Open call : Trienal de Arquitecture de Lisboa

The Lisbon Triennale is looking for self-funded projects that echo the theme of its 7th edition, opening in the autumn of 2025. We want to promote an independent, effervescent and diverse production on a global scale. The selected proposals will be part of the Triennale official programme, sharing the international stage with the central exhibitions that the event provides.

2. Theme

How heavy is a city? The question that shapes the 7th Lisbon Triennale challenges our current understanding of human spaces: to answer it demands to inquire into a new planetary dimension of all networked technological artefacts and the energy, material and information fluxes that shape them, and to rethink notions of citizenship in a transformed world.

The contemporary city is evolving incredibly fast and disrupting all other structures and cycles of planet Earth. Humans move more materials than rivers and oceans; we collectively use more energy than ever before.

What we used to call and know as a city is transforming into a new planetary phenomenon shaping the Earth’s bio-geo-chemical cycles: a vast new figure enmeshing the planet and demanding more materials to sustain it, repair it, expand it, and powered by more and more energy, shaped by more and more complex information systems.

Three lines of work focus on these issues, each comprising different multi-disciplinary processes and leading to three exhibitions :

Fluxesconcentrates on the intersections of artificial spaces that sustain humanity with the fragile and complex cycles of the living Earth.

Spectresfocuses on the imaging technologies used to understand the impact of human spaces on the planet, and how these echo imperial and colonial structures of extraction andpower.

Lighterpoints out possible ways in which new materials are shaping the construction of new human environments as they interact with rapidly changing ecosystems.

For more information on the research approach, go to Lisbon Triennale official site.

3. Participation

3.1. The selected proposals will be part of the 7th edition of Lisbon Architecture Triennale;

3.2 A maximum of 12 (twelve) proposals will be selected.

3.3.1 Palácio Sinel de Cordes, cultural centre of the Lisbon Triennale, is one of the venues available to host proposals that may be specially suited to that space, in limited numbers given the available area. See additional information about Palácio Sinel de Cordes.

3.3.2 Projects with an expression in the public space and a dynamic relationship with those who live and visit the city will be favoured.

3.3.3 The project can be conducted partly or entirely online.

4. Dissemination

4.1 Selected projects will be photographed and shared in different channels of communication of Lisbon Architecture Triennale (website, newsletter, social media, guide), benefiting from extensive exposure.

4.2 Each selected project will be the communication highlight in 1 (one) of the 9 (nine) weeks of the edition. The week will be defined by the communication department of the Lisbon Triennale.

4.3. Projects can be advertised through their own channels and materials, but in accordance with the communication department's instructions.

4.4 The Triennale's executive team will provide the projects with guidelines and mandatory information (names, logos, etc.) to be included.

4.5 In the case of projects taking place at the Sinel de Cordes Palace, they must specifically mention the venue in all public communication, in accordance with the rules determined by the communications department.

5. Eligibility

5.1 Proposals can be submitted by individual or collective applicants, from different background areas, knowledge fields, and nationalities.

5.2 They must bear a clear connection to the themes of the 7th Lisbon Architecture Triennale, and can take any format (Exhibition, Conference, Workshop, Performance, Publishing, or Other).

5.3 The projects must take place in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML).

5.4 Projects must occur during the 7th edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, which takes place between 2nd of October and 8th December 2025. As for long-term events, the date on which the projects will be carried out must match for at least one week with the previous dates.

5.5 Projects must be entirely self-funded. Production, assembly, and disassembly, as well as the host venue and any related licensing, are the sole responsibility of the proposals’ authors.

5.6 Projects can’t have profit or commercial purposes. However, they may generate revenue, which should be used solely and exclusively to finance the proposed activity and stakeholders, without the purpose of accumulating capital.

5.7 Only one (1) proposal per applicant will be accepted. If more than one proposal per applicant is received, only the last one submitted by the deadline will be considered.

6. Jury and Selection

• Ann-Sofi Rönnskog, Triennale 2025 Curator
• John Palmesino, Triennale 2025 Curator
• José Mateus, President of the Triennale Board of Directors
• Triennale executive team

The proposals will be assessed following this criteria:

• Relevance of the proposal's relationship to the theme of the 7th edition of the Triennale;
• Originality of the idea and feasibility of the project;
• Relevance of authorship, project team and partnerships.

The Triennale values inclusivity, particularly in terms of gender parity and breadth of geographical representation, as well as the accessibility of information; likewise, we recommend simple and clear synopses that can be understood by a non-specialised audience.

7. Dates

Requests for clarification: Until 18 November 2024

Online submission of proposals: Until 23:59 UTC on the 20th January 2025

Announcement of selected proposals: By 24 March 2025

Final Information to be submitted: By 5 May 2025

Presentation of Projects: 2 October to 8 December 2025 (long-term projects must coincide with the indicated period by at least one week)

7. Proposals

7.1 Proposals must be submitted electronically using the online form. Applications sent by email, regular post or any other way will not be considered nor returned.

7.2 All information, as well as the document to be submitted in the registration form, must be in English.

7.3 The document submitted in the registration form must consider the following points:

7.3.1 PDF format with horizontal orientation and optimized for reading on a computer screen;

7.3.2 It must include, for each member of the proposing team, name, date of birth, nationality and a small biography;

7.3.3 It must briefly explain the relevance of the project and connection to the 7th edition;

7.3.4 It must include three (3) illustrative images of the project, with credits and that can be used for communication.

7.4 In case of selection, all the information in the forms and attached documents can be used for dissemination of the projects, so they must all be duly credited.

7.5 There is no registration fee.

8. Changes to the proposal

8.1. Proposals submitted on the form must be as close as possible to the reality of their implementation and their feasibility.

8.2. The Lisbon Triennale reserves the right to exclude any project whose changes to the original proposal differ in such a way from the elements which led to its selection that its relevance in relation to the objectives of this open call may be compromised.

9. Rights and Authorship

9.1. The intellectual property rights of third parties, individual or collective, public or private, including, but not limited to, copyright, trademark or design rights are the sole responsibility of the selected projects.

9.2. Clear identification of all co-authors, collaborators, partners and support must be ensured by the authors of the candidate projects.

9.3. Without prejudice to the provisions of the previous numbers, the selected projects and their respective texts, images, sound or related rights may be used by the Lisbon Architecture Triennale within the scope of the event, with no time limit and free of charge. The Lisbon Triennale will credit the authorship of any materials used (text or image), considering the information provided by the authors of the selected projects.

9.4. When submitting the proposal, the proposing authors agree that their work is used in promotional materials related to the Lisbon Triennale, except when indicated, without prejudice to the respective copyright and intellectual property rights.

10. Confidentiality

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale will treat all information, references and identification documents submitted by the applicants as confidential and will not disclose them to third parties without prior consent.

11. Clarifications

This Open Call is part of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale’s 7th edition.

Clarifications about the present guidelines must be submitted to the organisation by e-mail message to pi@trienaldelisboa.com

The Lisbon Triennale will publish a list of FAQs, in a timely manner, in the Open Call section of its website.

All documentation is available in a bilingual format [PT/EN] through the website of the Lisbon Triennale ,here.

12. Final Provisions

The Lisbon Architecture Triennale reserves the right to amend these guidelines, hereby committing to communicating those alterations through the same means used in the promotion of the original guidelines.

14. Form