Now What?! Advocacy, Activism & Alliances in American Architecture since 1968, an exhibition created by gender equity-focused activist group ArchiteXX highlighting the impact of social movements on architecture and design, is currently on view at the Co-Prosperity Sphere gallery in Chicago. 

The exhibition, which opens amid the backdrop of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), is being presented without any official affiliation with the festival "due to the financial support [CAB] receives from BP," according to an ArchiteXX statement. BP, a London-based fossil fuel corporation, is the main financial sponsor for this year's CAB, and has donated $1 million to in support of the biennial and its affiliated projects and programs, including CAB's student design competition. 

Remarking upon the content of the exhibition itself, co-curator and ArchiteXX co-founder Lori Brown said in a press release, “People who choose design as their profession often have a calling towards social justice, commitment to diversity, and reform in the profession. Until now there hasn’t been a comprehensive study of these progressive movements.” 

Brown adds, “It’s important to commemorate this exciting half-century of advocacy and let contemporary viewers who are interested in modern issues of cities and design learn the oft-forgotten narratives of activist designers.”

That sense of activism is very much alive in the group's Chicago run of the exhibition, which has already made stops in New York, Montreal, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities. “At a time when sustainability must be at the front and center of our professional and political lives," Now What?! Chicago liason Keefer Dunn writes, "we cannot abide architecture being used to culture-wash the image of a global oil conglomerate with a checkered record.” 

Brown told Chicago Magazine, "We know it’s not without serious consequences, but no position is,” adding, “Climate change is real, and the architectural profession has to start taking a stand for the future of the discipline and the planet.” 

To bolster the exhibition's activist stance, organizers have developed a series of panel discussions, workshops, and meetings aimed at highlighting the work of women-led organizations, as well as an event dedicated to documenting the work of minority architects in Chicago that will be presented in conjunction with the National Organization for Minority Architects (NOMA). 

A panel discussion titled Activism within & Against the Biennial Complex will take on CAB's reliance on "petrochemical dollars head-on, while in October, SOM's Tiara Highes will present an hour-long seminar called First 500: Infinitely Increasing that focuses on highlighting the work of African American women architects.