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Early highlight contributors announced for 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial

2019-03-14T15:25:00-04:00

The curators for the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial have announced early highlight contributors who will create newly commissioned projects and other materials for the exhibition.

The initial list is comprised of 51 practices and practitioners from 19 countries. It includes architects, artists, collectives, and researchers, whose work touches on the biennial's four curatorial focus areas: land, memory, rights, and civic participation.

Among the designers tasked with exploring the theme of land is Chicago-based architect Theaster Gates, who will challenge the concept of land as property and commodity. Also participating will be Wolff Architects, a design studio in South Africa that works at the nexus of design, advocacy, research and documentation, as well as Territorial Agency, Caroline Caycedo, and Joar Nango.

The design collaborative MASS Design Group, best known for their community-driven approaches, will look at sites of memory. Other contributors whose projects will dive in...

Chicago Architecture Biennial announces 'Other Such Stories' as theme for 2019 edition

2019-02-06T13:54:00-05:00

Making its return later this year, the third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial will go beyond design to address questions of land, memory, rights and civic participation. Announced yesterday, the theme "...and other stories" has been picked by this year's artistic director, Yesomi Umolu, and her team as a way to examine how histories, landscapes, and communities undergird the built environment.

“Our approach to this edition of the biennial has evolved through conversations with architects, spatial practitioners, and everyday people in Chicago and other global locations, including through partnerships fostered in our research initiatives in the cities of Sao Paulo, Johannesburg, and Vancouver,” said Umolu. “Through these engagements, we have drawn out a myriad of stories about how lived experiences across global communities, cities, territories, and ecologies resonate with architectural and space-making practices.”

The biennial will take Chicago's urban history, and the so...

Chicago magazine interviews Yesomi Umolu, 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial artistic director

2018-03-21T15:57:00-04:00

Her own history is as global at the biennial itself: born in Lagos, Nigeria, raised in London, with a deep resume that incorporates curatorial and educational experiences at museums and galleries all over the United States and Great Britain. She’s hit the ground running on the CAB, planning for the third CAB that promises an international influence with love for the city and citizens who host this three-month event.

Anjulie Rao interviews the new CAB artistic director, Yesomi Umolu, for Chicago magazine: "A biennial can’t help but be contemporary and respond to the contemporary conditions. I know that as a biennial that’s what it is set up to do: to have a hold of the historical and yet have strong ground to be propositional, to posit into the future."

Yesomi Umolu appointed as 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial artistic director

2018-03-06T14:40:00-05:00

Chicago-based curator and writer Yesomi Umolu has been appointed as the artistic director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial, which will make its return on September 19, 2019 through January 5, 2020. After evaluating candidates from around the world and from various disciplines, the CAB board members and previous Artistic Directors selected Umolu.

Having strong roots in Chicago, Umolu has a background in architectural design and curatorial studies, and she focuses her work on global contemporary art and spatial practices. She is currently the Exhibitions Curator at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago. She is also a visiting lecturer, critic, and has spoken at various international institutions.

Some of her recent exhibitions explore the politics of the built environment, like the “Kapwani Kiwanga: The sum and its parts”, “The Land Grant: Forest Law”, and “The Museum of Non Participation: The New Deal”.

Chicago Cultural Center. Photo cour...