In the face of fear, imagination. 2025 MUGAK Biennial opens doors

The fifth edition of the Basque Country International Architecture Biennial, "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today," has begun. Thanks to the support of the Basque Government's Department of Housing and Urban Agenda, and curated by architect María Arana, Mugak/2025 presents "Eu-topías, Ou-topías," an exhibition that invites reflection on the transformative power and reconstructive capacity of utopia.

Through projects by renowned figures in architecture and art, the exhibition is composed of a series of utopian proposals that imagine alternative futures. The tour of the various pieces that comprise the central exhibition will remain open until February 22, 2026.

"The Biennial is much more than a succession of exhibitions or activities. It is a way of saying that we believe in the future. That in the face of fear, we choose imagination. That in the face of disenchantment, we choose collective construction."

Denis Itxaso, Minister of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government.

"Eu-topias, Ou-topias," main exhibition. "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today" / MUGAK. Image courtesy by Mugak/2025.

Intending to bring architecture closer to the public, Mugak/2025, curated by María Arana, champions architecture that stimulates reflection and fosters shared imagination. Marking the start of its fifth edition, on October 9th, the Kursaal in San Sebastián hosted the inaugural lecture given by architect Lesley Lokko OBE.

"One of the objectives is to bring architecture into public dialogue. This exhibition is like a book: you see it, read it, understand it, and thus you feel the fragility of the project."

Lesley Lokko OBE, at the opening presentation at the Kursaal

"Eu-topias, Ou-topias," main exhibition. "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today" / MUGAK. Image courtesy by Mugak/2025.

The Basque Institute of Architecture (EAI-IAE) will host the central exhibition, "Eu-topías, Ou-topías," which brings together, in three galleries, the work and thought of internationally renowned architects and artists:

First Gallery: Utopia as Escape
A space that invites reflection on the elusive power of utopia and its regenerative and reconstructive capacity. A proposal that demonstrates the potential and the evocative and transformative force of the creative impulse.

   -"New Babylon" by Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys.
    -"Plug in City" + "Filter City" by renowned English architect Sir Peter Cook.
    -"Exodus" + "Hyperbuilding" by the iconic Rem Koolhaas.

"Eu-topias, Ou-topias," main exhibition. "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today" / MUGAK. Image courtesy by Mugak/2025.

Second Room: Regenerative and Decolonial Utopias
A series of hanging publications greets the visitor. All of them represent the literary character of early utopias and the emergence of utopian literature throughout the centuries. They follow projects that function as experimental cartographies for possible futures.

   - "The Available City" by architect and urban planner David Brown + MAS Context.
    - "African Futures Institute" by Professor Lesley Lokko OBE.
    - "The Bedroom Script" by Madrid-based architect and programmer John Porral.
    - "We Make Cities" by the Seville-based transdisciplinary practice Lugadero.
    - Interview with sociologist Richard Sennett conducted for this Biennial.

"Eu-topias, Ou-topias," main exhibition. "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today" / MUGAK. Image courtesy by Mugak/2025.

Third Hall: A Cloister of Dystopias
The upper area of the cloister of the Basque Institute of Architecture houses projects that illustrate how the architectural and political utopias of the 20th century have transformed over time into landscapes with a dystopian touch.

- "U.N(INVERSE)" by Navarrese artist Txuspo Poyo,
- "What to do with a Million Years", a photographic project by London-based photographer and visual artist Juno Calypso.

"Eu-topias, Ou-topias," main exhibition. "Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today" / MUGAK. Image courtesy by Mugak/2025.

In line with the structural focus of Mugak/2025, three architectural installations will transform emblematic squares in Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Vitoria-Gasteiz. In this way, the three capitals of the Basque Country will fill their architectural agendas until November 14, when the fifth edition will conclude.

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More information

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Event

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"Castles in the Air, or how to build utopia today" / Basque Country International Architecture Biennial, Mugak/2025.

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Curator

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María Arana.

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Main Exhibition

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«Eu-topías, Ou-topías» (09-10-2025 / 22-02-2026): Lesley Lokko OBE, Constant Niewenhuys, John Porral, Txuspo Poyo, Aristide Antonas, Sir Peter Cook, David Brown, Richard Sennett, Juno Calypso, Rem Koolhaas.

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Architecture in the three capitals

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(October 10) Alderdi Eder Esplanade, Donostia-San Sebastián, "Lightness and Denunciation: Embroidery as a Feminine Utopia" by Izaskun Chinchilla Architects. (October 17) Plaza de las Mujeres, Bilbao, "Etxenoi" by AMA Architectural Office. (October 23) Plaza de la Virgen Blanca in Vitoria-Gasteiz, "Utopia: No Entry" by Sebastián Bayo. All three will be the setting for various activities in this edition, such as the workshop co-organized by Maushaus and No Man's Land, "Architecture without Building," which will tour all of them.

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Organiser

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Department of Housing and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government.
Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.
Basque Institute of Architecture.

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Exhibition design

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Urbanbat Koop.

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Dates

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09.10 > 14.11.2025.

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Venue / Location

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Venues. Visit the program here.
Instituto de Arquitectura de Euskadi. Andereño E. Zipitria, 1. 20003 - Donostia/San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa (Spain).

Lesley Lokko

Lesley Lokko. Born in Dundee, United Kingdom, in 1964, is a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist. Trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture and with a PhD in Architecture from the University of London where Lokko’s knowledge base and capability as an educator was built, her academic career was initially honed at Kingston University, University of East London, London Metropolitan University, University of Greenwich, the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and later at the University of Westminster. These experiences were followed by a number of visiting professorships in North-American and African higher education institutions.

Throughout her career thus far, Lokko has established a durable and international legacy in terms of her voice and the courses to which she has contributed, most notably between 2014 and 2019, as the founder and director of the Graduate School of Architecture of the University of Johannesburg, a school which – in its independence and ambition – has been transforming not just the content but the narrative of architectural education in South Africa and the continental region.

She has pioneered for, and cultivated, critical debate about identity in architecture. The innovation and passion in her teaching is matched by an unfaltering commitment to ensuring that architectural education and research run in parallel with the contemporary anthropological, artistic, technological and literary public debates. In tandem with this approach, she questions, defines and enhances the role the architect plays in shaping contemporary global and local communities. This professional stance not only makes her a most deserving winner of this award but also confirms that we are to expect many forms of achievement and of well-deserved recognition in her future career steps.

María Arana Zubiate

María Arana Zubiate (b. Bilbao, 1976) is an architect from the School of Architecture of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) (San Sebastián), a researcher, and a curator. She is a founding member of Urbanbat, a social initiative cooperative dedicated to research, the design of participatory urban regeneration processes, and the production of critical culture on urban transformations. Through her work, she promotes social innovation and citizen creativity to foster a culture of participation that contributes to the care and improvement of the environment.

She has curated projects and events for the Azkuna Zentroa-Alhóndiga Bilbao, served on the curatorial committee of the 5th Culture and Citizenship Conference, organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and has been co-director of URBANBATfest, the annual festival of architecture, urban planning, and social innovation in Bilbao, for 13 years. Since 2021, she has curated Mugak/International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country.

She has developed cultural and mediation projects related to the territory for the CICUS in Seville, the Oiassso-Irun Museum, La Térmica in Malaga, the Basque Institute of Architecture, and Matadero Madrid, among others.

She has coordinated, together with the Bilbao City Council, the local participation in the European Human Cities project, which led them to collaborate with the Talling Design Festival, Aalto University, and the University of Architecture of Ljubljana, among other European institutions linked to design.

She has given lectures at various forums and conferences in Spain and Europe, such as the Burgos Culture Forum, the FAD Awards in Barcelona, Entropía in Zaragoza, Bizkaia Design Week, the Carlos III University of Madrid, the Madrid School of Architecture, the Gernika Peace Museum, the Pontevedra Architecture and Childhood Biennial, and Talling Design Week.

As a teacher, he is part of the teaching team for the Master's Degree in Design for Change at the Kunsthall European Institute of Design and has taught courses in the Master's Degree in Practice and Theory in Contemporary Arts and Culture at Azkuna Zentroa-Alhóndiga Bilbao and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

Published on: October 21, 2025

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