As the global architecture and design community looks toward the future, museums, galleries, and cultural institutions around the world are rolling out an ambitious slate of exhibitions, public programs, and major competitions. From groundbreaking explorations of housing affordability and hip-hop architecture to extensive retrospectives of prominent practitioners and emerging talents, this season’s cultural calendar offers a deep dive into the forces shaping the built environment. Here is a look at the upcoming and ongoing exhibitions, major events, and competitive opportunities capturing the attention of the design world.
Exhibitions
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced a new exhibition series designed to showcase work from emerging architects who are driving innovation across the field. The inaugural presentation highlights 12 recently completed projects throughout New York City. The participating firms include Adjaye Associates, nArchitects, SO – IL, alongside Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard 2022 winners CO Adaptive and Only If. To bring these built works to life for gallery visitors, each project is accompanied by a new video produced specially for the exhibition by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Hudson Lines.
Beyond New York, institutions across the United States and abroad are mounting major surveys that examine the intersections of art, architecture, and social history. At the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, visitors can experience the first comprehensive survey exhibition dedicated to New York-based artist and sculptor Simone Leigh. Running through September 4, 2023, the exhibition spans two decades of Leigh’s prolific production, bringing together sculpture, ceramics, video, and immersive installation. Notably, the presentation includes works from Leigh’s celebrated 2022 Venice Biennale presentation, marking their first time being shown in the United States.
In Bentonville, Arkansas, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is hosting an outdoor exhibition titled Architecture at Home. On view through January 31, 2023, the display features five distinct 500-square-foot prototypes intended to spark critical dialogue about the future of contemporary housing. While the participating architecture firms—studioSUMO, LEVENBETTS, MUTUO, PPAA, and studio:indigenous—are based across the Americas, they developed their compact prototypes with careful consideration of the specific housing needs, unique challenges, and distinct opportunities inherent to the Northwest Arkansas community.
New York’s New Museum is currently presenting Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces, the first major survey exhibition of Chicago-based artist and designer Theaster Gates. On view through February 5, 2023, the exhibition highlights the interdisciplinary practice of the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion designer. Gates’s work encompasses sculptures crafted from salvaged materials, tar paintings, clay vessels, collaborative performances, preserved historical photographs and objects, and expansive architectural installations. Curated by the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, alongside Gary Carrion-Murayari, the exhibition pays homage to the radical thinkers, heroic figures, and everyday icons that have shaped both Gates’s home city of Chicago and the broader cultural landscape of the country.
In Chicago, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery is presenting James Wines: Nature’s Revenge through February 11, 2023. As the founder and president of the New York-based studio SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), James Wines has spent decades designing and building more than 150 architecture and environmental art projects across the globe, with a central focus on green design and pointed commentaries on environmental issues. The gallery exhibition presents a selection of Wines’s drawings and works pointing toward a speculative green architecture, including pen-and-ink drawings from the artist’s 30-year retrospective in Berlin alongside a series of more recent works.
Back in New York, the Center for Architecture is displaying New Practices New York through February 25, 2023. The exhibition showcases the work recognized in AIA New York’s 2020 competition of the same name. Six practices were selected as representative of new and innovative architectural firms operating within the city: BRANDT: HAFERD, Bryony Roberts Studio, City-group, GRT Architects, New Affiliates, and ANY. Each of these practices has demonstrated a deep and sustained engagement with the urban fabric of New York and its citizens.
In Atlanta, the Museum of Design Atlanta is presenting Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture through March 12, 2023. Hip-Hop Architecture represents a burgeoning design movement led by a loosely organized group of creators who integrate the principles and cultural expressions of hip-hop into their approach to the built environment. Curated and designed by architect Sekou Cooke—whose work was also featured in MoMA’s landmark 2021 exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America—the Atlanta exhibition features a selection of work spanning a canon that has emerged over the past 25 years. The projects range from experimental installations to visionary building designs and urban-development proposals, collectively presenting a vision for alternative forms of architectural expression.
Washington, D.C., is also hosting a major socially focused exhibition. At the National Building Museum, A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge is on view through May 8, 2023. The exhibition highlights the stories and approaches behind the six winning ideas of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a nationwide call to action initiated in 2019. In response to the housing affordability crisis sweeping the country, the $20 million grant competition asked participants how society can break down barriers to ensure that everyone has access to an affordable home where they can live and thrive. The exhibition presents six proposed solutions divided across three categories—resident services and support, financing, and construction—that actively challenge traditional American approaches to housing.
In Stockholm, ArkDes, Sweden’s national center for architecture and design, is presenting a major retrospective dedicated to the work and global impact of Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård. Since founding their Stockholm-based office in 1999, Tham & Videgård has grown to become one of the leading architecture firms in the country, shaping the international perception of contemporary Swedish architecture through numerous award-winning designs. Running through August 27, 2023, the exhibition highlights key domestic projects such as the Kalmar Konstmuseum, the Treehotel in Harads, and the KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, alongside international works like the Denfert art center in Paris.
Events
The cultural calendar also features major annual gatherings and conferences for design professionals. Modernism Week 2023 will return to Palm Springs, California, from February 16 to 26, 2023. The annual celebration of modernist design and architecture features more than 350 events spread across various locations throughout the city, including architectural home and garden tours, specialized films, and public lectures. This year’s keynote presentation will be delivered by Thom Mayne, principal of the renowned firm Morphosis.
Later in the spring, Orlando will host Coverings from April 18 to 21, 2023. Recognized as the largest international tile and stone exhibition and conference in the United States, this year’s event is slated to feature 800 exhibitors representing over 30 countries. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore a vast array of tile and stone displays while participating in industry-focused learning sessions and professional networking events.
Competitions
For emerging designers looking to make their mark, the Architectural League has launched its annual competition with the 2023 Architectural League Prize, themed Uncomfortable. Operating against the backdrop of global climate change, evolving labor practices, and the challenging of traditional power structures and hegemonies, the competition seeks proposals that directly respond to the current state of discomfort within the field.
The competition is open to entrants who are not current students and who have graduated from a bachelor’s or master’s degree program within the past 10 years. Eligible entries can be submitted in any medium and may range from conceptual explorations to fully realized projects. Winners of the competition will each receive a cash prize of $2,000.
