OPEN is an international architecture festival for critical and investigative dialogue on architecture and its wider role in society. Bringing together voices from academia, practice and industry from Denmark and abroad, the festival encourages dialogue across disciplines and perspectives, addressing the urgent social, cultural, technological and environmental questions shaping architecture today.
OPEN is an international architecture festival for critical and investigative dialogue on architecture and its wider role in society. Bringing together voices from academia, practice and industry from Denmark and abroad, the festival encourages dialogue across disciplines and perspectives, addressing the urgent social, cultural, technological and environmental questions shaping architecture today.
OPEN26: MIES DIDN’T COME HOME THAT NIGHT
From Syria, Palestine and Ukraine to Ghana, the United States and Denmark, OPEN26 brought together more than 1,100 participants from around the world on 18 September for a day of critical and investigative perspectives on architecture and its wider role in society. Under the title Mies Didn’t Come Home That Night, OPEN26 looked to the legacy of modernism and its utopian aspirations as a starting point for reflecting on where we are today, examining the physical, social, political and planetary consequences of its ambitions. At the same time, we turned towards what lies ahead. As climate change, diversity and inclusion compete for attention with war, rearmament and geopolitical instability, OPEN26 created a space for reflection and exchange: how can architecture, as a profession, an industry and an institution, understand and contribute to a world in transformation? What can architecture do when the future no longer looks like the future we imagined?
A ONE-DAY ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL
Initiated by Karen Kjaergaard in 2021 in connection with the opening of the Aarhus School of Architecture’s new building, OPEN has taken place every September since its first edition. Each edition is shaped around a central theme, addressing urgent questions, issues, tensions, challenges and possibilities shaping architecture and its wider context at a particular moment.
Over one packed day, OPEN brings academia, practice and industry from Denmark and abroad into conversation through a curated programme of sessions, conversations, panels, debates, exhibitions, installations, performances and more. The OPEN line-up brings together architects, urbanists, researchers, artists, industry professionals, pioneers and thinkers from across the field, while attracting a diverse audience of students, practitioners, academics, industry experts and others interested in the built environment.
Throughout the day, architecture’s potential and challenges are explored through the year’s theme and curated programme, from critical perspectives on urban development, landscape and architectural policy to more abstract questions of aesthetics, solidarity and belonging. OPEN is a place where theory and practice meet, where opinions are shared and new perspectives emerge. A place where artistic practice plays an active role and sustainability is considered in every detail.
Through dialogue and the dissemination of architectural knowledge, supplemented by research-based exhibitions and performances, OPEN also engages with some of the central questions facing architecture and society today: the continued colonisation and extraction of the Earth’s resources, the impact of AI, and the future role of architects in understanding and responding to an increasingly interconnected world.
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
The first OPEN festival was held in Aarhus in 2021 and marked the opening of the Aarhus School of Architecture’s new building. Since then, the festival has taken place annually, with each edition organised around a central theme addressing a question or condition relevant to architecture and its wider context. Across its editions, OPEN has explored questions of solidarity, belonging, ecology, everyday life and the changing conditions of architectural practice.
The OPEN festival has featured the following editions:
2021: Opening · 2022: Behind the Scenes · 2023: Solidarity · 2024: The Ocean in Which We All Swim · 2025: In the Eyes of the Ordinary · 2026: Mies Didn’t Come Home That Night
OPEN CONVERSATION
The conversation does not end when the festival does. The questions raised by OPEN extend beyond the festival itself, continuing through an extensive archive of podcasts, articles, interviews and publications from previous OPEN festivals. Through the OPEN Conversation series, the archive brings together diverse perspectives from academia, practice and industry, exploring the questions shaping architecture and its wider cultural context. From speculative proposals and critical research to built work and experimental practices, OPEN’s archive offers further perspectives on how architecture is being practised, questioned and reimagined, and where the discipline might go next.
