Media Release
CALCULATING EMPIRES WINS SILVER LION AT 2025 VENICE BIENNALE
Powerhouse, Sydney is proud to announce that Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power Since 1500 — an ambitious installation by internationally acclaimed artists and researchers Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler and presented in partnership with Powerhouse — has been awarded the Silver Lion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
Unveiled at Biennale’s weekend opening, the large-scale visual manifesto Calculating Empires explores the complex relationship between technology and power across five centuries. Spanning more than 24m long and 3m high, this ambitious work charts a global history of control — from colonial expansion and militarisation to automation and artificial intelligence — revealing how the legacies of empire continue to shape today’s digital infrastructures.
Powerhouse, Sydney is a proud partner on the presentation of this landmark work, which aligns with the institution’s mission to champion cross-disciplinary inquiry, cultural dialogue, and the global impact of Australian-led research and artistic practice. A reimagined version of Calculating Empires will be presented at Powerhouse, Sydney as part of an international tour of the work.
Presented in the historic Venice Arsenale — once a hub of European naval dominance and international trade — the work begins in the year 1500, tracing how global trade routes, scientific instruments and systems of classification, enabled the rise of European imperial power. These systems — cataloguing, extraction and enclosure — laid the groundwork for the concentrated power and technological structures that define the 21st Century.
Created over five years, Calculating Empires uses thousands of hand-drawn illustrations and original texts. Rather than offering a single, linear history, it presents a visual tapestry: a richly detailed, multi-layered map that invites audiences to see the present through the lens of the past. Each staging of the work is adapted to its location and its presence in Venice reflects the city’s pivotal role in the history of shipping, commerce and early empire building.
Calculating Empires premiered at Fondazione Prada in Milan in 2023 and has since been exhibited at leading institutions including the KW Institute in Berlin, the Jeu De Paume in Paris, the Rijksmuseum Twente in the Netherlands, and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. The project was awarded the 2024 Grand Prize from the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS initiative and also won the Boghossian International Art Prize.
Artist and researcher Kate Crawford said, ‘We are deeply honoured to receive the Silver Lion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale for Calculating Empires. Our sincerest thanks to curator Carlo Ratti and to the jury Hans Ulrich Obrist, Paola Antonelli, and Mpho Matsipa for this extraordinary recognition.
'It’s very fitting to show this work in the historic Arsenale, once a military factory and a site of early mass production to build galleys.This latest iteration of Calculating Empires was adapted specifically to reflect Venetian history and it invites audiences to explore how the infrastructures of empire endure within today’s technological systems. By tracing a lineage from colonial-era administrative machines to contemporary AI systems, the project reveals how technological power is never neutral, but always entangled with political, economic, and environmental forces.’
Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah said, ‘Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler’s work challenges how we understand technology’s role in shaping the world. It exemplifies the critical, cross-disciplinary practice Powerhouse supports. We are proud to partner on the presentation of this work on one of the world’s most significant cultural stages.’
Powerhouse is also contributing to the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale held from 9 May – 13 July 2025 through a collaboration with the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum on the exhibition Migrating Modernism: The Architecture of Harry Seidler at the newly established SMAC San Marco Art Centre. The exhibition explores the modernist legacy of Austrian-born Australian architect Harry Seidler and his collaborations with major 20th-century artists, highlighting the global influence of Australian architecture and design. As part of this exhibition, Powerhouse has lent a significant architectural model from its Collection: Blues Point Tower, designed by Seidler in 1962 and built by Angela Rowson and Kegan Tom in 2006 at a 1:200 scale.
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About Powerhouse
Powerhouse sits at the intersection of arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. We are undertaking a landmark $1.2 billion infrastructure renewal program, spearheaded by the creation of the new museum, Powerhouse Parramatta; expanded research and public facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill; the renewal of the iconic Powerhouse Ultimo; and the ongoing operation of Sydney Observatory. The museum is custodian to over half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia. We are also undertaking an expansive digitisation project that will provide new levels of access to the Powerhouse Collection.
About Kate Crawford
Kate Crawford is a leading scholar of AI, author, and artist. She is a Professor at USC, a Senior Principal Researcher at MSR, and was the inaugural visiting chair of AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure. Her best-selling book, Atlas of AI, was named best book of the year by The Financial Times, won three international prizes, and has been translated into twelve languages. Her artworks are in the permanent collections of MoMA, the V&A, and the Design Museum among others. Her latest work with Vladan Joler, Calculating Empires, won the Grand Prize of the European Commission for art and technology and the Boghossian Art Prize, and is included in the Venice Biennale 2025. TIME100 named Crawford as one of the world’s most influential people in AI.
About Vladan Joler
Vladan Joler is an academic, researcher, and artist. He is a professor at the Academy of Arts at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. In 2018, in a collaboration with Kate Crawford, they created Anatomy of an AI System, a large-scale map and long-form essay investigating the resources required to build and operate an Amazon Echo, which has been shown in more than a hundred international exhibitions. His latest work with Crawford, Calculating Empires, has won multiple awards and has been exhibited widely, including at the Venice Biennale, Fondazione Prada in Milan, the Mori Museum in Tokyo, the KW Institute in Berlin, the Rijksmuseum Twenthe, and the Jeu de Paume in Paris.