Moments from Japan Pavilion

Completed in 1956 for the Venice Biennale's Giardini, the Japan Pavilion was designed by the architect Takamasa Yoshizaka and remains one of the more architecturally distinctive structures in the park: raised on pilotis, concrete stilts that lift the main exhibition space above ground level, in a deliberate nod to the ideas of Le Corbusier, under whom Yoshizaka had studied in Paris. The elevated design lets visitors walk beneath the building itself before entering, an unusual approach among the Giardini's largely ground-level national pavilions.

The pavilion's exhibitions rotate with each Biennale edition and are selected through Japan's own national curatorial process, typically showcasing a single artist or tightly focused thematic project rather than a broad survey. Because the raised structure is such a deliberate architectural statement, take a moment outside to look at how the building sits above its site before going in, the walk underneath and up into the exhibition space is designed as part of the visitor's experience, not just practical circulation.