{"id":34288,"date":"2025-09-24T02:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/34288\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T02:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T02:11:10","slug":"several-chicago-architecture-biennial-participants-withdraw-over-sponsor-ties-to-israeli-military-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/34288\/","title":{"rendered":"Several Chicago Architecture Biennial participants withdraw over sponsor ties to Israeli military | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several participants in the Chicago Architecture Biennial<\/a> have withdrawn from the event over funding from Crown Family Philanthropies, an organization invested in a contractor with ties to the Israeli military. The Crown Family owns a 10% stake in military contractor General Dynamics, which \u201cmanufactures weapons and warcrafts, including those used by the Israeli military in its ongoing assault on Palestinians in Gaza<\/a> such as the 2,000-lb MK-84 bomb,\u201d according to the group, who released an open letter<\/a> on September 18th. Last week, a United Nations commission of inquiry<\/a> said that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the aforementioned sponsorship is incompatible with the values of our work as well as with the event\u2019s stated mission of addressing ‘architecture\u2019s role in shaping our collective future’ and ‘pursuing radical change,’\u201d the letter reads. The statement is signed by 22 participants, nine of whom are listed as a \u201cwithdrawing participant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to an earlier letter from the group, CAB\u2019s Executive Team noted on August 8th that \u201cThe Crown Family Philanthropies\u2019 financial contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennial supports K\u201312 arts education programs and is not used to support participant exhibition production or curatorial content.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response, the group noted that the Crown Family\u2019s funding of educational programs instead of exhibitions \u201cmakes the situation more painful,\u201d adding:
\n\u201cThe realization that an educational program in Chicago is funded with capital which (even if indirectly) comes from the gains made at the expense of the destruction of life and education facilities in Gaza is both contradictory and concerning. We do not want our work to serve as a cultural facade or as reputational laundering for violations of human rights and war crimes currently under investigation (in Palestine or elsewhere).\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Related on Archinect: New U.N. report warns of potential decades-long rebuild for Gaza<\/a>.\u00a0Image courtesy\u00a0Wikimedia Commons<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed)<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s new letter also claims to have offered the CAB Executive Team to \u201ccollectively replace the contribution from Crown Family Philanthropies, ensuring the Biennial would suffer no financial hardship,\u201d adding that \u201cthe Executive Team\u2019s refusal to accept this solution makes it clear for us that retaining this donor does not merely come from economic necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n

This statement appears to be in response to a letter from CAB\u2019s Executive Team on August 14th, which said: \u201cThank you for your thoughtful message and for the generosity of your proposed solution. We respect the conviction behind your position. We are actively fundraising to meet the budget needs for the 2025-26 Biennial, and are not in a financial position to return funds already committed. Returning any donation with just a few weeks until opening would challenge our ability to raise the additional resources needed for this edition, and for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The withdrawing group concludes their letter by calling on the CAB Executive Team to \u201cnot accept further funding from Crown Family Philanthropies or any other sponsor involved in the perpetration of war crimes\u201d for future editions of the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully align with CAB 2025 SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change mission and curatorial vision, and we appreciate the time that the curatorial team has taken to attend to our concern,\u201d the letter concludes. \u201cThis, together with the variety of participants\u2019 circumstances and a threatening political atmosphere haven\u2019t made our decisions easy. And yet, we remain committed to ensuring that our field does not continue operating as a tool for the perpetuation or silencing of violence, inequality, dispossession and destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Previously\/related:\u00a0The Exhibitionary Complex<\/a><\/p>\n

This is not the first time the Chicago Architecture Biennial has faced controversy over sponsorship. In 2017, Archinect published \u201cThe Exhibitionary Complex\u201d<\/a>, which examined the event\u2019s relationship with corporate sponsors such as BP and raised broader questions about the role of \u201cdirty money\u201d in architectural exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Archinect has reached out to the Chicago Architecture Biennial for comment on the latest letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several participants in the Chicago Architecture Biennial have withdrawn from the event over funding from Crown Family Philanthropies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[437,434,435,436,438,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-34288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}