Research Colloquia, Jeanne Autran-Edorh

Curating Togo’s first Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale

Date: December 3, 2025, 11:00 – 12:30

Place: BI, Studio 4

Speaker: Jeanne Autran-Edorh (Studio NEiDA)

Abstract: In 2025, the Republic of Togo inaugurated its fi rst national pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, with a project titled Considering Togo’s Architectural Heritage. The pavilion was commissioned by the Palais de Lomé, and curated by Studio NEiDA, an architecture and research practice co-founded by architect Jeanne Autran-Edorh and curator Fabiola Büchele.

The exhibition examined Togo’s architectural narratives from the early 20th century to the present, through the dual lenses of conservation and transformation. Jeanne Autran-Edorh will present the methodical documentation undertaken by the curators to establish a dialogue between vernacular building practices and modernist construction techniques. This approach broadens the understanding of Togo’s architectural landscape and highlights the richness and complexity of its built heritage.

By tracing the evolution of forms and materiality within West Africa’s built environment, from ancient Nôk cave dwellings to the earthen Tatas Tamberma compounds of northern Togo, the pavilion foregrounded a continuum of knowledge, resilience and adaptation. It also revealed the distinct Afro-Brazilian architectural language developed by freed returnees from Brazil between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, while the exhibition primarily focused on emblematic examples of post-independence modernism.

Many of these buildings, such as the Hotel Sarakawa, the Hedzranawoe Market, and the ECOWAS and BOAD banks, continue to serve their original functions. Others stand today as poetic ruins of modernism, including the Hotel de la Paix and the Bourse du Travail, while landmark structures like the Hotel 2 Février and the Palais des Congrès have recently undergone or are undergoing restoration.

This talk will address both the curatorial content of the exhibition and the critical process of bringing a national pavilion to the Venice Architecture Biennale for the fi rst time, reflecting on the methodological, cultural and institutional challenges of representing a country through architecture on the world stage.