Qatar has announced that it will build a national pavilion in the Venice Biennale’s Giardini, joining 30 other nations with permanent exhibition spaces at the site. This announcement is particularly notable because it has been 30 years since the last national pavilion was built in the Giardini. Moreover, only two other countries have built permanent pavilions in the Giardini in the last 50 years: Australia in 1988 and South Korea in 1995. This new development follows a previous protocol of cooperation signed by Qatar Museums and the municipality of Venice, which aims to enhance ties between Qatar and Italy.

“Venice is the only European city to have had, since the year 1000 CE, a name in Arabic, Bunduqiyyah, a fact that testifies to the teeming mixture of languages and ethnicities that have long sheltered here,” said Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of the Venice Biennale. “In the spirit of curiosity, exploration, and sincere human exchange that characterizes Venice and its Biennale, I welcome Qatar to the Giardini as a powerful global source of creativity and cross-cultural understanding.”

Qatar’s pavilion will be “activated” during the 19th Architecture Biennale in Venice in May 2025, although, as reported by The Art Newspaper, the building itself will not be ready. A central installation entitled Community Centre (2025) by Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari will be presented on the pavilion’s site. This installation is part of the two-part exhibition “Beyti Beytak. My home is your home. La mia casa è la tua casa,” which will also be presented at ACP-Palazzo Franchetti.

“Qatar is proud to take its place in this international assembly, advancing our role as a global leader in cultural diplomacy and providing an unparalleled platform for giving voice to the creative talent of our nation and the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums and commissioner of the Qatar Pavilion.