“All beauty,” A large Red-Orange Neon sign announces in one of the institutions of the Chicago Cultural Center hosting the artinity biennial. Created by R & R Studios, the image evoked advertising, lighting up sidewalks and, of course, ironic text art, with neon art. The sign is kitschy and silly—but in the current context, it’s also powerful. Chicago Today is a city under siege. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the city, describing it as a “hellhole” and a “disaster.” Although crime in the city has dropped significantly, Trump has lied that the city is violent and unsafe – and has used that as an excuse for snowballing and kidnapping women who they see as UN-American. These Troops shot the religious leaders with pepper balls, shocked by brutal attacks on construction in the south coast and spread such communities among the communities of Latinos and Latinos will be afraid to leave their homes.
The biennial does not directly imply the presence of unity in the city. But it’s hard not to think about what’s going on outside as you showcase a tour that celebrates diversity, urban space and Chicago’s vision as a national leader. The biennial and the city seek “beauty for all” – can that expansive vision survive the siege? The Chicago architecture biennial is an international exhibition of architectural ideas, projects and works of art that has been held every year in Chicago since 2014. It is organized at several sites in the city, but is centered on Chicago’s Chicago Cultural Center.
The surprising focal point of the biennial is a room that chronicles a range of international construction projects through pamphlets and short documentary films, running three at a time against the wall. Entering a wide range of ways and spaces is both surprising and exciting. A 3 generation house In the Netherlands created by Beta Office puts two rooms on top of each other, making a multigenerational house unlike the Chicago two that live in my multigenerational family. Liu Xiaodu and Meng Ya’s Urban Tulou In Guangzhou it is an affordable housing complex that is based on the 300-year-old hakka tulou – a large molded home. Mass Design Group A village waiting for Maternity It is trying to address the high mortality rates in Malawi by building women’s care centers that consist of clusters of buildings and grounds. A comfortable space may seem like a luxury, but it is actually life or death; When women are forced to go to the office without family resources, they often find it so isolating that they simply leave, putting themselves and their children at risk.
These projects do not specifically emphasize “massive change.” Instead, they all try to use traditional materials in new settings in an effort to make public and private spaces feel more welcoming to people, communities and families. Architects here all suggest that housing funds, architecture and public funds as a whole should be used in ways that speak to and ensure people’s different dests, ownership and needs.
Other shows on the site carry the same message. “Pieces of disability” by Ignacio G. Galán, David Gissen and architecture, for example, using the Utopian New York City, includes a re-look at RETERS ISLAND and other institutions with disabled facilities. Fırat Erdim’s “Harp” is a series of wind-powered equipment that can be held and moved by the players – a transformation of street performance that turns the environment itself into a collaborative space.
Other installations seemed less focused on creating new spaces, accepting spaces and interested in celebrating the construction of the urban era and the survival of everything messy. Radar’s installation “our second skin, the skin of the city” is a circular alcove made from a pane of exploding glass – a tribute to the destruction of the transparent material we experience as it encompasses homes, cars and offices. Jason Campbell / Elprojects’ “Linen Closet” does the same thing the same alchemy of the soft things of our nature; The piece is a large rack of comforters, quilts and fabrics, suggests that where we live with folders and fabrics and solid frameworks. Cristóbal Palma’s Lugar Común (or Common Area) a series of photos of the unsavory details of Latin American cities – a tree built outside an apartment building, a car partially visible through a parking structure, a pylon.
Perhaps the standout of the biennial—and a children’s favorite if the student body I see passing through is any indication—is jacqueline kiyomi gerk Variations in Mass Nos. 5, 6, 7. The piece is a room with three large objects made to look like brick walls. Spectators stand in the crowd and watch them explode and blaspheme, creating an ever-changing series of barbaric, illegal and unconscious spaces. Romantic music plays in the background but is often overpowered by the hum and roar of the ambient air blowers. Watching the Show is like seeing a city triumphantly triumphant and fall upon itself, building its ruins. The idea of the Urban Landscape as a pratfall of mock-heroling that lives in mock-herocling – a place lovely in both its ambitions and its inevitable failures.
You can see part of that love that the cities are shown in the signs. As in many Chicago museums, descriptive biennial text is provided on plaques in Spanish and English. That’s an acknowledgment that our city has a large Latino population, not something the reviewers often comment on or think about. But right now, as the federal government talks more about guns and violence – that certain people are welcome, it’s hard to ignore a small space that shows our neighbors that this is their space.
Outside the cultural center, people are threatened, kidnapped, and even killed by the government. Inside, there is an inscription in the Spanish language; There are plans for accessible cities; There are many home and birthing center programs; There’s a neon sign that says, “All Beauty.” You can see the biennial as an act of resistance and hope; You can see it as a white exercise and remove the current beat in the city. In fact, it may work as both. Chicago, as a country, is going through an exciting time. The biennial acknowledges that only in the municipality, by dreaming of creating a new place where we are all at home.
The Chicago architecture biennial runs through February 28, 2026.
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