Latin American Art and Architecture in Ecuador

The Non-Biennial Celebrates Its Second Edition in Ecuador with 147 Representatives of Latin American Art and Architecture

Eight days of architecture celebration in 12 cities from north to south of Ecuador. The event, called "non-biennial" in opposition to the competition structure that characterizes traditional biennials in the discipline, will celebrate its second edition between March 25 and April 1, 2025. Part of the objectives of this new edition is to demonstrate the unity in Ecuador, in resistance to divisive political discursive strategies. The Radical School maintains that "it is not about centrality or decentralization, but simply about sharing without competing."
The Radical School is a formal school founded in 2019, whose collective approach to knowledge is based on experience, deconstruction, and the recognition of both diversity and ancient communities in places of natural resistance. In 2024, they organized the first version of the non-biennial in Mexico City, conceived as a space for critical analysis of the reality exposed in the media. The event thus emerged as a space to access information about other Latin American realities, without a competition structure, selection committees, qualifications, or participation quotas.
This first edition brought together more than 100 exhibitors from Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Italy, and Spain. Representatives from diverse fields such as painting, poetry, sculpture, music, printmaking, psychology, performance arts, augmented reality, mapping, architecture, city, and territory put together a three-day festival of talks, conversations, activities, and celebrations. This year, both the time and locations have been multiplied to expand the opportunities for exchange around contemporary Latin American reality.

The event, as is admission, is free. By focusing on direct participation and the possibility of generating genuine, in-person encounters, this year's call includes a wide variety of individuals, collectives, and projects. The exhibitions range from the world of experimental artistic creation with representatives such as PepaLab, Manifiesto Lab, and Nos solo de pan vive el hambre (We Live Hunger by Bread Only); the practice and construction of architecture with the work of studios such as NOMA, REST Arquitectura, Estudio YURA, Bambu Lab, and doT+ Architects; urban and cultural studios such as Licuadora Gestora, Urban Sketchers Riobamba, and Matéricos Periféricos; and editorial practices with representatives such as Nicolás Valencia and Guillermo Romero (Microcuentos de Arquitectura).

Other recent news in the field of Latin American architecture includes the publication of the exhibition themes for the Peruvian and Uruguayan pavilions at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. The former evokes the ancient construction knowledge of the Uros and Aymara people, while the latter presents cultural and material issues surrounding water. In Chile, Alejandro Aravena's office, ELEMENTAL, is building a prototype for emergency housing in Viña del Mar, while in Mexico, La Cuadra San Cristóbal, designed by Luis Barragán, is opening to the public as a cultural center.