As a concept, care is ubiquitous, yet it is in a state of extreme crisis. Since 2020, the word ‘Care’ has taken on a very acute meaning in the global pandemic’s ‘state of exception’. The concepts of care – ‘caring for’, ‘caring about’, ‘caring with’ resonate in many spheres. The world has experienced ‘a discursive explosion of care’, but collective care is barely put into practice. It’s essential to respond to these ever present yet newly urgent matters of care: thinking through care in its many forms—of humans and nonhumans—while addressing its intricacies.

The Care Pavilion invites interdisciplinary designers, activists, scholars, healers and cultural practitioners from the Global South and Global North to respond to “Care”, using the Biennale as a testing ground to re-imagine the politics and ethics of care.

Through a Care manifesto, Care publication, Care documentary, collective-care initiatives and ‘Care-full’ practices, the concept of care—and all its complexities—will be re-imagined and re-collectivised through an intersectional perspective.

The curatorial team behind the Care Pavilion aims to emphasise the necessity of curatorial support (infrastructure) to ensure that caring (whether for, about, or with) can really flourish. The team deploy “curating” —from the Latin word curare, meaning “to care” and “to cure”—as a tool to radically expand and collectively reflect on the notion of care. 

The Care Pavilion, designed by architect Jiakun Liu, plays a special role by making many forms of care visible, serving as a practice of collective caring and curing that is accessible to everyone.