Azza Aboualam, an Emirati architect and assistant professor at Zayed University's College of Arts and Creative Enterprises, has been named by the National Pavilion UAE as the curator of the UAE's 2025 participation in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Azza Aboualam is the first female Emirati curator for the National Pavilion UAE at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Carlo Ratti, is themed Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition. 

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition will take place from 10 May to 23 November 2025 at the Giardini, the Arsenale and various venues in Venice, Italy. 

United Arab Emirates' Wetland pavilion by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto. Image © Andrea Avezzù, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia

Aboualam's research will be displayed in Venice and complemented by a companion book. Aboualam worked as a Venice intern in 2014 for the National Pavilion UAE's first-ever participation in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, which featured the Dr. Michele Bambling-curated exhibition Lest We Forget: Structures of Memory in the UAE.

Aboualam was chosen via the third open call of its kind held by the National Pavilion UAE. The open call seeks new perspectives on an untold story from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that adds to the global conversation on architectural practice. These voices might include architects, designers, artists, historians, and researchers who have worked or studied in the UAE and other MENASA regions.

After a call for concept proposals, teams that made the short list were asked to expand their concepts into a complete proposal. Three finalists were chosen to present their ideas in person by a Selection Committee made up of prominent figures from the UAE's creative sector, including representatives from government, museums, and universities. The committee met to review all of the proposals. Following lengthy discussion, the committee declared Aboualam's proposal to be the winner. 

Every iteration of the open call process for the National Pavilion UAE offers a chance to expand the search for fresh viewpoints and voices about the UAE and solidifies the nation's reputation as a creative hub and accelerator.

"I am honored to have been selected to curate the National Pavilion UAE. My 2014 internship inspired me to specialize in the overlap of architectural design and research by pursuing my master’s degree at Yale, and it is deeply fulfilling to return to Venice ten years later as a curator," said Azza Aboualam.

"I am grateful to the Commissioner, the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, and to the National Pavilion UAE for giving me a platform to present UAE-based research on a topic that binds us all: food."

"Presenting this work on the global stage is a remarkable opportunity, especially contributing to the architectural discourse on a stage like the Biennale Architettura 2025," Aboualam added.

In addition to her academic role, Azza Aboualam is a co-founder and research director at Holesum Studio, an interdisciplinary architecture and design practice located between New York and Sharjah.

Her work has been published in the book "In Search of Spaces of Coexistence: An Architect's Journey" (2019), edited by Dr. Alamira Reem Al Hashimi and Adina Hempel. 

Her scholarly interests lie in the intersection of memory, architecture, and society in the Middle East and North Africa. She has collaborated with the UAE Ministry of Culture's Architecture Initiative.

United Arab Emirates' Wetland pavilion, curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. Image © United Arab Emirates' Wetland, Andrea Avezzù

The UAE will participate in its sixth International Architecture Exhibition, and its fourteenth Art and Architecture International Exhibition, hosted by Venice Architecture Biennale 2025.

With its exhibition Wetland, curated by Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, the National Pavilion UAE took home the Golden Lion for best National Participation at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021. 

Top image in the article: Azza Aboualam. Image Courtesy of National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by Daryll Borja of Seeing Things.

> via National Pavilion UAE

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