From the announcement of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial theme “…and Other Such Stories,” it has been clear that this year’s event, opening September 19 and running until January 5, will have a distinctly different mood from the two previous exhibitions’. Pushing the limits on the definition of practice, curators Yesomi Umolu, Sepake Angiama, and Paulo Tavares commissioned participants from fields beyond those typically represented in architectural expositions. While few of the 80 contributors are practicing architects (many are visual or performance artists, urban planners, or housing and urbanism activists), all grapple with urban and civic issues, through research and advocacy rather than traditional design.
Inside the primary Biennial venue, the 19th-century Beaux Arts–style Chicago Cultural Center, projects will be arranged to complement each other spatially and thematically. On the bustling public first floor, Berlin-based ConstructLab will install a flexible structure intended to create space for conversations about togetherness, as well as planned and impromptu events. An installation by Chicago’s self-described “Indigenous Futurist” Santiago X will tackle themes surrounding the survival and sovereignty of indigenous people in contemporary urban spaces, while a Romania-based choreographer, Alexandra Pirici, will activate the space with a performance piece involving the building itself.
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