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Ireland at Venice - Minister O’Donovan announces Irish representation at 20th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2027
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The Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan T.D., has announced the selection of Emmet Humphreys and Nathalie Weadick, on behalf of Galway City Council, as the curators to represent Ireland at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice, La Biennale di Venezia. Their project, RESIDUUM, was selected following an open call by Culture Ireland, in partnership with the Arts Council.
Speaking recently, Minister O’Donovan said:
“I would like to congratulate the RESIDUUM team on being selected to represent Ireland at the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. The curators, on behalf of Galway City Council, along with their multidisciplinary team will, through their work, increase awareness of Ireland’s vibrant architecture sector on this important international stage. My Department through Culture Ireland commissions Ireland at Venice in partnership with the Arts Council.”
At the heart of RESIDUUM is an ambitious approach to city-making that addresses the interconnected challenges of housing, place-making and identity, weaving a richer and more coherent urban tapestry.
The curators will work with a multidisciplinary team comprising Alice Casey and Cian Deegan of TAKA Architects on exhibition design; Jim Byrne of Galway City Council on content coordination and research; Peter Maybury on identity and publication design; Frank Monahan of Architecture at the Edge Festival on the public programme; Caoimhín Corrigan as project manager; and Elaine White of Galway City Council as project administrator.
The 2027 exhibition will be a place where ideas are proposed, challenged and enriched ensuring that the exhibition is not an endpoint but an active part of Galway's continuing transformation.
Emmet Humphreys and Nathalie Weadick, Curators of RESIDUUM commented:
“We are delighted to be announced as the curators of the Irish Pavilion on behalf of Galway City Council. It is a tremendous honour to represent Ireland at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition at Venice. While rooted in Galway, RESIDUUM explores a timely and universally relevant challenge: how the overlooked potential embedded within our cities can help transform fragmented urban landscapes into connected, liveable places. RESIDUUM is intended to engage diverse audiences and inspire approaches that can help cities realise this potential.”
The Venice Architecture Biennale, which will run from May to November 2027, remains the most important global platform for the exhibition of architecture. In 2027 it will be curated by Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu with the title Do Architecture. The Biennale offers an unparallelled opportunity for Irish architects to engage with international audiences. Ireland at Venice 2027 builds on Ireland’s strong presence at the Venice Architecture Biennale in recent years. The 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018 was curated by Shelley McNamara and Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects.
Ireland at Venice is an initiative of Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council. The selection of the team to represent Ireland was made following an open, competitive process, with international jury members and representatives of Culture Ireland and the Arts Council.
Notes on the exhibition
The title of the exhibition is RESIDUUM, referring to what remains: the overlooked physical, cultural and social resources embedded within our cities. It is a provocation that asks three questions: how architecture can unlock the potential of the city we already have; how the public architect can act in service of the public good; and how thoughtful densification can create homes, stronger communities and places of belonging.
The exhibition expands on the idea of RESIDUUM as the physical structures, spatial fragments, material traces, histories, relationships and cultural practices embedded within our cities. Rather than being seen as leftovers, these layers are understood as a resource for the future. At its heart is a proposition that is both simple and radical: that architecture has the capacity to recognise, interpret and unlock the value already embedded within our cities, shaping their future through what already exists.
Stretching backwards into the inherited city and forwards towards its possible futures, the exhibition takes the practice of the public architect as its point of departure. Through artefacts, 3D speculative scenarios and conversations, it follows the public architect as the thread that reveals how architectural practice operates across the cultural, social and political dimensions of city-making.
Responding to Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu’s curatorial call to Do Architecture for the 20th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Irish Pavilion moves beyond representation to become a platform for exchange, where ideas are proposed, challenged and enriched, extending beyond the exhibition to contribute to Galway’s continuing transformation.
Biographies
Emmet Humphreys, Curator
Emmet Humphreys has work extensively over the past 30 years on unlocking urban potential. He led an Architectural practice in Drogheda for 17 years, working between the dynamics of development, community, environment and conservation. He was the co-author of the West Gate Vision 2016 and the Boyle 2040 Plan 2018 which brought the concept of the Block Design to the fore. He was part time lecturer in Cityspace-Dwellingspace Studio, Lund LTH University. The Studio was part of the ILAUD (Internation Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design). He has written, presented and organised events (both national and international) specifically on the RESIDUUM topic.
Emmet is the first Senior Architect for Galway City Council and over the past eight years has been developing a Local Authority Architectural Practice which focuses on delivery of housing and the creation of community led placing making, the later with the view to creating a pipeline of deliverable housing projects. This works negotiates the continuum of the city that moves and grows daily. It also protects the qualities of Environment, Historical and Cultural values.
Dr Nathalie Weadick, Curator
Dr Nathalie Weadick is a curator, cultural leader and researcher working across architecture, spatial practice and contemporary art. With more than twenty-five years of international experience, she is recognised for creating ambitious public cultural programmes that position architecture as a civic and social force. She served as the Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation from 2007 to 2023, significantly expanding its national and international profile.
Weadick has extensive experience in exhibitions, biennales and international cultural production. She co-curated and co-commissioned the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008 and commissioned it again in 2010. In 2018, she was part of the curatorial team for FREESPACE the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Her wider curatorial work includes projects presented through the London Festival of Architecture, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Science Gallery Dublin, IMMA and VISUAL Carlow.
Her practice focuses on immersive and participatory public engagement through exhibitions, festivals, film, education and civic dialogue. She recently completed a PhD by Practice between Queen’s University Belfast and RMIT Australia titled The Quiet Art of Tactical Curating: A Framework for Cultural Momentum in Architecture.