At the Venice Biennale, an installation positions planetary consciousness through architectural and computational design.
By Design Editorial Staff
This May, as the cultural elite converge on Venice’s iconic canals for the Venice Biennale 2025, all eyes will be on Palazzo Diedo, where The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology will unfold. This exhibition challenges conventional ideas about our planet’s future, bringing together Antikythera, an interdisciplinary think tank exploring planetary intelligence, and MIT Architecture, whose faculty are reimagining how design can respond to the climate crisis.
The installation creates an intellectual and visual landscape that is as groundbreaking as it is thought-provoking. Antikythera’s The Noocene: Computation and Cosmology from Antikythera to AI offers an intellectual equivalent of haute couture, reimagining computation as an “accidental megastructure” through which we understand Earth’s systems. At its heart is a monumental video monolith, a striking presence in the space that presents films exploring artificial intelligence, astronomy, and artificial life. Complemented by rare artifacts such as early mechanical computers and astronomical instruments, the installation underscores the deep historical connections between philosophy, science, and architecture.
Accompanying The Noocene is Accept All Cookies, a limited-edition publication produced with Berggruen Press. This book serves as a collector’s item, distilling the core ideas of Antikythera’s planetary philosophy into a tangible, thought-provoking work that bridges art, design, and intellectual inquiry.
Meanwhile, MIT Architecture presents Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet, a ready-to-wear revolution in sustainable design. The exhibition showcases forty projects by MIT faculty, each one reimagining how architecture can help address the climate crisis. Architecture’s role in global emissions—buildings and construction account for nearly 40%—is central to the discussion, with proposals that explore everything from regenerative materials to decentralized energy systems. MIT’s legacy of architectural excellence meets the urgent need for climate-conscious innovation, offering radical design solutions for a sustainable future.
Much like the fashion world’s progressive ateliers, The Next Earth creates a conceptual interplay between tradition and future-thinking. The exhibition invites visitors to reconsider not just the scale of architecture but the scale of human action in relation to the Earth. It’s a conceptual runway where ideas take center stage, exploring how we might reconcile technological progress with ecological preservation.
For the intellectually stylish, The Next Earth is the season’s essential destination. It’s a rare opportunity to experience how conceptual design and planetary thought can redefine the future of architecture. With thought-provoking ideas and groundbreaking proposals, this exhibition offers an intellectual feast, where aesthetics and philosophy collide in the most transformative way possible.
“The Next Earth: Computation, Crisis, Cosmology” runs throughout the Venice Biennale 2025 at Palazzo Diedo.