Winning Team Selected to Curate 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale

Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale

The Oslo Architecture Triennale has announced the winner of the open call for Chief Curator of their 2019 event: Architecture and Engineering practice Interrobang (Maria Smith and Matthew Dalziel), with critic Phineas Harper and urban researcher Cecilie Sachs Olsen.

The winning team’s proposal, entitled Degrowth, seeks to acknowledge and investigate the “need to revise the pace and scale of extraction, production, consumption, development, and building that has driven the growth of industrialized societies and economies throughout the 20th century.”

Clockwise, from top: Maria Smith, Matthew Dalziel, Cecilie Sachs Olsen and Phineas Harper. Image Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale

“The proposal addresses a tendency which has been on the rise in the last decade,” commented the jury in their citation. “Degrowth is gaining ground in social and economic contexts, and it is time for architectural practice and discourse to position itself and consider the possible consequences for the profession.”

“With this concept, the Triennale could be a platform to establish an understanding of a potential architecture of degrowth: defining it, questioning it and challenging both architects, architecture commissioners and decision makers to develop new strategies for building, planning, evolving and adapting our built environments based on non-growth development,” the jury continued.

The jury also lauded the proposal for connecting to both Oslo and the greater world of architecture in an intimate and challenging manner:

“The proposal can also be read as a challenge to the city of Oslo, to open itself up to the ideas and ideals of alternative ways of development and to explore its potential ramifications in what may be seen as a collective pursuit towards a more climate conscious local and global future.”

“The Jury believes the chosen curatorial team also has the potential to question the general relevance and logic of architecture biennials and triennials in the world.”

Courtesy of Oslo Architecture Triennale

Selected from a shortlist of 5 teams, the winning proposal was generated in response to OAT’s open call for curators, which stated:

“As a physical manifestation of political systems, culture and social structures, architecture plays an important role in how we understand and shape our societies. In a time where democracy and current systems of power are being challenged and change is an increasingly present and accelerating force in our global and local societies, OAT 2019 wishes to raise a discussion on the role and relevance of architecture in the future.”

Learn more about the curatorial team and read the full jury statement, here.