The Terence Riley Symposium

The second Columbia GSAPP Terence Riley Summit creates a worldwide convening to establish a forum where active and impactful curators of the built environment from around the world can share their experiences, experimentation and methodologies in an afternoon of public conversations.

Conceived as a convening of architectural curators from around the world, the Summit will bring together those whose work is transforming how the built environment is critically mobilized, debated, challenged, and intervened upon. Participants include: Noura Al-Sayeh Holtrop (BACA); Giovana Borasi (CCA); Brendan Cormier (V&A East); Omar Degan (Pan African Biennale); Fredi Fischli (ETH Exhibitions); Michelle Fisher (Cooper Hewitt); Beatrice Galilee (The World Around); Yan Gong (Power Station of Art); Jean Im (GSAPP); Gabriela de Matos (Sau Paulo Biennial); Carlos Minguez (ArkDes); Niels Olsen (ETH Exhibitions); Bart-Jan Polman (GSAPP); Raymund Ryan (Carnegie Museum of Art), Martino Stierli (MoMA); Irene Sunwoo (Art Institute of Chicago); Tau Tavengwa (Sharjah Triennale); Abraham Thomas (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); Vyjijanthi Rao (Sharjah Triennale); Guillerme Wisnik, and others.

The Columbia GSAPP Biennial Terence Riley Summit pays homage to Terence Riley ’82 MSAUD, who graduated from Columbia GSAPP in 1982 and served as the first Director of the School’s Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery. Riley was Chief Curator for Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1992 to 2006, co-founder of the MoMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program, Director of the Miami Art Museum from 2006 to 2009, partner in the firm K/R (Keenen/Riley) together with fellow GSAPP alumnus John Keenen ‘83 M.Arch, and a historic ACT UP activist. Widely regarded as a pioneer in architectural curating, Riley’s legacy embodies Columbia GSAPP’s enduring commitment to advancing the built environment as a site of critical inquiry, invention, and activism.

The Summit is generously supported by Elise Jaffe + Jeffrey Brown, and was an idea developed by the late Jeffrey Brown alongside Dean Andrés Jaque.

The Summit is organized and chaired by Bart-Jan Polman, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs Curator of the Arthur Ross Architecture Gallery Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, with Jean Im, Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs.