In 1863, the Salon des Refusés presented a collection of artwork that was rejected by the jury of the Paris Salon. This landmark exhibition highlighted the need for alternative “unofficial” exhibitions to prevent highly conservative academic bodies from dominating both aesthetics and public taste in art. The show paved the way for newly emerging forms of avant-garde art—namely Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Expressionism.

One century later in Chicago, a similar attitude about architecture arose. Stanley Tigerman’s counter-show to 100 Years of Architecture in Chicago (an exhibition heavily immersed in Miesian aesthetics) demanded that architecture not to be reduced to a singular idea of expression. Tigerman captured a vision of the city's architectural heritage that was richly post-modern and eclectic. 

Today, architects encounter rejection on a variety of levels: juries, regulatory agencies, bosses, peers, or even broader collective groups of society might dismiss an idea as inadequate, inappropriate, or not to one's taste.

Whatever the story may be, we ask our friends and colleagues to roll up their sleeves and dig deep into their trash bins or retrieve a forgotten file from the depths of their external hard drives in an effort to revisit bad ideas, partial thoughts, and counter-intuitive strategies.

About the Team

Curated by Team B (David Corns, Anna Kerr, Quinn Kummer, and John Stoughton)

Graphic Design by Garrett Corcoran.

Knowlton team includes Banvard Gallery Chair Sandhya Kochar and Graduate Assistant Sanghyun Suh. Additional installation support from Shriya Ravishankar (Ohio State), Jamie Kruer (UIC) and Jaizhen Lin (Columbia University).

Exhibition on view: August 23, 2019 — October 4, 2019