The third Chicago Architecture Biennial will occur from September 19, 2019, to January 5, 2020, and yesterday the first group of contributors to the 2019 edition and publication was announced. This year’s theme, “...and other such stories,” will bring together a multi-faceted and international exploration of architecture and the built environment. Newly commissioned projects for the Biennial will highlight issues including public housing, social justice, and the appropriation and preservation of the natural environment.
The curatorial team for 2019 consists of Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu, a contemporary art curator, and co-curators Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares, a curator and an architect and academic, respectively. “Our initial list of contributors comprises practices and projects that resonate deeply with our four curatorial focus areas,” states Umolu. “We are especially proud to commission a series of new projects that address some of the most pressing issues of our time while advancing new forms of thinking and practice across the field of architecture and beyond.”
Discussing the wide range of both talent and geographical location represented by this year’s contributors, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel described: “This talented group of contributors represents a strong cross-section of architects, artists, collectives, and researchers who add to the cultural fabric of their communities around the world, and right here in Chicago. With contributions from 19 countries and counting, the third Chicago Architecture Biennial will again reinforce Chicago’s reputation as the vanguard of architectural, art, and design innovation on the national and international stage.”
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is the largest architecture and design exhibition in North America, with the 2017 edition attracting over 550,000 visitors throughout its duration. The 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial Highlight Contributors are as follows:
Exhibition Contributors:
- Adrian Blackwell (Toronto, Canada)
- Akinbode Akinbiyi (Berlin, Germany)
- Alejandra Celedon & Nicolas Stutzin (Santiago, Chile)
- Architects for Social Housing [ASH] (London, England)
- Avijit Mukul Kishore & Rohan Shivkumar (Mumbai, India)
- Black Quantum Futurism (Philadelphia, USA)
- Borderless Studio (Chicago, USA)
- CAMP (Mumbai, India)
- Carolina Caycedo (Los Angeles, USA)
- Center for Spatial Research (New York, USA)
- Clemens von Wedemeyer (Berlin, Germany)
- Cohabitation Strategies & Urban Front (New York, USA)
- ConstructLab (Berlin, Germany)
- DAAR [Sandi Hilal & Alessandro Petti] (Beit Sahour, Palestine)
- Detroit Planning Department (Detroit, USA)
- Do Ho Suh (London, England)
- FICA-Fundo Imobiliário Comunitário para Aluguel (São Paolo, Brazil)
- Forensic Architecture & Invisible Institute (London, England; Chicago, USA)
- Jimmy Robert (Berlin, Germany)
- Joar Nango (Romssa/Tromsø, Norway)
- Keleketla! Library (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Maria Gaspar (Chicago, USA)
- MASS Design Group (Boston, USA; Poughkeepsie, USA; Kigali, Rwanda)
- Ola Hassanain (Khartoum, Sudan; Utrecht, Netherlands)
- RMA Architects (Mumbai, India; Boston, USA)
- Sammy Baloji & Filip de Boeck (Brussels, Belgium; Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Settler Colonial City Project (Ann Arbor, USA)
- Somatic Collaborative [Felipe Correa & Devin Dobrowolski] (New York, USA)
- studioBASAR (Bucharest, Romania)
- Sweet Water Foundation (Chicago, USA)
- Tania Bruguera & Arte Útil (New York, USA; Havana, Cuba)
- Tanya Lukin Linklater & Tiffany Shaw-Collinge (Ontario, Canada; Alberta, Canada)
- Territorial Agency [John Palmesino & Ann-Sofi Rönnskog (London, England)
- The Funambulist (Paris, France)
- Theaster Gates (Chicago, USA)
- Usina - CTAH (São Paolo, Brazil)
- Vincent Meessen (Brussels, Belgium)
- Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Berlin, Germany)
- Wolff Architects (Cape Town, South Africa)
Catalogue Contributors:
- Aviwe Mandyanda [BlackStudio] (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Carmen Silva (São Paolo, Brazil)
- cheyanne turions (Vancouver, Canada)
- Columbia Books on Architecture and the City (New York, USA)
- Dr. Denise Ferreira da Silva (Vancouver, Canada)
- ELLA (Los Angeles, USA)
- Emmanuel Pratt (Chicago, USA)
- Eduardo O. Kohn (Montreal, Canada)
- Inam Kula (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Lesley Lokko (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- Pelin Tan (Mardin, Turkey)
- Vincent Tao (Vancouver, Canada)
News via Chicago Architecture Biennal.
