Public Call for the Selection of the Curatorial-Authoral Team for the National Pavilion of Montenegro at the 20th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice
Competition brief
Montenegro is selecting a curatorial-authoral team to develop its national exhibition for the 2027 Venice Architecture Biennale. The brief asks how architecture can engage with the country’s natural and cultural heritage, particularly UNESCO-protected areas, while addressing contemporary life and change. Entrants define their own research position, exhibition narrative and spatial response; the call does not prescribe one conclusion.
This is a public, single-stage, non-anonymous selection with an intended realization route. The exhibition is planned for ArteNova at Campo San Lorenzo, Venice. The supplied venue sheet describes a 200 m² ground-floor space with capacity for 80 guests. It is an exhibition-design task within an existing venue, not a commission for a new permanent building.
Organizer and key information
The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property of Montenegro is the commissioning public authority and organizer. The brief records government authorization on 18 June 2026 and identifies commissioner Mirjana Đurišić. Its official architecture portal provides the call, declaration and venue documents in a traceable institutional context. The jury includes a co-author of Montenegro’s 2025 pavilion; that establishes relevant previous participation, not an independently audited record of contract payments.
| Organizer | Montenegro — Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property. |
| Eligibility | International teams; Montenegrin citizen/resident member required. Further professional conditions below. |
| Entry fee | Free; entrants bear application-preparation and delivery costs. |
| Registration deadline | No separate registration: entry is made with submission. |
| Submission deadline | 16 November 2026, 13:00 UTC (14:00 CET). |
| Prizes | No separate cash prize announced; EUR 100,000 net production budget (approximately USD 112,530). |
Eligibility and submission
| Team | At least one curator and one author/designer. The curator may be an individual or duo; interdisciplinary participation is allowed. Each person may belong to only one entry team. |
| Qualifications | At least one curator must demonstrate comparable exhibition/curatorial experience in architecture or contemporary art and speak fluent English. The authorial lead must be an architecture graduate; at least one authorial member must speak fluent English. At least one overall team member must be a Montenegrin citizen and/or resident. |
| Representation | Appoint a legal/financial representative and agree internally on copyright, fees and responsibilities. The statement requests member identities, contacts and payment details, with the applicable signatures or legal-entity seal. |
| PDF 1 — application | Completed statement; motivation letter up to 500 words; proposed title, curatorial thesis, research framework and spatial approach; CVs and relevant references for all members; passport/ID evidence of the required citizenship or residency. |
| PDF 2 — design | One landscape A3 PDF (420 × 297 mm), 150 dpi, maximum 100 MB. Include a named title page, concept, visitor experience, delivery programme and preliminary budget. Narrative: up to 1,200 words. Supply drawings needed to understand the installation, such as plans, sections, spatial sequences and visualizations. No page count or fixed drawing scale is stated. |
| Sending and language | Email only a WeTransfer download link containing both PDFs to bijenale.mne@gmail.com; name the proposal and team members in the email. The brief is available in English and Montenegrin, but does not explicitly prescribe the submission language. English-fluency eligibility is not, by itself, confirmation of accepted document languages. |
Budget, dates and delivery
| Budget coverage | The net production allocation covers curator/designer/researcher fees, technical documentation, installation materials and equipment, two-way transport, assembly/dismantling, construction work and waste disposal, and team travel/accommodation for installation, opening and dismantling. |
| Outside that allocation | Venue rent, guarding and regular maintenance, official catalogue and main promotional printing, official opening and related promotional events, applicable taxes and the commissioner’s fee are excluded from the stated project budget. The documents do not give a detailed tax-payment mechanism. |
| Questions / answers | Questions: 19 October 2026; no closing hour stated. Answers scheduled for 23 October 2026. Check the official update before final submission. |
| Results / exhibition | Decision and reasons due by 23 November 2026. The brief gives exhibition dates of 8 May–21 November 2027; detailed delivery milestones and payment terms are reserved for the subsequent contract. |
| Currency estimate | EUR 100,000 ≈ USD 112,530, calculated 19 October 2026 using the ECB’s 16 October reference rate of EUR 1 = USD 1.1253. The budget remains euro-denominated. |
Jury and evaluation
| Mirjana Đurišić | Commissioner for Montenegro’s 2027 participation. |
| Dr Miljana Zeković | Professor, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad. |
| Dr Ivan Šuković | Visual artist and co-author of Montenegro’s 2025 architecture pavilion. |
| Ana Dobrašinović | M.Arch.; the call does not supply further professional detail. |
| Mina Novosel | M.Arch.; member of the creative team for Montenegro’s 2027 participation. |
| Criteria | Concept quality/authenticity; grounding in Montenegro and heritage; spatial and visual quality; technical feasibility; budget rationality. No numerical weighting is published. |
Rights and contractual limits
The EUR 100,000 is an all-in production allocation within the stated exclusions—not a cash prize or the team’s take-home fee. Scope, fees, milestones and responsibilities depend on a later contract.
Authors retain copyright, while every participating team grants the Ministry irrevocable, unpaid use of its entry and materials to promote Montenegro’s 2027 national exhibition, with authorship acknowledged. This provision is not restricted to the selected team. The selected proposal is intended as the basis for realization, but final obligations remain contractual; participation alone is not a signed appointment.
No separate unsuccessful-entry compensation or cancellation reimbursement is stated. Entry is free, so there is no registration payment to refund. The brief assigns unresolved disputes to the court competent for the organizer. These are descriptions of published terms, not legal advice.
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The committee sees a substantive opportunity to connect heritage research with an actual visitor experience. An identified public commissioner, existing venue, submission formats and named panel provide a clearer basis for evaluation than a purely promotional call. The panel combines architectural education, exhibition practice and responsibility for the national presentation; several members are connected to that presentation, so it should not be described as wholly external.
The practical test is whether the concept remains deliverable after fees, transport, fabrication and dismantling are budgeted. Teams should resolve language, cash-flow and contractual scope before committing significant production work. International access is real but conditional on the required local member and professional qualifications. The opportunity is therefore better suited to an organized exhibition team than to an unrestricted student ideas entry.
Related competitions — Editorial team selection
For thematic archive reading, the Art Gallery competition approaches cultural space through design, while Moscow. Architecture of Time explores architectural interpretation through images. These links are contextual references, not confirmation that either call remains open.
Time remaining for submission
Submission closes on 16 November 2026 at 13:00 UTC, equivalent to the officially stated 14:00 CET. No separate advance registration is required.
Official brief and submission
Review the Ministry’s brief, statement form, venue information and official answers before submitting.
