Building Cycles is a year-long program that examines the notion of building as both a place and a process. Through newly commissioned work that unfolds in four interconnected exhibitions and one public assembly, each moment conceptually addresses a different step of the building process—from site analysis to inhabitation to renovation—as a way to creatively question the ways we build cities, buildings, communities, and relationships. Starting June 2019, Storefront presents four exhibitions, along with accompanying events, competitions, and other public programs: Exhibition 1: Aquí vive gente by Brigada Puerta de Tierra; Exhibition 2: Ministry for All by Carla Juaçaba and Marcelo Cidade; Exhibition 3: Arabesque by Rayyane Tabet; Exhibition 4: Bodybuildings by Mariela Scafati. The cycle culminates in the summer of 2020 with the Building Cycles Assembly, a day-long convening with an associated performance and publication. Gathering artists, scholars, practitioners, students, and the public, the assembly will collectively address the ideas and themes presented throughout the year in a final moment, before the cycle begins anew.

Marcelo Cidade is a São Paolo-based artist whose work confronts social issues in urban contexts, bringing signs and situations from the street into places of art.

Carla Juaçaba is a Rio de Janeiro-based architect with a design and research practice focused on subtle and conceptual approaches to the making of spaces.

Brigada Puerta de Tierra is an artist and activist collective based in San Juan, Puerto Rico that seeks to preserve the cultural heritage of the neighborhood of Puerta de Tierra.

Mariela Scafati is a Buenos Aires-based artist using mediums of screenprinting and installation to address issues of gender, public space, and the human body.

Rayyane Tabet is a Beirut-based artist and architect who explores individual narratives that offer alternative understandings of major sociopolitical events.

Álvaro Urbano is a Berlin-based artist from Madrid who explores the relationship between architecture and fiction through scripted, time-based situations.

José Esparza Chong Cuy is the executive director and chief curator at Storefront for Art and Architecture. Formerly, he was the Pamela Alper Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where he organized solo exhibitions and projects with Jonathas de Andrade, Federico Herrero, Mika Horibuchi, and Tania Pérez Córdova. He is also cocurator of the retrospective exhibition Lina Bo Bardi: Habitat, which is jointly organized between MASP in Sao Paulo, the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Previously, he was associate curator at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City.

Storefront for Art and Architecture advances innovative and critical ideas that contribute to the design of cities, territories, and public life. Storefront’s exhibitions, events, competitions, publications, and projects provide alternative platforms for dialogue and collaboration across disciplinary, geographic, and ideological boundaries. Since its founding in 1982, Storefront has presented the work of over one thousand architects and artists.