The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the contributors to its 2019 edition, which will be opened to the public on September 19 and will be running till January 5, 2020. The 2019 edition will be represented from over 20 countries with over 80 contributors, highlighting the role of architecture in the lives of communities in Chicago and around the world.

Titled "…and other such stories", the exhibition will form a uniquely discursive and interactive exploration of the experience of architecture and the built environment worldwide. The third edition of the biennial will be led by Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu, a contemporary art curator, and co-curators Sepake Angiama, a curator whose work centers on education, and Paulo Tavares, a Brazil-based architect and academic. 

More than 80 Biennial contributors from across four continents represent architects, artists, researchers, and social movements – in many cases collaborating across disciplines to present projects that ask urgent questions about the implications of architecture as it relates to land, memory, rights, and civic participation. 

Dorchester Projects exterior. Image © Theaster Gates. Image © Sara Pooley.

Many of these contributors, especially those participating in residences and exchanges, will develop new work through a process of research and exploration prompted by the Biennial’s curatorial team. 

"Our 2019 contributors represent the diversity of thinking on architecture and spatial practice globally, each engaged in research and work that explores the potential and challenges of our everyday experiences across public and private space, as well as the motivation and potential for the future of the field," said Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu. 

"We are excited not only by the work that these contributors are already involved in, but the opportunity that the Biennial offers to expand these inquiries by connecting practices to each other and to visitors during the biennial’s run."

Dialogue, research, and learning are a central element of this year’s edition, and as such, a number of contributors are creating new work in partnership with communities in Chicago and elsewhere — either through residencies in Chicago or official collaborations. The contributors — selected by the Biennial’s curatorial team, which, in addition to Umolu, includes co-curators Sepake Angiama, a curator whose work centers on education, and Paulo Tavares, a Brazil-based architect and academic — will present works that reflect on the state of architecture as it relates to social, political, and environmental issues worldwide.

Scroll down to see the exhibition and contributors below:

Exhibition contributors

DAAR (Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency). Concrete Tent in Abu Dhabi by DAAR, 2017. Image © John Verghese

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)

Image © National Memorial for Peace and Justice Alan Ricks, 2018

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, Husam Abu Salem) (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)

Do Ho Suh. Installation view, Do Ho Suh:Passage/s. 1 February – 18 March 2017. Victoria Miro Gallery II, 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW. © Do Ho Suh. Courtesy the Artist, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong and Seoul; and Victoria Miro, London/Venice (Photography Thierry Bal).

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)

Somatic Collaborative. Neapolitan Housing and Co-working Project in Gravatai (Brazil) by Somatic Collaborative. 2017.

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 (born in Phoenix, USA; 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)

Forensic Architecture.  An alternative possibility that our video ‘mapping’ and synchronisation offers for analysis of the fire. The angled video footage is a result of the ‘texture projection’ process. Image © Forensic Architecture, 2018.

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)

ConstructLab. The Arch, 2017. Image © Julie Guiches

Publication 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 Jerusalem; lives in Bethlehem, Palestine and Los Angeles, USA)

Columbia Books on Architecture and the City (founded in New York City, USA)

Top image: GHESKIO Cholera Treatment Center. Image © Iwan Baan, 2014. 

> via Chicago Architecture Biennial