Making exhibitions means choosing with good reason. Here are a five good reasons.

1

The architecture exhibition of the future will be a collective process of reckoning with institutional histories and collecting practices. How will we preserve our current architectural culture differently? What kind of repositories do we need to hold our knowledge? What spaces or carriers of information will our memories endure in? How can we change systems that are no longer serving us?

2

The architecture exhibition of the future will be a shared process to reimagine how we see and represent ourselves and others through displays. How will we ensure that we hear the voices of multitudes not just the one? What are the media that can draw our attention toward that which we do not yet understand? Whose reality do we join and how does history connect us to our future? How do we listen and dismantle practices that hold no value to our futures?

3

The architecture exhibition of the future will be a joint search for stories brimming with relevance. How can we speculate and find an imaginary of things to come? How can we return to utopian thinking and create something that outlasts the ephemeral nature of the exhibition? How do we ensure reciprocity through the processes we employ? How can our audiences create stories relevant to their lives?

4

The architecture exhibition of the future will demand accountability. How do we amplify voices through new technologies? What role does solidarity play in open dialogue? Do we still have a connection to place? Can care and repair be a form of resistance? Are our current institutional practices enough?

5

The architecture exhibition of the future will foreground human experience. Is it possible to have less authority and more authorship? Can we admit subjectivity and be more present? Will we still have to be there in person, and if so, how do we share our experiences? Can we have empathy on a large scale? Is joy part of our experience of architecture?

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(This is an abridged version of the text for the exhibition “The Architecture Exhibition of Tomorrow.” For full coverage see here and here.)