Parsons & Charlesworth Exhibit Future Climate Souvenirs at the Chicago Architecture Biennial
Art and design studio Parsons & Charlesworth (Stamps Professor Tim Parsons and his partner Jessica Charlesworth) are exhibiting their latest project, Future Climate Souvenirs of Chicago, at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. The piece, a mobile kiosk that displays playful, speculative souvenirs from envisioned future nature reserves and eco-tourist destinations, will be on view through January 31.
Future Climate Souvenirs is a platform Parsons & Charlesworth created in 2024 for creating engaging, imaginative artifacts that spark conversation about the climate crisis through humor and speculation rather than doomsday scenarios. In this edition, the studio imagines how the city might adapt its infrastructure — cultivating new nature reserves, regenerative schemes, and eco-tourist sites — in response to predicted atmospheric changes and ecological shifts.
“Take a dip in the Deep Dish Lakeshore Biopond, eat a monster at Navy Pier’s Invasivores Café, climb the rewilded Marina City Urban Forest, paddle under the Bean in Millennium Marsh Aquatic Reserve and spot Chicago’s newest resident, the armadillo in a Cook County Forest Preserve.”
The souvenir stand displays patches, hats, and an artist book alongside an interactive panel inspired by research into the climate shifts Chicago is — and will be — experiencing in the near future. By making complex climate data visual and tangible, it invites visitors to think about resilience, adaptation, and the role design can play in shaping positive environmental futures.
On January 24, Parsons & Charlesworth will host an event that incorporates the souvenir kiosk as a prop in a performance. Casting their audience as participants on a tour of their imagined tourist sites, Parsons & Charlesworth reveal information about each site and the climate impacts that led to its creation.
The work is located in the Ecologies section of the Biennial at 840 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.