News of this year's Venice Biennale exhibitions, awards presentations, and pavilions has kept the architecture and design community busy with anticipation. On May 13, the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia announced its 17th International jury members. Each recommended by the Biennale's curator Hashim Sarkis this year's jury will be led by esteemed architect and Pritzker Prize winner Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA. 

Sejima is joined by Sandra Barclay, Lamia Joreige, Lesley Lokko, and Luca Molinari. The jury will be responsible for awarding the Biennale's official prizes: The Golden Lion for best National Participation, Golden Lion for the best participant in the International Exhibition, and Silver Lion for a promising young participant in the International Exhibition. In addition to the official prizes, the Jury "may also award a maximum of one special mention to National Participations and a maximum of two special mentions to the participants in the International Exhibition How will we live together?" The Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, August 30, 2021.

Meet the 2021 International Jury

Kazuyo Sejima - President (Japan)
Architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2010, she curated the Biennale Architettura (People meet in architecture) that same year. Owner and founder of the firm SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa, she is distinguished by her commitment to architectural form as the field’s primary domain of intervention in the social and spatial realms.

Sandra Barclay (Peru), an architect working between Lima and Paris, was the co-curator for the Peruvian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2016, winning a Special Mention of the Jury. She brings a heightened awareness of the poetic role of architecture as a transformative building act in extreme contexts.

Lamia Joreige (Lebanon) is a visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in Beirut. Co-founder and co-director of the Beirut Art Center, she offers a very acute view of architecture and the city as cultural material and as rich domains for artistic expression.

Lesley Lokko (Ghana-Scotland) is a successful architect and writer who lives between Johannesburg, London, Accra and Edinburgh. She was the founder and director of the Graduate School of Architecture of the University of Johannesburg (2014-2019) and Dean of the Spitzer School of Architecture City College of New York (2019-2021). She is a Visiting Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Lokko brings deep and critical perspective on the relationship between architecture, social, and economic development and the environment.

Luca Molinari (Italy) is an architect, historian, critic, journalist and curator. In 2010 he was the curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. He is the scientific director of the M9 Museum in Mestre (Venice). His profile ensures a vast array of angles from which he views architecture, its public role, and the agency of the architect in society.

Stay tuned for Archinect's continued coverage of the 2021 Venice Biennale.