Questioning Utopia at the Boundary: 2025 Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial
materials provided by
Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial
SPACE January 2026 (No. 698)
Vitoria-Gasteiz Pavilion, Utopia: No Entry (2025) by Sebastián Bayo
2025 Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial
Bilbao, San Sebastián, Vitoria-Gasteiz
Oct. 9, 2025 – Feb. 22, 2026
The 5th 2025 Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial was held across the three cities of Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Vitoria-Gasteiz under the theme ‘Castles in the air, or, how to build a utopia today’. The main exhibition ‘Eu-topías, Ou-topías’, featuring 12 teams, and the three pavilions installed in each city, focus on questioning the nature of utopia in our time and seeking alternatives through acts of the critical imagination, rather than presenting definitive answers. Why is imagining utopia important? And what is the reason for erecting a ‘wall’ in the borderland Basque Country, like the Humanise Wall at this year’s Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism? Here, SPACE hear from María Arana Zubiate, the Curator who has led the biennial for two consecutive editions, and Sebastián Bayo, the Architect who designed the pavilion ‘Utopia: No Entry’ in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Vitoria-Gasteiz Pavilion, Utopia: No Entry (2025) by Sebastián Bayo
interview María Arana Zubiate Curator, Sebastián Bayo Architect × Kim Bokyoung
Boundary, a Territory of Encounter, not Separation
Kim Bokyoung (Kim): While most architecture biennials combine the name of the city or region, the Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial (hereinafter Mugak/) uses mugak, the Basque word for ‘boundary’ or ‘frontier’ as its official title. What is the reason for this, and how does this name define the identity and direction of the biennial?
María Arana Zubiate (Arana): Euskadi (Basque Country) may be a small territory, yet it possesses a distinct cultural identity. It is a borderland – politically, socially, and culturally – that spans two nations, Spain and France. The concept of the frontier is so central to the biennial that it forms part of its very name. Here, the frontier is not understood as a space that confines or blocks the movement of peopl...
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Maria Arana Zubiate
Maria Arana Zubiate is an architect, researcher, and curator. She is a Founding Partner of Urbanbat, a social initiative cooperative dedicated to research and the production of critical culture on urban transformations. She has curated programmes for Azkuna Zentroa-Alhóndiga Bilbao, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, and has been Co-Director for 14 years of URBANBATfest, Bilbao’s annual festival of architecture, urbanism, and social innovation. Currently, she is the Curator of the Mugak/ Basque Country International Architecture Biennial.
Sebastián Bayo
Sebastián Bayo, born in Madrid, grew up in the Basque Country. He began his architectural studies in Madrid in 2008 and later gained professional experience in London, launching his artistic career with the exhibition Expressions in 2016. Currently based in Spain, he bridges architecture and art, exploring anthropocentric narratives and psychic architecture through various media including digital art, painting, and sculpture. He also combines his professional practice with teaching at CEU Universidad San Pablo and Universidad Francisco Marroquín.
