The French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale
The implementation of the French Pavilion at the Venice International Art and Architecture Exhibitions is entrusted to the Institut français, an operator of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.
The world's oldest art event, the Venice Biennale is also one of its most prestigious. Since its creation in 1895, this international exhibition has represented a major moment on the world art scene, where the arts, ideas and diplomacy meet. Since 1980, Venice has hosted, alternating with the International Art Exhibition, the International Architecture Exhibition, the date of its creation.
By the second edition of the International Art Exhibition in 1897, the Palazzo delle Arti, built in the city's public garden, was proving too small, and the growing number of foreign nations taking part in the event soon sought their own Pavilion in the Giardini park. Designed by engineer Faust Finzi, the French Pavilion was inaugurated in 1912 with an exhibition by Auguste Rodin.
The Biennale, a veritable tool of influence, is a unique opportunity to showcase one's national scene to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. As an example, 86 countries took part in the 60th edition of the International Art Exhibition in 2024, which attracted 700,000 visitors, over 532,000 of whom visited the French Pavilion. An equally unmissable event in the discipline, the International Architecture Exhibition drew 285,000 visitors to the 2023 edition, including 180,000 to the French Pavilion.
The Institut français, operator of the French Pavilion
The implementation of the French Pavilion at the Venice International Art and Architecture Exhibitions is entrusted to the Institut français, an operator of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.
France's presence at the Venice Biennale contributes to the promotion of the French scene, one of the priorities of the ministries. Affirming France's role as a major player in contemporary art and architecture involves promoting its artists and architects in collaboration with operators in the relevant sectors, while actively supporting their international influence.
In addition, the Institut français is developing a "resonance" program of national representation, upstream, during and downstream of the Biennale, to create links and debate around the themes of the French Pavilion exhibition carried by the selected artistic team. This cultural programming offer can take several forms: conversation, workshop, educational meetings, round tables, residency or project built in partnership, with the possibility of joining forces with other national pavilions. It places the project at the heart of a broader scheme of reflection, dissemination and exchange initiated by the Institut français in conjunction with the French cultural network abroad and drawing on leading institutions in the fields of art and architecture worldwide.
To support this resonance, the Institut français is developing a resource kit, providing network agents with resources related to the pavilion and the themes it carries in order to encourage their local programming.
The Pavilion's low-carbon strategy
As part of its roadmap for the ecological transition adopted in 2022, the Institut français has set itself the target of reducing the French Pavilion's carbon footprint in Venice by 25% in 5 years (end 2026), in line with the 2015 Paris Agreements and the Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone.
The French Institute was supported in this approach, via a skills sponsorship, by ATNA (a subsidiary of ARTER), a company specializing in supporting creative players towards low-carbon and sustainable systems. The latter has developed a specific calculator to measure the total carbon footprint of projects for the Venice Biennials of Art and Architecture each year.
The carbon footprint of the 2019 Art Biennale Pavilion was taken as a baseline with an estimated value of 180 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (Teq CO₂). Analysis of the main GHG emission items enabled a roadmap to be drawn up to guide actions to reduce the Pavilion's carbon impact: more local and responsible production, implementation of eco-design practices, reduction in the number of trips and preferred rail travel, printing of Biennale catalogs in Italy to limit freight, optimization of the Pavilion's energy performance included in the French Pavilion's 2025 renovation program providing for enhanced thermal insulation, etc.
After 3 years of implementation, the results obtained show that the low-carbon trajectory is not linear; the context and nature of each artistic project and the particular needs of artists and architects impact, in one direction or another, the carbon footprint of the French Pavilion.
However, the results highlight significant progress in line with our ambitions:
- Carbon footprint 2022: 110 Teq CO2 at - 39% compared with the reference year
- Carbon footprint 2023: 97 Teq CO2 at - 46% compared with the reference year
- Carbon footprint 2024: 150 Teq CO2 at -17% compared with the reference year
In addition, the Institut français, through the French Pavilion, is part of the Global Green Lion, an initiative by the curators of international art and architecture exhibitions that integrates principles of environmental sustainability into the design, installation and dismantling of its exhibitions.
Discover Pavillon 2025
"Living with" is revealed through a video report tracing the history of the project, from its conception to its presentation to the public, with commentary by the exhibition curators, architects Dominique Jakob, Brendan MacFarlane, Éric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier.
Discover Pavillon 2025
A renovated French Pavilion for 2026
The 61th International Art Exhibition will mark the return of the project to represent France within the French Pavilion after an edition of the 2025 Architecture Biennale outside the walls. Closed for a year for renovation work, in 2026 the pavilion will welcome the biennial public and the work of Yto Barrada within a renovated space, offering considerable functional and energy improvements.
Selection process
Piloted by the French Institute, the selection process for the artist and architectural project differs from one exhibition to the next. It is determined in collaboration with the two supervisory ministries and is subject to change:
International Art Exhibition: the winner is chosen by a selection committee made up of French and international professionals, representatives of the two supervisory ministries and the Institut français. On the basis of the professionals' proposals, a final choice is made by vote. The artist then chooses his or her curator.
International Architecture Exhibition: the winning project and team are chosen by competition. A selection committee made up of French and international professionals, representatives of the two supervisory bodies and the French Institute meets to choose a project to represent France at the Venice Biennale, designed by an architectural and/or multidisciplinary team whose composition varies from project to project. This team is responsible for the design, production and promotion of the exhibition.
