The Serbian Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale consists of an immersive installation made of wool. The exhibition, titled Unraveling: New Spaces, was curated by architect Slobodan Jović and designed by an interdisciplinary team composed of Davor Ereš, Jelena Mitrović, Igor Pantić, Sonja Krstić, Ivana Najdanović, and Petar Laušević. The interior space of the Pavilion, located in the Biennale's Giardini, is occupied by an ephemeral installation that follows the principles of circular design, effectively producing no waste. The installation consists of a broad woven wool fabric that gradually unknits according to a guided choreography of algorithmic precision, completely disassembling by the end of the Biennale's exhibition.
The Serbian Pavilion expresses special care for materials and calls for rethinking architecture as impermanent and adaptable. The exhibition brings together the Serbian knitting tradition and contemporary architecture: knitted segments, each measuring 1.2 x 5 meters, hang from the pavilion's roof in catenary curves, forming a moving structure that subtly deforms and invites public engagement and interaction from multiple perspectives.
The fabric's texture and layers of transparency catch light from the central skylight, drawing attention to their details. The structure gradually unravels as a series of small motors, powered by solar panels, slowly and steadily pull the threads. The process produces no waste, as the wool used in the installation is intended to be returned to yarn after the Biennale concludes.
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Between Algorithms and Ancestral Knowledge: Expanding the Concept of Architectural IntelligenceAs a result, visitors will encounter a different configuration on each visit. After six months, in its final state, the installation will be entirely unwoven, a cyclical transformation of a ball of yarn, offering a metaphorical experience of circularity in architectural materials. The exhibition embraces the Biennale's call for interdisciplinary practice in the quest for new architectural intelligences and evolving, circular design.
The team behind the installation includes architects Davor Ereš, Jelena Mitrović, and Igor Pantić, who contribute architectural and computational design knowledge from their academic and professional work. Designers Ivana Najdanović and Sonja Krstić bring expertise in materiality and textile intelligence from their work in knitwear and fashion, while researcher Petar Laušević provides knowledge in renewable energy to power the installation and transform it into a dynamic structure.
Other pavilions embracing traditional, digital, and collective intelligence to shape architecture for a changing world also opened their doors on May 10 at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale. Montenegro's contribution, titled Terram Intelligere: INTERSTITIUM, draws on the concept of a newly understood anatomical system becoming a living laboratory. Latin American contributions explore territory, memory, and ancestral knowledge as forms of collective intelligence to face contemporary challenges. The Kingdom of Bahrain's exhibition, Heatwave, won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation with a site-specific installation showcasing passive cooling strategies rooted in its local context.
We invite you to check out ArchDaily's comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Venice Biennale.
