Chicago Architecture Biennial Appoints Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares as 2019 Co-Curators


© Tom Harris

© Tom Harris

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the appointment of curator and educator Sepake Angiama and architect and urbanist Paulo Tavares to the curatorial team for the event’s 2019 edition. 

The new appointees will combine with Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu to lead the curation of the 2019 event, bringing expertise in research architecture and discursive practices.

I am thrilled that Sepake Angiama and Paulo Tavares are joining me to steward the curatorial direction of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Sepake and Paulo are noted for their contributions to their respective fields. They will broaden the range of ideas and practices at the biennial and will be instrumental as we develop platforms for learning and engagement. I am excited to begin our work together.
-Yesomi Umolu, Artistic Director, 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial

Angiama is based in Europe, where her work explores how social spaces can be disrupted and provoked by learning, performance, and design. She recently served as head of Education for Documenta 14, where her project “Under the Mango Tree: Sites of Learning” brought together artist-led social spaces, libraries, and schools seeking to “unfold discourses around decolonizing education practices.” She holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London.


Sepake Angiama. Image © Gina Folly

Sepake Angiama. Image © Gina Folly

Tavares is a professor at the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbinismo at the University of Brasilia, where his research focuses on the intersection between space, conflict, rights, and visual cultures. He has previously taught at the Universidad Catolica del Ecuador and Goldsmiths, University of London. He has also collaborated with Turner Prize candidates Forensic Architecture and has been featured in the Harvard Design Magazine, Oslo Architecture Triennale, and Istanbul Design Biennial. In 2017, he created the agency Autonoma, dedicated to urban research and intervention. 


Paulo Tavares. Image © Gabriel Ribeiro

Paulo Tavares. Image © Gabriel Ribeiro

The diverse talents and perspectives our curatorial team brings to the Biennial assure that the 2019 exposition will again meet our dual objectives – to host an important dialogue about architecture in the American city heralded for its architecture and to provide Chicagoans and visitors to our city the opportunity to experience new ways of understanding the built environment. The choice of these artistic leaders promises a compelling and internationally relevant Biennial.
-Jack Guthman, Chairman, Chicago Architecture Biennial

The third edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial will run from September 19, 2019, to January 5, 2020. The event will again coincide with EXPO CHICAGO, and the main site for the Biennial will again be located at the Chicago Cultural Center.

News via: Chicago Architecture Biennial

Yesomi Umolu Selected as Artistic Director of the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the selection of writer and curator Yesomi Umolu as Artistic Director for the event’s 2019 edition. Currently holding the position of Exhibitions Curator at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, Umolu draws from her background in architectural design and curatorial studies in creating exhibitions that explore the politics of the built environment.