Beyond buildings: the expanded vision of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

The title of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) ‘…and other such stories', seems like a riposte to that of the previous installment, ‘Make New History'. In some ways it’s more than that – almost a riposte to architecture itself, to the degree that artistic director Yesomi Umolu felt compelled to note, at the opening panel in September, that she was ‘not against architecture'. Just the same, the show’s focus is definitely expanded, with its 80 plus contributors taking on pressing social issues like climate change, inequality and race.
A signal contribution is the Settler Colonial City Project and American Indian Center’s ‘Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center', a series of glass panels installed in various locations throughout the historic building that has been the Biennial’s primary venue since its 2015 debut. The placards bear messages about the history of the Center itself, pointing out for example that its exquisite Tiffany ceilings ‘legitimise the displacement… of Native Americans', owing to the glass company’s appropriation of Sioux and Navajo motifs.
Likewise a contribution from Native American artist Santiago X, titled ‘Hayo Tikba (The Fire Inside)', which features a full-size hut-like dwelling topped by a digitally-projected flame. According to the artist’s statement, the piece ‘alludes to loss and renewal [and] indigenous people’s resilience', though as with the text panels it seems less an allusion than a direct indexical gesture – a pointed reminder, in case anyone had forgotten, of the way the West was won.
If the show wears its didacticism very much on its sleeve, there are still instances where its lessons are conveyed via original architectural expression. ‘I think of it as like making space for conversation', says Oscar Tuazon: the artist’s ‘Great Lakes Water School' is a simple modular-ish construction that serves as a mobile, adaptable learning and event space aimed at starting community dialogues around local ecology.
RELATED STORY
ELLA designs Chicago Architecture Biennial graphic identity (opens in new tab)
Only steps away is another full-size structure, ‘Re-Rooting + Redux': a project of Chicago-based advocacy-and-design group the Sweetwater Foundation, the piece a simple assemblage of wood and bolts of a type that its creators are actually building to help serve under-privileged arounds around the city. According to the Sweetwater Foundation’s Emmanuel Pratt, the team’s strategy is akin to ‘urban acupuncture'.
An expanded vision of the practice of architecture seems like a noble goal – though this CAB is often most effective when it puts buildings front and centre
As in CAB’s past, this year’s edition also included events and presentations outside the confines of the Cultural Center. One such locale was the now-decommissioned Overton Elementary School on the city’s South Side, a stunning 1962 modernist design from architects Perkins + Will whose ghostly halls were filled with the eerie bumps and clangs of Zorka Wollny’s sound work ‘Overtone Hive'. A few miles away, at the site of what is planned to be the future National Public Housing Museum, South Africa’s Keleketla! Library and a group of collaborators debuted another sound piece, ‘Listed', a self-generating work created by the record voices of the visitors themselves as they clamber across a wooden gangway beside an eerily-abandoned housing project.
Whether onsite or off, the commitment to what co-curator Paulo Tavares called ‘an expanded vision of the practice of architecture' seems like a noble goal – though this CAB is often most effective when it puts buildings front and centre. MASS Design Group’s National Gun Violence Memorial, a simple assemblage of gabled glass boxes containing personal memorabilia from shooting victims, seems like the kind of project that really could start a movement. Sometimes architects just have to do architecture.
‘Transformation Scenario,' by Clemens Von Wedemeyer
‘Landed: Gates et al.’
‘How Together'
‘Refugee Heritage' by Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency (DAAR)
‘Summer Flowers'
‘Anarchitectural Library (against the neoliberal erasure of Chicago’s common spaces)'
‘A Thought of the Outside,' by Ola Hassanain
‘Three Trees: Jackson, Obama, Washington
‘Decolonizing the Chicago Cultural Center' by Settler ColonialCity Project & American Indian Center
‘Museum of Oil'
‘Marj and Prairie: Eating Our Histories' by Palestine Heirloom Seed Library
INFORMATION
chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org (opens in new tab)
-
From darkness to everlasting light: all you need to know about the first Islamic Arts Biennale
Rebecca Anne Proctor travels to Jeddah to explore the world’s first Islamic Arts Biennale (until 23 April), a monumental survey of Islamic arts and culture in the religion’s birthplace, modern-day Saudi Arabia
By Rebecca Anne Proctor • Published
-
A Sydney adventure: discover art and architecture, design and dance
See the best Sydney architecture, design, craft, cuisine and more. Ahead of World Pride 2023, Wallpaper* Australia editor Elias Redstone offers an insider’s view to you plan your trip
By Elias Redstone • Published
-
Last chance to see: Theaster Gates’ ‘Young Lords and Their Traces’ at the New Museum
Theaster Gates talks about his first US museum show, ‘Young Lords and Their Traces’ at The New Museum (until 5 February 2023), a moving homage to the creative forces who came before
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Jackson Hole retreat is conceived as ‘a geologic remnant in the landscape’
ShineMaker Residence is a Jackson Hole retreat tuned to perfection by its authors, CLB Architects and HSH Interiors
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Hosono House is an urban retreat in the heart of San Francisco
Hosono House by Ryan Leidner Architecture blends minimalism, nature and an awkward plot to craft a modern urban retreat in the middle of San Francisco
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
North Salem Farm updates local vernacular for the 21st century
North Salem Farm by New York-based architecture studio Worrell Yeung offers a new take to the region’s agrarian vernacular for the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Spectacular Wyoming ranch sits within a restored working landscape
This Wyoming ranch by CLB Architects offers a new approach to the Western architectural tradition, combining daring and functional modern design with a welcoming character
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Columbia County house combines prefabricated methods with meticulous planning
The House of Courtyards, a new Columbia County house, is a refined living space in the heart of a secluded wooded plot
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Cheng+Snyder transforms suburban Californian backlot into flexible home
The Roommate House by Cheng+Snyder in Oakland exemplifies fresh approaches to planning for ever-changing demographics
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Stage architecture, from Disney to dance
Clever stage architecture makes or breaks a cultural experience – from Yellow Studio’s set for Disney’s new live-action Beauty and the Beast, to more immersive structures in the genre
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
This bijou Sonoma County house is in sync with the landscape
An open and contextual Sonoma County house, Leit House is designed by San Francisco’s Schwartz and Architecture
By Ellie Stathaki • Published