As expressed by 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale curator and architect Leslie Lokko, "after two of the most difficult and divisive years in living memory, architects have a unique opportunity to show the world what we do best: put forward ambitious and creative ideas that help us imagine a more equitable and optimistic future in common."
From Venice's approach to Africa as the lab for the future to Seoul's road to its next 100 years as a megapolis; from Chicago's art-meets-architecture-meets-civic-participation to Sharjah's "beauty of impermanence" in the Global South motto, 2023 will witness a series of architectural events trying to embody those forward ambitious and creative ideas, as explained by Lokko.
Chile: XXII Architecture Biennial
January 5—15, 2023
After the sudden interruption of the 2019 edition due to the Social crisis in Chile, the event returns to Santiago in 2023 under the theme of 'Vulnerable Habitats' (Hábitats vulnerables), addressing issues such as "the emergence of the housing deficit in a context in which slums, informality, and illegal land takeovers have increased in recent years; the vulnerability and deterioration of public spaces; the urgent protection of tangible heritage; and environmental vulnerability in a context of a climate crisis."
Italy: Salone del Mobile.Milano
April 18—23, 2023
Over a tumultuous global backdrop, 262,000 people attended Salone del Mobile.Milano's “Design with Nature“ in 2022. As the 60th edition of the iconic event was held with unusual temperatures over 35°C (95° F), the organization has decided that "environmental, financial, and social responsibility will be a top priority" for the 2023 edition, starting with a new set of Sustainable Guidelines for sustainable trade fair installations.
Regarding the guidelines, Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, stated last October that "companies are in a position to play a guiding role in this process, collaborating with governments, regulatory bodies, investors, partners, and suppliers. The Salone is right there with them, ready to provide whatever support is called for in order to make all this happen."
Spain: Concéntrico 09
April 27 — May 2, 2023
Founded by Javier Peña and organized alongside public and private institutions, the Concéntrico festival has presented over 100 built installations and pavilions since 2015, putting Logroño, Spain, on the architecture circuit map while bringing together emerging architects and designers who are given the freedom to experiment in the Spanish city's public spaces.
The 2023 edition—to be held in late April instead of September as usual—, has already opened the competitions for three interventions and a call for participatory practices with the brand new Cities Ahead program, a Goethe-Institut-led program initiative that promotes creative cities in Europe.
Italy: Venice Architecture Biennale
May 20 — November 26, 2023
Africa will be the protagonist of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. The Laboratory of the Future draws inspiration from Lesley Lokko's namesake work, standing out in her role as founder of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and the Africa Future Institute (AFI) in Ghana.
Envisioning the exhibition as a workshop, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale invites “architects and practitioners across an expanded field of creative disciplines [to] draw out examples from their contemporary practices that chart a path for the audience to weave through, imagining for themselves what the future can hold”. As usual, a general international exhibition curated by Lokko and a series of national pavilions with their own curators will be held at the 2023 Venice Biennale.
United States: AIA Conference on Architecture 2023
June 7—10, 2023
Around late boreal spring / early summer, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) celebrates the largest annual architecture conference in the United States. After a 2022 edition hosted by Chicago, where the organization explored "architecture’s ability to drive new thinking in one of the most design-forward, sustainable cities" in the country, the next edition has already been confirmed to be held in San Francisco, California.
Denmark: Copenhagen Architecture Festival
June 1—11, 2023
Celebrating its ten-year anniversary, the next edition of the Copenhagen Architecture Festival (CAFx) will be titled Life Form featuring 3 physical exhibitions at the Art Hub Copenhagen and a series of digital initiatives. Regenerative design, bio-inclusive biomimetics, symbiotic co-creation, architectural asceticism, and do-ocracy are the main concepts of this edition.
Denmark: UIA World Congress of Architects Copenhagen
July 2—6, 2023
The 2023 World Congress aims to make architecture a central tool in achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals, "shedding light on architecture’s potential to shape better societies and contribute to a sustainable future". Ursula von der Leyen, Francis Kéré, Kunlé Adeyemi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Mette Skjold, and Bjarke Ingels are among the keynote speakers of this 2023 edition.
Peru: Lima International Architecture Biennial (BIALIMA 2023)
August 2023
Organized by the Lima Chapter of the Peruvian Association of Architects and curated by Barclay & Crousse cofounder Jean Pierre Crousse, the inaugural edition of BIAMLIMA in 2021 was perceived as a bet to highlight Peruvian architecture while pushing for its inclusion into the mainstream Latin American contemporary circuit, namely Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay.
It has recently been announced that BIALIMA 2023 curators will be 51-1 Arquitectos cofounders Fernando Puente Arnao, Manuel de Rivero, and César Becerra.
South Korea: Seoul Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism (SBAU 2023)
September 1 — October 29, 2023
Under the theme of Land Architecture, Land Urbanism, the director Byoung Soo Cho and curators Eui Young Chun, Jinyoung Lim, Sang Hoon Youm, Sara Kim, and Leif Høgfeldt Hansen will explore how Seoul should be prepared for the next century through developing a roadmap for the megapolis as an ultra-densely populated and ecologically friendly city.
The fourth edition of SBAU will comprise five sections, including a thematic exhibition presenting the theme and a Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition.
Spain: Bienal de Arquitectura Latinoamericana (BAL 2023)
September 26—29, 2023
Founded by AREA and organized with the Pamplona City Council and other supporting institutions, the BAL brings together 14 young Latin American practices in Pamplona, Spain. Since its inaugural edition in 2009, the BAL has highlighted refreshing firms and practitioners that eventually consolidated such as Adamo Faiden, Carla Juaçaba, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Daniel Moreno, and Ambrosi Etchegaray.
United States: Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 5)
September 2023
This is a Rehearsal—the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial—features the American art collective Floating Museum leading the artistic team, who will "explore environmental, political, and economic issues present in today’s society, yet addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation."
On the road to the fifth edition of the CAB, a new event named Chicago Design Summit will work as research input for Floating Museum and its cofounders Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Faheem Majeed, Andrew Schachman, and avery r. young.
United Arab Emirates: Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT)
November 2023
While the Chicago Architecture Biennial has successfully become North America's leading architecture and design exhibition, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial decided in its inaugural edition in 2018 to establish itself as an international platform that brings together the architecture of West Asia, South Asia, and Africa.
Founder of cmDesign Atelier Tosin Oshinowo has been appointed curator for the 2023 edition as an opportunity, as explained by Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Art Foundation, to bring the "decisive and much-needed focus on socially responsive approaches to architecture and urbanism" that Oshinowo embodies. The Beauty of Impermanence, as it is titled, will reflect on the issues of scarcity in the Global South, and how this challenge has created a "culture of re-use, re-appropriation, innovation, collaboration, and adaptation."
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Year in Review presented by Randers Tegl.
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