Chicago Architecture Biennial Loses Participants Over Sponsor’s Ties
174Sept. 26, 2025
A cadre of participants have withdrawn from the SixthChicago Architecture Biennial(CAB) citing a sponsor’s connection to a munitions maker whose weapons have been used in Israel’s occupation of Gaza. TheArchitect’s Newspaperreports that the group sent anopen letterto the biennial’s organizers a day ahead of the event’s September 18 opening announcing their withdrawal over biennial supporter Crown Family Philanthropies’ 10 percent stake in General Dynamics. The military contractor supplies weapons to Israel and is the maker of the MK-84 bomb, an unguided heavy explosive with a wide blast radius. The Biden administrationsent thousandsof the weapons to Israel in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on the country before blocking exports of the bomb. The Trump administrationlifted that banearlier this year.
Twenty-one participants, or about 20 percent of those taking part in the biennial, signed the September 18 letter. Of these, nine withdrew.
“It is a matter of public record that the Crown Family owns a 10% stake in General Dynamics, the world’s fifth-largest military contractor,” wrote the signatories. “This corporation manufactures weapons and warcrafts, including those used by the Israeli military in its ongoing assault on Palestinians in Gaza such as the 2,000-lb MK-84 bomb. This assault has been characterized by several international legal experts, entities and organizations as a genocide, marked by the deliberate destruction of civilian life, the starvation of civilian population as a method of warfare, forced displacements of population, and the systematic targeting of basic infrastructure including universities, hospitals, schools, and libraries—a level of destruction of life, livelihoods, ecosystems and culture that will take generations to recover.
“We believe that the aforementioned sponsorship is incompatible with the values of our work as well as with the event’s stated mission of addressing ‘architecture’s role in shaping our collective future’ and pursuing ‘radical change.’”
The letter came roughly a month after participants sent organizers a letter on August 14 airing concerns about Crown Family Philanthropies investments. CAB officials replied that they intended to use the Crown Family funding for educational purposes and that the money would not be used for exhibition support. To date, CAB has not yet issued a public response to the new letter. Artforum has reached out for comment.