Since 1956, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts has promoted the development and exchange of ideas related to architecture and its function in the areas of arts, culture, and society. The institution annually distributes scholarships for projects conceived by individuals and organizations, in addition to organizing public lectures and exhibitions.
In June, the foundation announced the beneficiaries of its Individual Support Program for 2026, covering 54 projects that explore architecture through publications, films, exhibitions, and research. In a second round of announcements this week, the organization directed funds to projects managed by entities with the same purpose: to broaden the architectural debate using various materials and cultural media.
On this occasion, the Foundation allocated a total amount of US$ 451,000 to cover costs for exhibitions, installations, publications, podcasts, student-led journals, international architecture events, and other public programs. The projects were chosen from a vast range of proposals submitted by cultural organizations, ranging from large institutions and independent non-profit spaces to publishers, academic institutions, and community initiatives.
The aim is to give visibility to the work of architects, artists, curators, designers, historians, academics, writers, and other specialists—whether established or emerging—affiliated with global organizations located in cities ranging from Buenos Aires to Nairobi. This funding seeks to involve the international public in interdisciplinary discussions about design and architecture.
The complete list of organizations supported in 2026 is available, and although the foundation provided summaries of the initiatives, more detailed information on each project can be found on the Graham Foundation website.
Exhibitions
A83, in collaboration with Barkow Leibinger, PIN–UP, modem, Smout Allen, MOS, and Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu (SO–IL), produces and hosts exhibitions of works by architects, designers, and artists, favoring projects that address debates on spatial representation and contemporary methods of image creation.
Citygroup, a diverse exhibition program and a consolidated series of debates organized by AJ Artemel, Michael Robinson Cohen, and Violette de la Selle, investigates the political and social aspects of architects in the urban context.
The international exhibition Regenerative Futures: Landscape and Design, which will take place at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the fall of 2027, uses five immersive installations. Curated by Julie Pastor and Cynthia E. Smith, and involving projects from Turenscape, Practice Landscape, Yerrabingin + AKIN, Unit15X, and SWA Group, it explores how landscape architecture can promote a more resilient and regenerative planet, encouraging people to reconsider their ties to the earth, other species, their communities, and future generations.
Raimund Abraham: Earthquake of Silence, exhibited at the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, The Cooper Union in the fall of 2026, presents original drawings, models, and documents related to the work of Austrian architect Raimund Abraham (1933–2010), who moved to the United States in 1964 and taught at The Cooper Union from 1971 to 2002.
Counterpublic 2026: Coyote Time, scheduled for the fall of 2026, is the third triennial of Counterpublic. It features 50 new artistic and architectural commissions in public spaces in St. Louis, in addition to ongoing civic and public programs focused on climate, education, and immigration, curated by Jordan Carter, Raphael Fonseca, Stefanie Hessler, Nora N. Khan, and Wanda Nanibush, envisioning a shared near future amidst global turbulence.
Stories from Within: Home, Here and There, at the Hyde Park Art Center in the spring of 2027, is a research-based installation by artist and architect Leticia Pardo, based in Chicago. Curated by Mariela Acuña, it gathers oral narratives and life-size models of domestic environments from members of the Mexican diaspora in Chicago, creating an audiovisual archive that analyzes how memory and migration influence home architectures.
The Feathered Whale and Other Works by Enrique Murillo, in Xalapa, Mexico, at LIGA—Space for Architecture, in the spring of 2027, is a documentation and exhibition project of the work of architect Enrique Murillo (1933–2021). His practice was deeply linked to the vernacular traditions and landscapes of Xalapa, Mexico, while advocating for a modern and experimental design approach.
Women Dancing Down the Side of a Building, at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in the fall of 2027, is a collective exhibition curated by Selene Preciado. It highlights an international group of women artists—including Kubra Khademi, Tarrah Krajnak, Eiko Otake, and Clarissa Tossin—who challenge the narratives of modernist architecture and urbanism.
Paul R. Williams: Architect for Living, at LACMA in the fall of 2026, is a major retrospective emphasizing the vast contribution of the 20th-century African American architect, Paul R. Williams (1894–1980), both in Los Angeles and across the Americas. The exhibition explores how his versatile talent shaped spaces and experiences in all spheres of life, from residences and commercial developments to civic infrastructure and religious sites.
Jody Pinto: B.I.G., at The Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, CA, in the spring of 2027, is an exhibition investigating the neglected role of artist Jody Pinto in the design of one of Southern California's most iconic public landscapes—the Beach Improvement Group Project (B.I.G.) for Santa Monica Beach and Palisades Park, completed in 2001—curated by Christopher Mangum-James and Oscar Peña.
MCA 60: Amanda Williams, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, in the spring of 2027, is the first retrospective of the career of the Chicago-trained artist and architect. It maps over two decades of work, critically analyzing art, architecture, and urban planning, and questioning how color, public space, and the built environment define collective memory and civic life.
Tonika Lewis Johnson, at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, in the fall of 2027, is the artist's first solo museum exhibition, and she is the founder of Folded Map and is based in Chicago. It brings together twenty years of her work, including the debut of a new multidisciplinary project examining how discriminatory housing policies affected the built environment of Englewood, the neighborhood where she has lived since childhood.
Preservation Station 777, at the National Building Arts Center in Sauget, IL, and St. Louis, MO, in the fall of 2026, is a multisensory exhibition installed in a new outdoor field station in downtown St. Louis. Curated by Executive Director Eric Ellingsen and artists Erika Allen, D. Graham Burnett, Jen Colten, Kevin Harris, and Lynne Smith, it involves the public in the landscape and architectural history of the city through historical artifacts.
Front of House (2026) and Stage Prop (2027), at the Ragdale Ring Design-Build Competition in Ragdale, summer of 2026 and 2027, is a competition and series of presentations inviting architects and designers to plan, build, and exhibit a temporary performance space inspired by the original Ragdale Ring by Howard van Doren Shaw. The 2026 winner was Gluten, and the 2027 winners were Patrick Geske and Cody Miner.
a serpentine, at the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelier, Serpentine Galleries, London, until October 25, 2026, celebrates the 25th Serpentine Pavilion. This year's project by the LANZA atelier (Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo), based in Mexico City, consists of a sinuous structure of single-block red bricks, inspired by the traditional English garden wall 'crinkle-crankle,' whose curved form achieves stability through geometry rather than mass.
Homelands: Alia Farid, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, in the spring of 2027, is the final edition of the Homelands series. It includes a new work by artist Alia Farid, which explores the connection of the Arab diaspora with the urban fabric of the Americas. The two-day event will also feature the Homelands Reader and offer an open research grant on memory, space, and power.
The Artist Within Us All: The Halprins and their Circle of Influence, at the Further Triennial, Minnesota Street Project, in the spring of 2027, is an exhibition at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco. It examines how the interdisciplinary practice of Anna and Lawrence Halprin—encompassing dance, landscape architecture, experimental music, and participatory design—stimulates a creative network that reshapes post-war American art and the role of the built environment in social transformation.
Open Access: Exploring 130 Years of American Design, at the Van Alen Institute, in the fall of 2026, uses an exhibition, a series of public activities, and a publication to analyze the evolution of American architecture through contemporary reinterpretations of Van Alen's collection materials, generating new perspectives on the civic and cultural role of architecture.
Film, Video, and New Media Projects
Space Between, Season Three, in Varese, Italy, in the spring of 2027, is an audio series presented by Shumi Bose and founder Federica Zambeletti. It is based on the premise that conversations in different spheres can increase our capacity to imagine better futures for the planet.
Vanishing Point: An Architect's Journey, a feature-length documentary written and directed by Alastair Gordon, will be screened in Milford, MA, in the summer of 2027. It narrates the life, work, and mysterious disappearance of architect Norman Jaffe (1932–1993), an artistic visionary from Chicago who sought transcendence through design and vanished into the sea in the Hamptons in 1993.
Public Programs
The traditional League Prize, which is a biennial competition, lecture series, and exhibition, has been renamed in honor of Anne Rieselbach, recognizing her more than four decades of managing the program, and is now known as The Anne Rieselbach Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers.
In its fourth edition, the symposium Design for Dignity 04: A Convening of Possibilities, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on October 23 and 24, 2026, aims to encourage dialogue about innovative and liberating directions in the field of design.
The Lampo 2026 concert series at the Graham Foundation will run from October 2026 to June 2027, featuring the work of prominent figures in experimental music.
The new Publication Award in Contemporary Architecture (PACA) program, with applications due November 30, 2026, is a collaboration between MIT Press, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, and the Graham Foundation, supporting excellence in writing that promotes architecture as a critical and expanded field.
Latin Catalyst: CDMX Mexico Works, a lecture series at the Seattle Public Library in the spring of 2027, promotes dialogue between Seattle and Mexico City, featuring participants such as architect Fernanda Canales and artist Gabriel De La Mora, among others.
The World Around Summit 2027, in May 2027, led by Executive Director Beatrice Galilee, is a one-day international gathering in New York. It brings together important and emerging voices in global architecture and design to share new ideas and recent projects aimed at promoting fairer, ecologically conscious, and socially impactful futures; the event will be live-streamed and free to enter.
Publications
CCA Oral Histories: You can sit and think, and you have what you have to do, a book edited by the Canadian Centre for Architecture, will be released in 2027.