Germane Barnes and Vyta Pivo to curate the US Pavilion at Venice 2027

The US State Department has picked the University of Miami School of Architecture to fill the American pavilion at the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. Leading it are architect and educator Germane Barnes, who showed his installation Griot in the Arsenale in 2023, and historian Vyta Pivo, a specialist in construction labour and materials who is writing a history of the US concrete industry.

Their theme, 'Earth Craft', looks at the stuff America is built from (brick, adobe, rammed earth) and at the people who dug, shaped and fired it. Barnes says the show will represent the country through its makers rather than its icons. References run from indigenous landscapes to industrial brickworks and plantation kilns, and the announcement hints at fabrication workshops. Pivo wants traditional knowledge of soil, water and heat to sit alongside robotic fabrication and computational design.

Contributors so far include NADAAA's Nader Tehrani, Carie Penabad and Adib Cúre, and dean Rodolphe el-Khoury, while students will build an installation in the courtyard of the 1930 Palladian-style pavilion in the Giardini. No design details yet, and the team still has to raise most of the money beyond a $375,000 seed grant.

Worth noting for anyone planning a 2027 Venice trip around the Biennale.

Our summary of a story from Wallpaper*, published 6 November 2026. Read the original

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