The Chicago Architecture Biennial announces its 2023 participants

Aug 09, 2023

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has announced over 70 participants for its upcoming fifth edition curated by Floating Museum. CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal will open September 21 with exhibitions that "take[s] an expansive view of design as an iterative rehearsal process to explore architecture, cities, and the different social, ecological, economic and political forces that shape them." Participants will specifically look to how these forces "transcend borders" while featuring artists and designers whose body of work is not limited to traditional architectural production.

Arts and design collective Floating Museum is co-directed by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Faheem Majeed, Andrew Schachman, and avery r. young. Past work from the collaborative focuses on the role of gardens in world building, the creation of a monument to the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, and the role of collective action towards sustainability in Chicago. In a statement, the group said: "Floating Museum considers the city as a framework for rehearsal, where the horizontal field of activity becomes a convivial palace for innovation, memory, and change… In this view, individuals, community organizations, institutions, and municipal authorities are invited to participate as equals––which opens new possibilities for collaboration across disciplines, geographies, and histories. We are excited to have the opportunity to think together with an expanded network of artists, architects, designers, poets, filmmakers, anthropologists, historians, institutions, and civic leaders."

This year, they’ve brought together a range of works that consider urban agriculture, architecture's cinematic function, and the futures of Chicago sites. studio:indigenous, led by Chris T Cornelius, will present an exhibition that "sits in the space between installation and realized building," asking viewers to reconsider how Indigenous land is used. Social enterprise organization Grow Greater Englewood and architect Feda Wardak will investigate the transformation of the Englewood Nature Trail—a project that is transforming a former rail corridor into a public park. Elsewhere, The Living will work with Erika Allen of the nonprofit farm Urban Growers Collective to build "a semi-permanent residency building" for urban agriculture in South Chicago.

The biennial will bring together familiar architecture names including: Keller Easterling; Barkow Leibinger; Carol Ross Barney (in collaboration with Ryan Gann and the DuSable Park Design Alliance); Dream the Combine; Kiel Moe; Para Project; Storefront for Art and Architecture; Stoss Landscape Urbanism; The Buell Center or the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University and AD—WO; and The High Line. Outside of the United States, designers from Austria, Germany, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Iran, France, India, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom will all present work.

The biennial is officially presented in partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and includes returning partners such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Puerto Rican Arts and Culture Center, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, and the Chicago Architecture Center. Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said that "The 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial promises to again be a platform for ideas, imagination, and innovation at the intersection of architecture and the built environment." The biennial will be on view from September 21, 2023 through January 2, 2024.

The full paarticipant list for CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal is as follows:

A Long Walk Home

Amanda Williams (Chicago)

Amy Kulper + PROPS SUPPLY (London)

Andrea Carlson (Chicago and Grand Marais, Minnesota)

Andrea Yarbrough (Chicago)

Anupama Kundoo Atelier GmbH (Berlin)

Asim Waqif (New Delhi)

Baerbel Mueller (Vienna and Accra, Ghana)

Barkow Leibinger (Berlin)

Black Reconstruction Collective (United States)

Botanical City (New York and Chicago)

Camille Henrot (Paris and New York)

Candice Lin (Los Angeles)

Carol Ross Barney with Ryan Gann and DuSable Park Design Alliance (Chicago)

Cecil McDonald, Jr. (Chicago)

ChartierDalix (Paris)

Chris Bradley (Chicago)

Chris T. Cornelius of studio:indigenous (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

Could Be Design (Chicago)

Dan Peterman (Chicago)

David Benjamin / The Living and GSAPP Footprint Project (New York)

Deb Sokolow (Chicago)

Depave Chicago + The Montessori School of Englewood (Chicago)

Diana Al-Hadid (New York)

Diane Simpson (Chicago)

Dream The Combine (Ithaca, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Edra Soto (Chicago)

Eve L. Ewing (Chicago)

Feda Wardak (Paris)

Gamaliel Rodriguez (Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico)

Gelitin (Vienna)

Grow Greater Englewood (Chicago)

Helmo (Paris)

Ibrahim Mahama (Accra, Ghana)

interim studio (Nora Akawi and Eduardo Rega Calvo) (New York)

Institute for Computational Design and Construction, Prof. Achim Menges; Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, Prof. Jan Knippers; ITECH & IntCDC Cluster of Excellence, University of Stuttgart, Germany (Stuttgart, Germany)

Jeff Carter (Chicago)

Jennifer Reeder and Adri Sitiwat (Chicago)

Keller Easterling (New York)

Kiel Moe (New York)

Larissa Fassler (Berlin)

Lauren Pacheco (Chicago and Gary, Indiana)

Leticia Pardo (Chicago and Mexico City)

Limbo Accra (Accra, Ghana)

LOT-EK (New York)

Miguel Aguilar (Chicago)

Modou Dieng Yacine (Chicago)

Norman Teague Design Studios / Tonika Johnson / Max Davis / Ernest Wong Mejay Gula / Tanner Woodford (Chicago)

Oren Pinhassi (New York)

Paa Joe (Accra, Ghana)

Para Project (Amenia, New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Paul Ramírez Jonas (Ithaca, New York)

Perry Kulper (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

Practice Landscape (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Project Onward with Ricky Willis and Kareem Davis (Chicago)

Red Clay Dance Company (Chicago)

Roy Kinsey (Chicago)

Ruth de Jong (Livingston, Montana)

Saay|yaas (Praia, Cape Verde)

Samuel Levi Jones, LAA Office, and Sam Van Aken (Chicago; Columbus, Indiana; and Syracuse, New York)

site / site design group, ltd. (Chicago)

SKETCH (Panama City)

Slo ‘Mo (Chicago)

SpaceShift (Chicago)

Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York)

Stoss Landscape Urbanism (Boston and Los Angeles)

studio chahar in collaboration with The Apprenticeshop (Boston and Tehran, Iran)

Terra Alta (Accra, Ghana)

The Buell Center and AD—WO, Columbia University (New York)

The High Line (New York)

Theatre for One (New York)

Tschabalala Self (New Haven, Connecticut)

Ugo Rondinone (New York)

Urban Growers Collective – Lead Artist Erika Allen (Chicago)

Vyjayanthi V. Rao and Kush Badhwar (New York)

WOJR (Cambridge, Massachusetts)