After a yearlong search and an open Call for Curator, the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale has finally selected a winning proposal for the upcoming event. The jury has picked the curatorial team comprised of  Interrobang founder, Maria Smith; Canadian designer educator and Interrobang Associate, Matthew Dalziel; British critic and think tank director, Phineas Harper; and Norwegian urban researcher and artist, Cecilie Sachs Olsen.

Chosen from 71 submissions and entitled "Common Futures," the theme questions the unbridled growth and rapid pace of industrialization underwent by societies throughout the 20th century. The proposal posits instead the alternative concept of Degrowth, an economic ideology that questions infinite economic growth as the one-way future for the whole of humanity. 

"With this concept, the Triennale could be a platform to establish an understanding of a potential architecture of degrowth: defining it, questioning it and challenging both architects, architecture commissioners and decision makers to develop new strategies for building, planning, evolving and adapting our built environments based on non-growth development" the jury stated.

The theme is in keeping with the various attempts at socially conscious architecture that have dominated most international exhibitions in recent years. While CAB asked the architecture community this year to reflect on its past, Oslo is asking us to look at its future. Both, however, are asking us to think critically about the ways in which architecture plays into economic and societal transformations. "OAT19 will be a bold, transdisciplinary exploration into the architecture of our near futures, and how architecture can be a key actor in bringing about economic and societal transformation" says the newly appointed curators.