Let’s set aside the robots. In Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective at the 19th Venice Biennale of Architecture — where a robotic arm has been upstaged by Bhutanese artisans, where a humanoid mask on a metallic body delivers more weariness than wisdom, where a robot suspended within a mechanically woven architectural structure beams its eyes and waves its arms eerily — attempts to awe with these avatars of artificial intelligence fall flat. 

Rather than bolster the curatorial thesis, which embraces an outdated techno-optimism, their physical presence feels dystopian. Ironically, these performative dolls distract from the compelling technological innovations that can be found throughout. Whether high-tech, low-tech or a...