Archinect - News

Architecture critics take on the Chicago Architecture Biennial (and each other)

2019-10-02T05:00:00-04:00

As critical reaction to the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial continues to pour in, Archinect has collected some critical highlights from a collection of design writers and critics. (See here for Archinect’s 2019 CAB picks.)

And while this year’s takes on the biennial have been relatively level-headed, the entire affair was kicked off with a searing bit of friendly fire from multiple sources.

For one, the recent opening of ArchiteXX’s Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture since 1968 exhibition at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago was launched as an act of opposition to the Chicago Architecture Biennial itself. The group is officially boycotting CAB due to the financial sponsorship of the event by fossil fuel corporation BP. Though the Now What?! exhibition is open roughly concurrently with CAB, it is officially unaffiliated.

View of a postcard by Kay Janis advertising More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts, an exhibition in Chicago in 1993 by CARYATIDS...

Archinect’s picks for the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial

2019-09-19T11:00:00-04:00

...And other such stories, the third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) kicks off this week in the Windy City, where over 80 contributors, including Theaster Gates, MASS Design Group, Forensic Architecture, Walter J. Hood, and others, are presenting a bevy of provocative and thoughtfully considered works that aim to re-situate architectural discourse firmly at the center of larger social justice-driven conversations that surround the built environment today.

The American Indian Center of Chicago's Land Acknowledgement. Courtesy of Chicago Architecture Biennial / Kendall McCaugherty, 2019.

The biennial, sponsored by British fossil fuel corporation BP and curated by CAB artistic director Yesomi Umolu, aims to present an “expansive and multi-faceted exploration of the field of architecture and the built environment globally,” according to a press release. The effort, developed by Umolu and co-curators Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares, centers on four realms of “research...

Introducing Archinect's Spotlight on Chicago

2019-09-12T14:30:00-04:00

For the month of September, Archinect is placing a special Spotlight on Chicago, highlighting important regional projects—including the Chicago Architecture Biennial opening next week—profiling local firms and practitioners, and delving into some of the most pressing issues in academia, practice, and employment that are taking shape there.

In fact, the focus is already underway, as the recent articles below show:

Archinect’s new Spotlight series brings increased attention to a different regionally significant city every month in an effort to highlight some of the most interesting and diverse aspects of architecture academia, employment, and professional practice that...

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...

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announces Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares as co-curators of the 2019 Biennial

2018-05-15T13:10:00-04:00

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced that curator and educator Sepake Angiama, and architect and urbanist Paulo Tavares will be joining the curatorial team of the 2019 Biennial, taking place next year. The co-curators will be working with the visionary curator and writer Yesomi Umolu, who was selected as the Artistic Director of the city's third biennial back in March.

Angiama, who recently served as Head of Education for Documenta 14, has devised education programs for a number of leading international institutions, including Tate Modern & Hayward Gallery, London. Her work centers around discursive practices, the social framework, and how we shape and form our experiences in understanding the world. As a recent fellow at basis voor actuele kunst, she conducted a year-long research into intersectional feminism and science fiction.

Brazilian architect Paulo Tavares' work is concerned with the relations between conflict and space as they intersect within the multi-scalar ar...