blow Kisses to the Sea and Houses", curated by Ala Tannir. An Honorable Mention was given to the Puerto Rico Pavilion for "Había una vez y dos son tres feminisitios", curated by Regner Ramos.
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Unveiling the 15 Most Significant Architectural Events of 2025"And from My Heart I Blow Kisses to the Sea and Houses" / Best Pavilion Award from International Participations
"And from my heart I blow kisses to the sea and houses" is an exhibition that documents the rehabilitation of a French-Mandate era house in Ain el Mraisseh, damaged during the Beirut Port explosion in August 2020. Curated by Ala Tannir, the project brings together contemporary artistic practices and architectural restoration to examine the evolving relationship between Beirut's built heritage and its changing urban fabric. On view from December 29, 2024, to January 18, 2025, the exhibition offers visitors access to one of the few remaining seaside houses from the late 1920s, an architectural fragment that has resisted the pressures of large-scale real estate development.
The exhibition features five permanent in-situ artistic interventions that contribute directly to the restoration of the space. These include a sound installation by Khyam Allami, developed using the architectural dimensions of the house, and a two-channel film by Panos Aprahamian. The film is structured around conversations with "Khalo Aziz," the curator's great-uncle and the building's eldest resident, and examines the layered history of the house, its inhabitants, and the surrounding neighborhood. Collectively, these works seek to re-inhabit the structure while also proposing alternative approaches to preserving both architectural and social heritage in a rapidly transforming urban landscape. A longer-term goal of the project is to establish the house as a cultural site for artistic and academic engagement with the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its Eastern and Southern geographies.
"Hab ía una vez y dos son tres feminisitios" / Honorable Mention from International Participations
"Había una vez y dos son tres feminisitios", translated as "Once Upon Three Femisites", the Puerto Rico Pavilion curated by Regner Ramos, explores the intersection of digital memory, spatial absence, and systemic violence. Grounded in a real Google Maps location labeled "Alexa"—a seemingly empty plot categorized as "Sculpture", the project revisits the events surrounding the 2020 murder of Neulisa "Alexa" Luciano, a Black, homeless, transgender woman in Puerto Rico. Through the reimagining of three interconnected sites, a McDonald's bathroom stall, a roadside tent, and the digital space of Facebook, the pavilion reconstructs the spatial and social conditions that contributed to the crime. Elevated and intentionally displaced within the gallery, the installation functions as both artifact and absence, reflecting on the role of architecture in bearing witness to violence and advocating for the visibility and protection of marginalized communities.
"Two Sides of the Same Coin" / Award for Best Original Project
"Two Sides of the Same Coin" by Laura Kurgan, Dan Miller, and Adam Vosburgh is a multimedia installation that explores the interdependent relationship between humans, bacteria, and the built environment. Presented within the exhibition "We the Bacteria. Notes Toward Biotic Architecture", curated by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, the work contributes to a broader inquiry into the historical and ongoing entanglements between microbial life and architecture. The exhibition traces this relationship from the Neolithic era to the present, proposing that architecture has always been shaped by—and in turn shaped—the microbial ecologies it houses. It invites a reconsideration of spatial, political, and ethical models through the lens of bacterial life, offering alternative frameworks inspired by the organization and resilience of microbial communities.
"Grenfell. Total System Failure " / Honorable Mention for Original Project
"Grenfell. Total System Failure", curated by Kimia Zabihyan and presented within the "Cities" exhibition, offers a space for reflection on the ongoing struggle for justice, accountability, and reform. The installation highlights a range of community responses, including acts of craftivism such as the Grenfell Memorial quilts, which commemorate the lives lost and speak to the collective mourning and resilience of the affected community. It also addresses the broader policy and regulatory failures, particularly the lack of standardized testing and regulation of cladding systems across Europe, that contributed to the scale of the disaster and continue to pose risks. Through a combination of visual, narrative, and material elements, Grenfell Next of Kin (GNoK), a platform that advocates on behalf of the immediate families of those who lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14, 2017, conveys the personal and political dimensions of the tragedy, foregrounding the voices of those most directly impacted while inviting broader reflection on housing, safety, and the responsibilities of governments and industries.
The 24th International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, commissioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) and led by Commissioner General Stefano Boeri, opened to the public on May 13, 2025, and will remain on view through November 9. Titled Inequalities, this edition concludes a thematic trilogy begun with Broken Nature in 2019 and Unknown Unknowns in 2022. With Inequalities, the focus shifts to the human dimension, examining one of the most urgent and politically charged issues: the deepening disparities that shape contemporary urban and global life.
