Michal Hladký, director of EIT Culture & Creativity’s East Regional Hub based in Košice, Slovakia and an architect by training, was at the Venice Architecture Biennale earlier this year exploring collective intelligence, soft power, and peripheral transformation with innovative platform X-utopia as a prototype for Europe’s futures. Below is his account of the trip.
This May, Venice became more than a stage—it became a laboratory of ideas. The 19th edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by innovative Italian architect Carlo Ratti, asked us not to look back in nostalgia nor forward in abstraction, but to engage with the world as it is—and as it could be—through the lens of intelligence.
In fact, that was the theme: “Intelligens: Natural. Artificial. Collective.” It invited practitioners and the public alike to consider the interplay between human, machine, and planetary intelligences. It was less a celebration of architecture and more a rehearsal for possible futures that demand design as strategy, space as process, and imagination as infrastructure.
Pictured: Michal Hladký, Bernd Fesel and Francesca Barisani of EIT Culture & Creativity at the Venice Biennale, along with start-up founder Benjamin James.
We at EIT Culture & Creativity were proud to be present not only during the Biennale’s pre-opening days, but also at the “Archipelago for Possible Futures” Summit hosted at Ocean Space. This summit was part of the New European Bauhaus, a European policy initiative as part of the green transition.
As an architect myself, this year’s Biennale struck a deeper chord. It reminded me that architecture is not only about shaping spaces—it’s about shaping meaning, systems, and futures.
Together with Bernd Fesel, our Director of Marketing, Communication, and Partnerships; Francesca Barisani, our Director of Innovation and Ambra Trotto, Director of Transformation and Regional Innovation, we participated in intense discussions on the role of culture, co-creation, and design for transformation. The summit was a deep act of listening, assembling voices from cities, coastlines, and peripheries to map collective action.
At the very heart of these conversations stood one of the Biennale’s most compelling contributions: X-utopia. Initiated by Jozef Olšavský and supported by EIT Culture & Creativity, X-utopia is more than an exhibit—it’s an ecosystem strategy. Rooted in Košice, Eastern Slovakia, it combines architecture, anthropology, strategic foresight, and post-industrial renewal to propose new tools for regions long seen as “left behind.”
“We don’t need more monuments,” Jozef said during the event. “We need mechanisms. X-utopia is not an escape—it’s a method for radical care.”
In the Arsenale, among dense and future-facing works, X-utopia didn’t just blend in—it stood out. It offers a new continent of thinking, where the margins are reframed as experimental grounds for regeneration, not decay.
During our days in Venice, we also had the privilege to meet and exchange ideas with architectural visionaries such as architects Winy Maas, Mitchell Joachim, Ondřej Chybík, Ben James, and others. These moments weren’t formal—they were fluid, honest, and urgent. They reminded us that creative networks are as vital as technical ones, especially when facing complex challenges.
If there’s one takeaway from this Biennale, it’s that the future won’t be designed by isolated experts. It will be co-created by intelligent ecosystems, like the ones we saw—and helped build—in Venice.
Join our Digital Hub to see all our upcoming events and connect with Europe’s creative community.
