The 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial, titled …and other such stories, will present work that explores architecture as it relates to social, political, and environmental issues. Curators Yesomi Umolu, Sepake Angiama, and Paulo Tavares have invited more than 80 architects, artists, researchers, and activists from around the world to converge on the shores of Lake Michigan, where their multidisciplinary collaborations will show the public how design can transform lives.
The curators want collaboration and dialogue to be at the center of this year’s event, which gives contributors the opportunity to “expand [their] inquiries by connecting practices to each other and to visitors during the biennial’s run,” said Umolu. The planned collaborative projects include local firm Borderless Studio working with the Istanbul-based Herkes İçin Mimarlık (Architecture For All), studioBASAR of Bucharest, and Berlin’s Zorka Wollny to develop inclusive strategies for repurposing civic spaces on the site of the historic Anthony Overton Elementary School, and Keleketla! Library of Johannesburg which, working with Chicago’s Stockyard Institute, will be creating a space to discuss the importance of heritage sites and public housing at the site of the National Public Housing Museum.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial was founded in 2015 to bring the global architectural vanguard to a city celebrated for its legacy of architectural innovation, and to give the public an opportunity to engage with architecture in new ways. It’s a lot like the Venice Architecture Biennale, but instead of a drinking Prosecco in an impossible city built on marshy ground, attendees drink Goose Island 312 in an inevitable city built on railroads and stockyards (or so I’m told—I’ve never been). The inaugural event, The State of the Art of Architecture, was curated by Joseph Grima and Sarah Herda who challenged contributors to take on pressing cultural issues, and 2017’s MAKE NEW HISTORY, curated by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, which highlighted various modes of production from book to burg.
This year’s event, …and other such stories, runs from September 19, 2019, through January 5, 2020. It is free and open to the public across all citywide locations.
Without any further ado, here are your contributors to the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial:
Exhibition Contributors
Adrian Blackwell (born in Toronto, Canada; lives in Toronto, Canada)
Akinbode Akinbiyi (born in Oxford, England-UK; lives in Berlin, Germany)
Alejandra Celedon (born in Edmonton, Canada; lives in Santiago, Chile) & Nicolas Stutzin (born in Santiago, Chile; lives in Santiago, Chile)
Alexandra Pirici (born in Bucharest, Romania; lives in Bucharest, Romania)
Avijit Mukul Kishore (born in Lucknow, India; lives in Mumbai, India) & Rohan Shivkumar (born in Hyderabad, India; lives in Mumbai, India)
Black Quantum Futurism (founded in Philadelphia, USA)
Borderless Studio (founded in Chicago, USA)
CAMP (founded in Mumbai, India)
Carolina Caycedo (born in London, England–UK; lives in Los Angeles, USA)
Center for Spatial Research (founded in New York, USA)
Chicago Architectural Preservation Archive (founded in Chicago, USA)
Clemens von Wedemeyer (born in Göttingen, Germany; lives in Berlin, Germany)
Cohabitation Strategies (founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and New York, USA) & Urban Front (founded in New York, USA)
ConstructLab (founded in Berlin, Germany)
DAAR (Sandi Hilal & Alessandro Petti) (founded in Beit Sahour, Palestine)
Detroit Planning Department (founded in Detroit, USA)
Do Ho Suh (born in Seoul, South Korea; lives in London, England–UK)
FICA–Fundo Imobiliário Comunitário para Aluguel (founded in São Paulo, Brazil)
Forensic Architecture (founded in London, England–UK) & Invisible Institute (founded in Chicago, USA)
Herkes İçin Mimarlık (Architecture For All) (founded in Istanbul, Turkey)
Jimmy Robert (born in Guadeloupe–France; lives in Berlin, Germany)
Joar Nango (born in Áltá/AltaÁltá, Sápmi/Northern Norway; lives in Romssa /Tromsø, Norway)
Jorge González (born in San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Puerto Rico)
Keleketla! Library (founded in Johannesburg, South Africa), in collaboration with Stockyard Institute (founded in Chicago, USA)
Maria Gaspar (born in Chicago, USA; lives in Chicago, USA)
MASS Design Group (founded in Boston and Poughkeepsie, USA, and Kigali, Rwanda)
MSTC (founded in São Paulo, Brazil), in collaboration with Escola da Cidade (founded in São Paulo, Brazil) and O Grupo Inteiro (founded in São Paulo, Brazil)
Ola Hassanain (born in Khartoum, Sudan; lives in Khartoum, Sudan and Utrecht, Netherlands)
Oscar Tuazon (born in Seattle, USA; lives in Los Angeles, USA)
Palestine Heirloom Seed Library Project (founded in the northern West Bank, Palestine)
Raumlabor (founded in Berlin, Germany)
RIWAQ – Center for Architectural Conservation (founded in Ramallah, Palestine)
RMA Architects (founded in Mumbai, India and Boston, USA)
Sammy Baloji (born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo) & Filip de Boeck (born in Antwerp, Belgium; lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Santiago X (lives in Chicago, USA)
Settler Colonial City Project (founded in Ann Arbor USA and Guayaquil, Ecuador) in collaboration with American Indian Center (founded in Chicago, USA)
Somatic Collaborative (Felipe Correa & Devin Dobrowolski) (founded in New York, USA)
studioBASAR (founded in Bucharest, Romania)
Sweet Water Foundation (founded in Chicago, USA)
Tania Bruguera (born in Havana, Cuba; lives in New York, USA) & Association of Arte Útil (founded in Havana, Cuba)
Tanya Lukin Linklater (born in Alaska, USA; lives in Ontario, Canada) & Tiffany Shaw–Collinge (born in Alberta, Canada; lives in Alberta, Canada)
Territorial Agency—John Palmesino & Ann–Sofi Rönnskog (founded in London, England–UK)
The Funambulist (founded in Paris, France)
Theaster Gates (born in Chicago, USA; lives in Chicago, USA)
Usina – CTAH (founded in São Paulo, USA)
Vincent Meessen (born in Baltimore, USA; lives in Brussels, Belgium)
Walter J. Hood (born in Charlotte, USA; lives in Oakland, USA)
Wendelien van Oldenborgh (born in Rotterdam, Netherlands; lives in Berlin, Germany)
Wolff Architects (founded in Cape Town, South Africa)
Zorka Wollny (born in Kraków, Poland; lives in Berlin, Germany)
Catalog Contributors
American Indian Center (founded in Chicago, USA)
Aviwe Mandyanda (BlackStudio) (born in Mdantsane, a township in East London, South Africa; lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Carmen Silva (born in Santo Estêvão, Brazil; lives in São Paulo, Brazil)
cheyanne turions (born in High Prairie, Canada; lives in Vancouver)
Dr. Denise Ferreira da Silva (born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; lives in Vancouver, Canada)
ELLA (founded in Los Angeles, USA)
Emmanuel Pratt (born in Virginia, USA; lives in Chicago, USA)
Eduardo O. Kohn (lives in Montreal, Canada)
Inam Kula (born in Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town, South Africa; lives in Cape Town, South Africa) Lesley Lokko (born in Dundee, Scotland – UK; lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Mario Gooden (lives in New York City, USA)
Pelin Tan (born in Hilden, Germany; lives in Mardin, Turkey)
Stephen Willats (born in London, England–UK; lives in London, England–UK)
Vincent Tao (born in Scarborough, Canada; lives in Toronto, Canada)
Virginia de Medeiros (born in Feira de Santana, Brazil; lives in São Paulo, Brazil)
Vivien Sansour (born in Beit Jala, Palestine; lives in Bethlehem, Palestine and Los Angeles, USA)
Columbia Books on Architecture and the City (founded in New York City, USA)
