Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT) has announced that Vyjayanthi Rao will curate its third edition, along with her long-term collaborator Tau Tavengwa as associate curator.
Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of the Triennial, said that ‘Rao’s practice, which offers vital insights into urbanisation, aligns with the context of SAT and Sharjah’s ongoing urban transformation. Her work speaks directly to the Triennial’s mission in terms of our commitment to research, innovation and knowledge-sharing, and we are excited to support both her and Tau in fostering a public-facing conversation around the critical, and complex, issues of today.’
Vyjayanthi Rao is an anthropologist, writer, artist and curator based in New York and Mumbai. She obtained her PhD in socio-cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago and is currently teaching at the Yale School of Architecture and is co-editor in chief of the journal Public Culture (Duke University Press). Her work focuses on the built environment and urbanism in India and the United States, increasingly bridging research and public engagement. Her curatorial projects include Multiplicity at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2022) and Seeking Refuge and Making Home at the Center for Architecture in New York (2023).
Tau Tavengwa is the founder and editor of Cityscapes Magazine, cofounder of the interdisciplinary urbanism studio CS Studio and curator at large at African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town. With a background in architecture and design as well as art and architecture publishing, Tavengwa has curated several exhibitions, including at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale alongside Rao, and has participated in several juries, including the Venice Architecture Biennale (2023) and the Ars Electronica STARTS Prize (2025).
Both curators said in a statement: ‘We are hugely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to such an important and distinctive platform as the Sharjah Architecture Triennial. Through our collaboration, we hope to open up new ways of thinking about what a triennial like Sharjah can become over time – leaving behind tangible strategies and ideas that respond to the needs and challenges of contemporary urban centres across the Global South and beyond.’
Founded in 2018, the Sharjah Architecture Triennial positions itself as a platform for architecture and urbanism from West Asia to South Asia and the African continent. The third edition will take place in 2026.
