Chicago Architecture Biennial | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Architecture exhibition |
Dates | September–January |
Frequency | Biennially |
Venue | Chicago Cultural Center |
Location(s) | Chicago |
Years active | 8 |
Founded | 2014 |
Next event | 2023 |
Participants | International, invited architects |
Attendance | 500,000 – 550,000 |
Patron(s) | American Institute of Architects; Chicago Architecture Foundation; various public and private corporations and foundations |
Organised by | Chicago Architecture Biennial, Inc. |
Sponsor | City of Chicago; The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts |
Website | chicagoarchitecturebiennial |
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is an international exhibition of architectural ideas, projects and displays. It seeks "to provide a platform for groundbreaking architectural projects and spatial experiments that demonstrate how creativity and innovation can radically transform our lived experience." [1] [2] Founded in 2014, the biennial is managed by a charitable corporation under the auspices of the city's Cultural Affairs department, and sponsored by public and private organizations and individuals.
The first of its kind in North America, the inaugural iteration of the biennale took place in Chicago between October, 2015 and January, 2016, and was headquartered at the Chicago Cultural Center. [3] Its first directors were Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima.
The event was championed by then-mayor Rahm Emanuel who told the Financial Times: "This biennial is an ode to the city's past and an echo to our future." [4] The 2015-16 biennial had entries from 104 architects or practices. The exhibitors were invitees, many from North America and Europe, but also from Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Israel, Japan, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, South Africa, and South Korea. The theme of this biennial was The State of the Art of Architecture. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] The title of the first biennial originates from a 1977 conference organized by Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman, which invited leading American designers to Chicago to discuss the current state of the field. [16] The first biennial announced it had more than 500,000 visitors, and plans for its return in 2017. [17] [18]
The second iteration was in 2017 with the theme Make New History, and ran from September 16, 2017, through January 7, 2018. [19] [20] The lead curators were Mark Lee and Sharon Johnson of Johnson Marklee. Associate curators include Sarah Hearne and Letizia Garzoli. The opening coincided with EXPO Chicago, the international contemporary art fair. [21] [22] More than 100 architectural practices from the Americas, Asia and Europe were selected to participate. [23] In addition to the main site at the Cultural Center, the biennial partnered with the Chicago Community Trust to hold 2017 events at six satellite locations in other parts of Chicago: The Beverly Arts Center, DePaul Art Museum, DuSable Museum of African American History, Hyde Park Art Center, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. [24] The second biennial drew a crowd of 550,000 and dates for a third biennial beginning in September 2019 were announced. [25]
The third biennial, under the title . . . And Other Such Stories, explores the circumstances that make the urban architectural environment. Its lead curator was Yesomi Umolu, and it was co-curated by Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares. [26] It was open to the public from September 19, 2019, to January 5, 2020. [27] The exposition features over 80 contributors from more than 20 countries. [28] The third iteration of the biennial focused on four main themes: land and belonging, architecture and memory, rights and advocacy, and collaboration and discussion. [29] The Los Angeles Times found the 2019 biennial "eerily prescient" in its examination of contested urban land use issues at a time of international protest. [30]
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.” Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation. It is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes, and is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues. The museum's collection is composed of thousands of objects of Post-World War II visual art. The museum is run gallery-style, with individually curated exhibitions throughout the year. Each exhibition may be composed of temporary loans, pieces from their permanent collection, or a combination of the two.
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Jeanne Gang is an American architect and the founder and leader of Studio Gang, an architecture and urban design practice with offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Gang was first widely recognized for the Aqua Tower, the tallest woman-designed building in the world at the time of its completion. Aqua has since been surpassed by the nearby St. Regis Chicago, also of her design. Surface has called Gang one of Chicago's most prominent architects of her generation, and her projects have been widely awarded.
Architecture criticism is the critique of architecture. Everyday criticism relates to published or broadcast critiques of buildings, whether completed or not, both in terms of news and other criteria. In many cases, criticism amounts to an assessment of the architect's success in meeting his or her own aims and objectives and those of others. The assessment may consider the subject from the perspective of some wider context, which may involve planning, social or aesthetic issues. It may also take a polemical position reflecting the critic's own values. At the most accessible extreme, architectural criticism is a branch of lifestyle journalism, especially in the case of high-end residential projects.
Martin Felsen is an American architect and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA). He directs UrbanLab, a Chicago-based architecture and urban design firm. Felsen's projects range in scale from houses such as the Hennepin, Illinois Residence, mixed-use residential and commercial buildings such as Upton's Naturals Headquarters, public open spaces such as the Smart Museum of Art Courtyard at the University of Chicago, and large scale, urban design projects such as Growing Water in Chicago and a masterplan for the Yangming Lake region of Changde, China. Felsen was awarded the 2009 Latrobe Prize by the American Institute of Architects, College of Fellows.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a museum founded by filmmaker George Lucas and his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. Once completed, the museum will hold all forms of visual storytelling, including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, comic art, performance, and video. It is under construction in Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California. The museum is expected to open in 2025.
Koyo Kouoh is Cameroonian-born curator who has been serving as Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town since 2019. In 2015, the New York Times called her "one of Africa’s pre-eminent art curators and managers." She lives and works in Cape Town and Dakar.
NEMA (Chicago) (also 1210 South Indiana and formerly 113 East Roosevelt or One Grant Park) is a 76-story residential skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois in the Central Station neighborhood, of the Near South Side. The tower, built by developer Crescent Heights, has 800 apartments and rises 896 feet (273.1 m) making it the city's tallest rental apartment building. NEMA is the eighth-tallest building in Chicago as of 2022 and the forty first-tallest building in the United States. It is the tallest all-rental residential building in the city.
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Amanda Williams is a visual artist based in Bridgeport, Chicago. Williams grew up in Chicago's South Side and trained as an architect. Her work investigates color, race, and space while blurring the conventional line between art and architecture. She has taught at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis, Illinois Institute of Technology, and her alma mater Cornell University. Williams has lectured and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Museum, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and at a TED conference.
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