The Mugak/ International Biennial of Architecture of the Basque Country exceeds 90,000 participants in its fourth edition

• Promoted by the Basque Government Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport, the main architectural event of the Atlantic Arc has maintained its upward trend in terms of participation.
• The ephemeral pavilions have taken the Biennial to the streets with a great response from the public.
• In 2023 Mugak/ saw entries from prestigious professionals such as the Pritzker prize winner, Wang Shu, the researcher Beatriz Colomina and the studio amid.cero9.
• The programme, which was extended to Bilbao, Donostia and Vitoria-Gasteiz from 25 October to 24 November, has been the result of the work of more than twenty entities, which have united their proposals to bring architecture closer to citizens and offer it as another cultural asset.

The International Biennial of Basque Country Architecture, Mugak/ has said goodbye to its fourth edition with hundreds of activities, attracting more than 90,000 people. Held from October 25 to November 24, promoted by the Basque Government Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport and curated by the architect María Arana, Mugak/ has once again managed to offer a broad programme with which the general public has been able to enjoy architecture as another cultural asset.

In this edition, under the slogan 'rebuild, re-inhabit, rethink', the three Basque capitals have hosted exhibitions, conferences, workshops, artistic interventions and temporary pavilions, which have grown attendances by between 13 and 22% compared to the one held in 2021. “Mugak/ has gained in quality and in the variety of perspectives from which to analyse architecture, design and urbanism. It has also attracted a younger public than in previous editions, which confirms the interest that new generations have for this discipline and in reflecting on why we inhabit our cities and towns the way we do and how we can do so in the future,” said Pablo García Astrain, Director of Housing, Land and Architecture of the Basque Government. He also highlighted that, “in its fourth edition, Mugak/ has already surpassed the objectives for the number of people attending that were set at the beginning of the Biennial for the long term.”

The kick-off of this fourth edition was given by Chinese architect Wang Shu, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2012, an event that brought together more than 600 people at the Kursaal in San Sebastian. Since then, the programme has developed simultaneously in the three Basque capitals, with a hundred activities, among which the three temporary pavilions of this edition have been very well received by the public.

With these temporary constructions, people have had the opportunity to reflect on the impact of climate change through Lost Forest, which landed next to Zurriola beach in San Sebastian as a result of the collaboration with TAC! With the Urban Architecture Festival people have been able to see first-hand how the spaces of a home can be rethought and expanded through innovation with 'MUGAK HABIT[atu]Z'; and with 'Argi', a project by the students and faculty of the UPV-EHU School of Architecture, they have seen how architecture can be agile and flexible. All these constructions were located in emblematic spaces of the Basque cities and hosted activities of the Biennial programme within them.

“It has been an invitation to reflect on the energy of architecture designed to be reused and transformed to adapt to multiple contexts and needs. An invitation to think of other ways of extending the useful life of this type of infrastructure, innovating not only in its construction and assembly but also in the way it is dismantled and acquires a second useful life. It is a multifunctional, flexible and reversible architecture, conceived as an exercise in sustainability, which serves to provide multiple and proactive responses in the context of uncertainty and permanent change that we are facing,” said the curator, María Arana.

One of the central points of interest of Mugak/ 2023, which has attracted both professionals from the sector and the general public, was the Basque Institute of Architecture which was again the heart of the main exhibition of the Biennial. Inhabiting Change, which will remain open until February 25, 2024, proposes a collective dialogue between renowned figures from the world of architecture and the arts, who have brought together their original pieces, projects and representations of their work in this exhibition they produced themselves. The national and international professionals who have participated in the exhibition through their projects have come to the Basque Country over the last month to reflect with citizens.

The 2023 Biennial has been “plural, varied and reflective”, said Arana, who highlighted the broad programme thanks to the proposals and participation of numerous organisations thanks to the subsidies from the Department of Housing. As a novelty, this year the Off Mugak/ programme of parallel events was launched, through which organisations from inside and outside the Basque Country have been able to add their projects to the Biennial. In total, more than twenty organisations have collaborated in this fourth edition of Mugak/ to approach architecture, urban planning and design as tools to face the great challenges of current and future society from a diverse perspective.