Initiated in 2015 as a print and online magazine, The Funambulist does not understand architecture as the authored design of inhabitable sculptures, but rather as the discipline that organizes bodies in space. With such a perspective, we have attempted to detach ourselves from architecture as a discipline and have focused instead on formulating spatial approaches to anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, queer, trans, feminist, anti-ableist political struggles and that against which they fight.
For this book commissioned by the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2019, we have invited 20 regular readers (many of whom are also contributors) of The Funambulist to pick, among the many texts we published in our 22 first issues, the one that appeared to them as the most politically useful. We are republishing these texts here, as well as their introductions, written by these 20 guests.
In addition to this, we asked five Chicago-based activists to write about the spatial politics of their city in relation to settler colonialism, the municipality, the police, the real estate pressure, as well as the school system. At a crucial moment following the change of administration, this appeared to us as the most politically useful thing we could do to propagate the voices of those active on the ground.
Dimensions:
Materials: Softcover book, 132 Pages
Chicago Architecture Biennial
(Downtown)
The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) is dedicated to creating an international forum on architecture and urbanism. It produces year-round programs and a biennial exposition of city-wide activations for a diverse audience of designers, educators, advocates, and students. CAB’s mission is to engage and inspire professional and public audiences, highlight the transformative power of architecture and envision a future for the field that is equitable and sustainable.
The signature program of the Chicago Architecture Biennial stands as North America’s largest international survey of contemporary architecture and takes place every two years at the Chicago Cultural Center and sites across the city. CAB has hosted three editions since its founding: ...and other such stories (2019); Make New History (2017); The State of the Art of Architecture (2015). The fourth edition, which will open in 2021, is titled The Available City. CAB programming throughout the year engages global audiences in conversations exploring critical ideas and questions facing the field, and beyond. "