Prof Lesley Lokko OBE to Be One of the Key Guests at the Mugak/ 2025 Biennial

2025 July 17

• The Ghanaian-Scottish architect, professor, and activist will not only participate in this edition’s main exhibition but will also inaugurate the Biennial with an opening lecture at the Kursaal in Donostia/San Sebastián.
• This year, the main Mugak/ exhibition will once again showcase the work of various international figures who will explore utopian thinking through architecture. Its title will be Eutopias, Outopias.
• Mugak/ 2025 will begin on October 9th and its programme will unfold across the three historical territories of the Basque Country, featuring temporary public-space architectures, exhibitions, workshops, guided tours, and numerous other activities.

17|07|2025

The Basque Country International Architecture Biennial, Mugak/, has confirmed one of the headline names for its 2025 edition: the Ghanaian-Scottish architect, professor, and activist Lesley Lokko, who will deliver the inaugural lecture at the Kursaal in Donostia/San Sebastián.
Mugak/, an initiative of the Basque Government’s Department of Housing and Urban Agenda, thus reaffirms its commitment to international perspectives, continuing the approach taken in previous editions, which featured prominent figures such as Pritzker Prize laureates Wang Shu, Álvaro Siza, Anne Lacaton, and Jean-Philippe Vassal.
In the words of the Biennial’s curator, María Arana, Lokko also brings “a feminist dimension that enriches the debate on the role of architecture in social transformation and reinforces the open, critical, and plural nature of the Mugak/ Biennial.”
Prof Lesley Lokko OBE is the founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg, South Africa (2015), and the African Futures Institute (AFI) in Accra, Ghana (2021)—institutions through which she has spearheaded a profound transformation in architectural and design education on the African continent. The AFI, in particular, has challenged the historical use of Africa as a site for Western utopian projection.
During her curatorship of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, Lokko proposed positioning Africa as a driver of global thought and creativity, subverting traditional colonial narratives. In 2024, she became the first African woman to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), one of the most prestigious international awards in architecture.
 She has also taught and lectured at universities across Africa, Europe, and the Americas, and is regarded as one of the most influential voices in contemporary architectural and urbanist discourse.
Moreover, just this week, Lokko was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Architecture by the University of Edinburgh, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field.

Eutopias, Outopias: A Collective Exhibition

In addition to delivering the Biennial’s opening lecture—scheduled for October 9th at the Kursaal in Donostia/San Sebastián—Lokko will also be one of the contributors to the main exhibition of this fifth edition. Titled Eutopias, Outopias, the exhibition will once again take the form of a collective showcase, and will be held at its now-traditional venue: the Basque Institute of Architecture.
“The exhibition draws inspiration from The Story of Utopias by historian and urbanist Lewis Mumford. In it, the author offers a critical appraisal of utopian thought, assessing both its positive contributions and its limitations, and reflecting on its impact in the pursuit of a better future. Mumford distinguishes two types of utopian thinking: one oriented toward escape—so-called escape utopias—and another focused on reconstruction,” explains María Arana.
Eutopias, Outopias brings together a range of architectural and artistic voices, inviting them to express utopia through their work. Alongside Lokko, eight additional individuals and entities—mostly of international origin and high acclaim—will take part.
This central exhibition aligns with the theme of the 2025 edition: “Castles in the Air, or How to Build Utopia Today”, and aims to present different approaches to utopian thinking through the lens of architecture.

The full programme of Mugak/ 2025 will be announced in its entirety after the summer and will span the three historical territories of the Basque Country. In addition to the three ephemeral architectural installations to be located in landmark squares in Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastián, and Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Biennial will offer exhibitions, workshops, guided tours, and a wide range of cultural activities designed to invite the general public to engage with architecture in meaningful ways.

Photo: Festus Jackson-Davis @fjackson_davis.