According to the DGArtes online site, these were the candidates chosen for the limited tender to select the curatorial and exhibition project for official Portuguese representation at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which opened on Monday with a budget of 350,000 euros, according to the notice published in the Official Gazette.

The choice between the three candidates will be made by an appraisal committee made up of Paulo Carretas, senior technician at DGArtes, who coordinates are Joaquim Moreno, Isabel Ortins Simões Raposo, Julia Albani and Nuno Grande, according to the entity.

The projects in the competition which runs until 25 October - should relate to the theme "The Laboratory of the Future", proposed by the Biennale's general curator, Lesley Lokko, architect and writer, who over the past 30 years has reflected in her work on the relationship between race, culture and space.

The proposals for the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture should also take into account objectives such as "the dynamisation of the internationalisation of Portuguese arts and culture through cooperation with other countries, the valorisation of the educational dimension and the awareness of culture through good practices of public mediation", according to the selection criteria.

Environmental sustainability and the implementation of good ecological practices, the promotion of artistic research and experimentation as innovative practices of development and knowledge", as well as "the promotion of physical, social and intellectual accessibility of all professionals involved in artistic projects and of the respective publics", are also objectives outlined by the organisation of the competition.

The Portuguese Official Representation will be housed in Palazzo Franchetti during the Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs from 20 May to 26 November next year, with a pre-opening on 18 and 19 May, during which each country will present its own exhibition in the Giardini and Arsenale pavilions, and buildings in the historic city centre.

The competition was opened under the Project Support Programme, by order of the Minister of Culture, Pedro Adão e Silva, dated last Friday, the notice indicated, with the overall financial amount available of 350,000 euros, distributed in 240,000 euros for 2022 and 110,000 euros for 2023.

In July of this year, the DGArtes annual statement indicated on its official website that the limited tender for the selection of the Portuguese representation at the Architecture Exhibition - Venice Biennale 2023 was "due to open in August".

In the previous edition, Portugal was represented at the biennale with the project "In Conflict", by the depA architects collective, to answer the question posed by the curator, Hashim Sarkis, on "How are we going to live together?".