The theme, artistic director, and dates for the sixth Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) were announced today. Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change will be shepherded by Florencia Rodriguez, marking CAB’s first Latina artistic director.
Rodriguez is a director at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture (UIC SoArch), and also an accomplished writer and editor with years of publishing experience. “It’s a tremendous honor to lead the most important architecture exhibition in the United States,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
“As a cultural practice,” Rodriguez continued, “architecture represents how we live and the futures we envision. Shift will be an opportunity to gather global experiences, ideas and projects that create an archive of contemporary architecture to inform decision making, education, debate and collective thinking about the world we design.”
Before joining UIC SoArch, Rodriguez had already established herself as a multidisciplinary thinker and practitioner. In 2010, she founded PLOT, a popular publication she steered until 2017. After PLOT, she cofounded another outlet with Pablo Gerson, NESS.
Between 2013 and 2014, Rodriguez was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard GSD. Then, in 2015, she started an independent space in Buenos Aires, Argentina, called Monte which offers public programming. After joining UIC SoArch, Rodriguez founded its yearly publication, Pollen.
Rodriguez’s work has been published by Domus, Oris, summa+, Arquine, A+U, and Uncube. She is currently working on two books: One about Machado Silvetti (Harvard Design Press) and the other for Park Books is titled A Critical / Editorial Manifesto in the Age of Dispersion.
CAB 6 will formally open to the public on September 12, 2025, and stay open through February 28, 2026. The Chicago Cultural Center will continue to be CAB’s anchor while a network of activations will take place throughout the city, forming a “constellation of projects, expanding the conversation and exploration of ideas around the most salient issues facing the field of architecture today,” CAB said.
In CAB 5, curated by Floating Museum, This is a Rehearsal explored “how contemporary environmental, political, and economic issues are shared across national boundaries but are addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation, liberated from the temporal boundaries of finality.”
CAB 6, Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, will address myriad issues afflicting architectural practice today. It will consider the “need to rethink collective housing, material culture, ecologies and the impact that migration has on our cities.” The artistic statement continued: “New and commissioned projects will address the most pressing issues of our time and in doing so chart a new agenda for contemporary design.”
“In the ten short years since its inception, the Chicago Architecture Biennial has continued the legacy of our city as a cultural and architectural powerhouse,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson remarked in a statement.
“As North America’s largest architecture and design exhibition,” Mayor Johnson elaborated, “the Biennial provides people of all ages with a unique experience of utilizing our city as a classroom. Whether you want to understand the depth of Chicago’s architectural roots or are interested in the innovative future of design across the globe, the Chicago Architecture Biennial is for you! I am proud to join the City of Chicago to support this vital civic initiative.”
More information about CAB 6 participants and program partners will be shared in early 2025.
