19th International Architecture Exhibition—Venice Biennale 2025

ABOUT THE PROJECT: INTELLIGENCE OF ERRORS – the Croatian Pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, is an artistic and research-based project dedicated to investigating ways in which errors in spatial design and policy can be utilized as resources for learning and making new worlds. Intelligence of Errors links itself directly to the overarching topic of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.”, by building on the insight that identification of one’s own errors is the key prerequisite for the development of collective intelligence systems within non-ideal and complex conditions. Errors in the context of this project are seen as conditions created by human action or inaction, which manifest themselves within our environment. But instead of merely treating errors as problems to be fixed, Intelligence of Errors invites a different approach, one that stays with the error, and learns from it.

INTELLIGENCE OF ERRORS is inspired by and in some ways developed from Error Harvest – an educational tool for designers of complex socio-technological and spatial systems under non-ideal conditions. Error Harvest is a flexible approach whose components and procedures can be reconfigured to suit different contexts and goals. Rather than viewing identified errors solely as problems to be solved, Error Harvest teaches us to treat them as sources of unique insight regarding the world’s resistance to our design plans, and to explore their potential for collective benefit. While Intelligence of Errors – as a larger project – pursues a planetary-scale examination and development of a diverse set of design strategies, its iteration in Venice is distinctly rooted in Croatian phenomena and shaped by local knowledge derived from architectural practices within the Croatian context. Nevertheless, at the heart of the project lies the proposition that each locality – however delineated – contains both its own idiosyncratic errors and those that, despite differences in appearance, recur across various contexts. Accordingly, Intelligence of Errors is an invitation for everyone to engage with ideas on new configurations of errors, their potential for collectively beneficial use, and the creation of new iterations of this project.

During the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, INTELLIGENCE OF ERRORS will be presented at the Croatian Pavilion in the Arsenale through the spatial manifestation of the Institute of Errors – the project’s primary organizing Imaginarium. INSTITUTE OF ERRORS is designed as a nomadic pop-up research and design institution dedicated to examining and utilizing spatial errors towards the collective good. It serves as the central invitation to researchers, architects, designers, planners, hackers, maintenance experts, scientists, engineers, feral makers, rural innovators, underground strategists, and all others who wish to contribute to our shared understanding and imaginative use of errors. Welcoming visitors to its mobile and travelling form, it will showcase both the REPOSITORY OF ERRORS and three Imaginariums as key components of investigating and designing with errors.

REPOSITORY OF ERRORS is a newly established analogue and digital research archive focused on identifying and classifying spatial errors into three main categories of Products, Resources, and Surplus. While the initial focus of the Repository, presented in the Institute, lies within the territory of Croatia, it is envisioned as a growing, open-ended platform with international reach. The three Imaginariums presented in the Institute offer speculative design responses to selected phenomena from each error family, focusing on issues particular to Croatia, but applicable on a broader scale. WICKED PRODUCT harvests the ingenuity of illegal vacation settlements to rethink tourist infrastructure; RESOURCE FREEZONE reimagines abandoned brownfield sites as experimental zones for collective use; and LAYERING SURPLUS utilizes waste and excess as a material for creating new layers of climate-resilient habitation. By offering novel speculative design methods that harvest the identified errors, the Imaginariums provide alternative approaches to architecture and urban planning which position themselves critically against the currently observed top-down, inflexible, and non-inclusive urban planning practices.

SPOTTED SOME ERRORS?
YOU CAN ADD THEM TO OUR REPOSITORY: https://intelligenceoferrors.com/repository-of-errors/

TEAM:

INSTITUTE OF ERRORS is an interdisciplinary authorial collective, with members stemming from different fields of art and research. IDA KRIŽAJ LEKO is a practicing architect and the head of the interdisciplinary university specialist study program: Urban Studies at the University of Rijeka. ANA BOLJAR is an architect who operates in the gaps between the architecture of housing, culture, and community. She grew up in collectives. JANA ČULEK is an architect, researcher, and founder of Studio Fabula. Through her office and her teaching, she engages with the built environment and its narratives on many scales – exploring the discursive and storytelling potentials of architecture, as well as its position in wider cultural and political contexts. MARINO KRSTAČIĆ-FURIĆ and ANA TOMIĆ operate as a duo focused on graphic design and visual communication, mainly in the field of culture and art, with special emphasis on the development of recognizable graphic language, illustration, and spatial interventions. IVA PERUČIĆ is an architect, artist, and Urban Studies specialist whose work encompasses spatial installations and projects of different scales, aimed at reflecting on our own connectedness with the environment. MARKO-LUKA ZUBČIĆ is a senior assistant at the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, whose research deals with non-ideal institutional epistemology.

IMPRESSUM:

INSTITUTE OF ERRORS: Ana Boljar, Jana Čulek, Ida Križaj Leko, Marino Krstačić-Furić, Iva Peručić, Ana Tomić, Marko-Luka Zubčić

COMMISSIONER: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia – Minister dr. sc. Nina Obuljen Koržinek

ORGANIZATION: Croatian Architects’ Association (UHA) – Mia Roth Čerina, president

PROJECT COORDINATION: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia – Nevena Tudor Perković

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Morana Matković, Frano Petar Zovko (UHA)

PRODUCTION TEAM: Ana Boljar, Ida Križaj Leko, Marino Krstačić-Furić, Iva Peručić, Ana Tomić

EXHIBITION DESIGN: Ana Boljar, Jana Čulek, Ida Križaj Leko, Marino Krstačić-Furić, Iva Peručić, Ana Tomić

EXHIBITION DESIGN COLLABORATORS: Teut d.o.o. (Denis Akvić, Damir Ormuš, Vedran Pavičić, Ivan Filipović), Data decor d.o.o. (Svjetlana Despot), Craftomoto (Vedran Relja, Fran Diminić, Filip Zadravec), Zinam d.o.o., Print shop (Mladen Široki), Studio Props (Kristijan Golemović), Pozor d.o.o., Arskopija d.o.o., Miroslav Šarić, Togetherness / Togetherless – Croatian Pavilion at 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

WEB DESIGN COLLABORATORS: Ana Labudović, Elvis Krstulović

MAP APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT: Notch Software Solutions d.o.o.

PAVILION PHOTODOCUMENTATION: Doris Fatur, Sanja Bistričić Srića, Hrvoje Franjić

© REPOSITORY PHOTOGRAPHS: Courtesy of Angelini Manuel for istra24.hr; Attack; Belušić Zdravko for CROPIX; Bistričić Srića Sanja; Cavar Lana; Communal warden; Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU), Zagreb; DELTALAB; EASA Croatia 2002; Fajt Robert for CROPIX; Glas Istre; Hajdinjak Željko for CROPIX; Hojsak Irena and Prpić Mara for Urbani separe; Humana Nova; Jakić Natko for Centar za održivi razvoj – Ekopark Pernat; Jakić Vesna for Ruta Cres; Kanazir Tanja for the City of Rijeka; Kanazir Tanja for Drugo more; Klarić Duje; Kononchenko Alexandra for EASA Croatia 2018 (Alma Antončić, Dora Gorenak, Zoran Grubiša, Enia Kukoč, Bruno Lang-Kosić, Lucia Majica, Kristijan Mamić, Marin Nižić, Vana Pavlić, Mario Peko, Filip Pračić, Vili Rakita, Ivan Zaninović); Kralj Matija for DELTALAB; Kunić Domagoj for Croatian Designers Association; Institute of Errors; Platforma 9,81; Perović Sara for Pulska grupa; Sabelić Goran for CROPIX; Sluga Emil for Google images; Stanić Sanjin

© REPOSITORY ILLUSTRATIONS: Jana Čulek, Ida Križaj Leko, Ana Šepić, Ana Tomić

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND VISUAL IDENTITY: Marino Krstačić-Furić & Ana Tomić

TRANSLATIONS: Iva Masters (English), Jasna Perić (Italian)

PROJECT COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA: Morana Matković, Jana Perković

PROJECT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY: Jana Perković

INSTITUTIONAL COLLABORATORS: DeltaLab – Center for Urban Transition, Architecture and Urbanism, University of Rijeka, Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatian Geological Survey

PROJECT E-MAIL: contact@intelligenceoferrors.com

WEB: www.intelligenceoferrors.com

INSTAGRAM: @croatianpavilion2025

FACEBOOK: Hrvatski paviljon/Croatian pavilion – La Biennale di Venezia

SPONSORS: Notch Software Solutions d.o.o., Zumtobel Group Croatia d.o.o., City of Zagreb, Croatian Chamber of Architects