The Graham Foundation is pleased to be an official site for CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal, part of the fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB).

Curated by the interdisciplinary arts collective the Floating Museum, CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal, takes an expansive view of design as an iterative rehearsal process to explore architecture, cities, and the different social, ecological, economic and political forces that shape them. From artists, architects, engineers, performers, poets, and others, the practitioners represented in CAB 5 collectively set the stage for the cross-pollination of ideas in order to challenge and envision alternatives for the following: how we understand and address the needs of a city, who plays a role in imagining and making the city, and how our potential solutions attend to the overlapping crises that now inform our everyday lives.

Cities are always evolving—continuously shaped and reshaped by the millions of people who inhabit them through a process of action and reaction. Over time, the accumulation of buildings and infrastructure creates a layered index of the ideals and policies of past generations. Rehearsal invites new possibilities through open dialogue, creative invention, and a generative process of discovery to understand how hope and care can emerge in architecture. Harnessing dialogue is paramount to CAB 5’s conception of rehearsal. It is a productive tool that establishes new lines of thinking that question the status quo through modes ranging from conversations and performances to installations, drawings, and new technologies. In this sense, This is a Rehearsal welcomes alternative ways of making architecture and engages everyone to rethink, rework, and reimagine the present and future of cities.

CAB 5 features the work of more than 80 local and global participants at locations ranging from outdoor community sites to major exhibitions spaces that span across Chicago. CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal opens at the Graham on November 1, 2023 in conjunction with other exhibition sites, including the Chicago Cultural Center.

Exhibited at the Graham Foundation are the following projects, selected by Floating Museum:

Cecil McDonald, Jr.
Dream The Combine
interim studio (Nora Akawi and Eduardo Rega Calvo) with Jumanah Abbas; Salim al-Kadi, Khaled Malas, Alfred Tarazi, and Jana Traboulsi (Sigil Collective); Taesha Aurora; Jeankarlos Cruz; Muna Dajani; Nadine Fattaleh; Martina Duque Gonzalez; Haitham Haddad (Studio Mnjnk); Aamer Ibraheem; Mapping Memories of Resistance project (Birzeit University, London School of Economics, Al-Marsad Arab Center for Human Rights in the Golan); Emad Madah; Rami Nakhle; Daniel Ruiz; Frederick Rapp; and Holly Nicole Smithberger
Larissa Fassler

Floating Museum, led by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Faheem Majeed, Andrew Schachman, and avery r. young, is an art collective that creates new models: exploring relationships between art, community, architecture, and public institutions. Using site-responsive art, design, and programming they explore the potential in these relationships, considering the infrastructure, history, and aesthetics of a space.

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) is a non-profit organization dedicated to convening the world to explore innovative ideas and bring people together to collectively imagine and shape the future of design. Free and open to the public, CAB stands as North America’s largest international survey of contemporary architecture.

The fifth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, is curated by Floating Museum, a Chicago-based art collective co-directed by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Faheem Majeed, Andrew Schachman, and avery r. young. In collaboration with Rachel Kaplan, director, Chicago Architecture Biennial, the exhibition at the Graham Foundation is realized by Sarah Herda, director with Ava Barrett, program and communications manager; and Alexandra Lee Small, senior advisor. The Graham acknowledges the valuable contributions of Cecil McDonald, Jr.; Tom Carruthers and Jennifer Newsom (Dream The Combine); Nora Akawi and Eduardo Rega Calvo (interim studio); Khaled Malas (Sigil Collective); and Larissa Fassler. Appreciation for production support is extended to Acrylic Design Works; Aron Gent and Nick Albertson of Document; Andrew Kephart of ism Furniture; NFA Space; North-West Drapery Services, Inc.; Cliff Steinberg of Rent Com, Inc.; and Michael Savona. Special thanks to the Graham Foundation staff: Carolyn Kelly, Ron Konow, Joelle Mercedes, and James Pike; and the Chicago Architecture Biennial staff: Kat Caribeaux, Bianca Marks, Trinity Medellin, Melissa Steins, and Lucia Whalen.