by Noam Dvir
Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel has announced plans for a new international architecture exhibition which he hopes will attract cultural tourists and situate the city at the forefront of contemporary architecture and design.
The first Chicago Architecture Biennial (Oct. 5, 2015-Jan. 3, 2016) will take place in the Chicago Cultural Center, an 1897 Beaux-Arts gem in the heart of downtown. The exhibition will be co-curated by Sarah Herda, director of Chicago’s Graham Foundation, and Joseph Grima, former editor in chief of the Italian Domus magazine. The curatorial duo has been developing the project for the past two years, and has assembled a powerhouse advisory board comprising figures such as the architects Elizabeth Diller, David Adjaye, Frank Gehry and Jeanne Gang, curator/critic Hans Ulrich Obrist and Pritzker Prize jury chair Peter Palumbo.
The new biennial is one of the major initiatives in Emanuel’s new cultural plan, which has been in the works since he took office three years ago. “Architecture is an incredible asset for Chicago, but it’s also an underutilized asset,” Herda told A.i.A. in a phone interview. “Chicago is the most important city for architecture in the country and it’s astonishing that such an event hasn’t taken place yet in North America. It seems like a great opportunity and an important time to convene the world.”