Chicago Architecture Biennial

Chicago Architecture Biennial
...and other such stories
September 19, 2019–January 5, 2020

chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org
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The third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial will open to the public on Thursday, September 19, bringing together more than 80 contributors from 22 countries. Titled …and other such stories, the biennial is curated by Graham Foundation Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu and curators Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. 

The Biennial is free and open to the public and will be on view both in its main venue, the historic Chicago Cultural Center, and in official offsite venues through January 5, 2020. A press and professional preview will take place on September 17 & 18. 

…and other such stories traces narratives that originate from Chicago, revealing connections between various practices and the questions they raise across global communities, cities, territories, and ecologies. The biennial focuses on four curatorial frames. “No Land Beyond” looks at ideas of belonging that encourage alternative designs and relationships between land, nature, and society. “Appearances and Erasures” explores shared and contested memories in relation to social histories, public space, and monuments. “Rights and Reclamations” interprets space as a site for advocacy and activism. And “Common Ground” envisions new models of collaboration and exchange both within and outside the field of architecture. Occupying the Chicago Cultural Center as a place in which to gather, think from, and question what constitutes this city today, …and other such stories also presents a number of off-site projects produced in collaboration with Chicago-based organizations and communities. In our current moment of shifting political alliances, rapid environmental change, and renegotiations of rights and civic life, …and other such stories imagines our built and natural environments in more inclusive and diverse ways. It visualizes the city otherwise.

The exhibiting contributors are: Adrian Blackwell; Akinbode Akinbiyi; Alejandra Celedón, Nicolás Stutzin, and Javier Correa; Alexandra Pirici; Avijit Mukul Kishore and Rohan Shivkumar; Black Quantum Futurism; Borderless Studio; CAMP; Carolina Caycedo; Center for Spatial Research; Chicago Architectural Preservation Archive; City of Detroit Planning and Development Department; Clemens von Wedemeyer; Cohabitation Strategies and Urban Front; ConstructLab; Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR): Alessandro Petti and Sandi Hilal with Isshaq Al Barbary, Husam Abu Salem, Luca Capuano, Elsa Koehler, and Sandy Rishmawi; Do Ho Suh; FICA (Fundo Imobiliário Comunitário para Aluguel); Forensic Architecture and Invisible Institute; Herkes İçin Mimarlık; Jimmy Robert; Joar Nango; Jorge González; Keleketla! Library; Maria Gaspar; MASS Design Group; MSTC (Movimento Sem Teto do Centro) in collaboration with Escola da Cidade and O Grupo Inteiro; Ola Hassanain; Oscar Tuazon; Palestine Heirloom Seed Library; PRODUCTORA; Raumlabor; RIWAQ - Center for Architectural Conservation in collaboration with Yara Sharif and Nasser Golzari; RMA Architects; Sammy Baloji and Filip de Boeck; Santiago X (Koasati/Chamoru); Settler Colonial City Project and American Indian Center; Somatic Collaborative; studioBASAR; Sweet Water Foundation; Tania Bruguera and Asociación de Arte Útil; Tanya Lukin Linklater and Tiffany Shaw-Collinge; Territorial Agency; Theaster Gates; The Funambulist; Usina–CTAH; Vincent Meessen; Walter J. Hood; Wendelien van Oldenborgh; Wolff Architects and Zorka Wollny.

Publication
An eponymous catalogue designed by ELLA and published by Columbia Books on Architecture and the City will be released in conjunction with the opening, extending the edition’s core questions through written essays by Dr. Denise Ferreira da Silva, Eduardo O. Kohn, Lesley Lokko and Pelin Tan, alongside interviews with cheyanne turions, Vincent Tao, Carmen Siva, Inam Kula, Aviwe Mandyanda, and Emmanuel Pratt; and visual dossiers by Vivien Sansour, Virginia de Medeiros, Mario Gooden, and Stephen Willats. 

Curatorial weekends
Opening weekend programs September 19–21 include performances by CAMP, Alexandra Pirici and Jimmy Robert alongside conversations on architecture and advocacy with Maria Gaspar, Jhanea Williams (MASS Design Group), Eyal Weizman (Forensic Architecture), and Maurice Cox (newly nominated Chicago Commissioner of Planning and Development) at the Chicago Cultural Center. Offsite curatorial projects will be animated through public workshops and community events.

Throughout the Biennial, a series of dedicated curatorial weekends (October 17–19, November 14-16, and December 12-14) bring conversations, performances, and workshops with Biennial contributors and invited guests to the Chicago Cultural Center and various off-site venues. Within the Chicago Cultural Center, these are largely hosted in the purpose-built gathering space designed by Biennial contributor ConstructLab.