Italo Rota and Donna Haraway awarded Venice Architecture Biennale Golden Lions

The late Italian architect Italo Rota and American philosopher Donna Haraway are the recipients of this year's Golden Lion awards at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Rota, who passed away last year aged 70, was awarded the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam, while Haraway was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

The two recipients were recommended by this year's biennale curator, Italian architect Carlo Ratti, and the decision was approved by the event's board of directors.

This year's Golden Lion awards ceremony, which celebrates architects' lifetime achievements, will take place on 10 May when the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale opens to the public.

Past recipients of the award include Canadian architect and philanthropist Phyllis Lambert and Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha.

Rota one of architecture's "most original figures"

Rota died on 6 April 2024. Some of his best-known projects include the Museo del Novecento in Milan and his work with Italian architect Gae Aulenti on Paris's Musée d'Orsay.

"Italo Rota was a forerunner," said Ratti. "His vision was that of a world in which the relevance of living entities and biology in general, nature in the broadest possible definition, and finally science and applied technology were united in a single breathing entity."

"Throughout his life, he had the extraordinary ability to traverse the second half of the twentieth century and the first quarter of the new century by flying above the major styles and cultures of design, establishing himself as one of the most original figures in Italian and European architecture," he continued.

Rota collaborated with Ratti on a number of projects, including the Italy Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 and the masterplan for Rome's bid to host the World Expo 2030.

Rota's award will be accepted at the Golden Lion awards ceremony by his partner, stage designer Margherita Palli.

"The adventure of the Biennale Architettura 2025 began together with Italo Rota at the end of 2023," said Ratti. "It was tragically interrupted with his passing a year ago."

"This is why I am particularly pleased that the board of directors of the Venice Biennale accepted my proposal to award Italo with the high honour of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Memoriam," he continued.

Haraway "one of the most influential voices in contemporary thought"

Haraway, who is professor emerita in the history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was praised by Ratti for her influence on science, technology and feminist theory.

An author of numerous books, she coined the term Chthulucene to challenge the human-centric idea of the Anthropocene and describe an era of connection between humans, other living beings and the non-living

"Haraway is one of the most influential voices in contemporary thought, straddling the social sciences, anthropology, feminist criticism, and the philosophy of technology," said Ratti.

"Over the past four decades, she has explored, in a multidisciplinary manner and with a constant capacity for linguistic invention, issues such as the impact of technological evolution on our biological nature and the ways in which the environmental context of the Chthulucene redefines the boundaries between human and nonhuman."

"Her contributions to the way we understand science, technology, race, gender, geography, and the environmental history of humanity have left indelible marks on the study of each, and their precedence to the notion that natural, artificial, and collective intelligences act together is self-evident," Ratti continued.

"As designers grapple with a rapidly transforming present in which nature, technology, and society all present symptoms of divergence from the world as we know it, Haraway's theory empowers us and her observations guide us."

This year's Venice Architecture Biennale will follow the theme Intelligens Natural Artificial Collective. In an exclusive interview with Dezeen, Ratti explained that people, not technology, will be the focus of the event saying that "this certainly won't be the tech bro biennale".

The photo of Haraway is by Clara Mokri and the photo of Rota is by Claudio Moschin.

The post Italo Rota and Donna Haraway awarded Venice Architecture Biennale Golden Lions appeared first on Dezeen.