Anthropologist and curator Vyjayanthi Rao is appointed curator of SAT03, joined by long-time collaborator Tau Tavengwa as associate curator.
Vyjayanthi Rao (photo by Alfonse Chiu) and Tau Tavengwa (photo by Samer Moukarzel)
The Sharjah Architecture Triennial (SAT) has announced the appointment of anthropologist, writer, artist, and curator Vyjayanthi Rao as curator of its third edition (SAT03), scheduled to take place in 2026. Rao is joined by Tau Tavengwa, Zimbabwean curator, publisher and editor, who will serve as associate curator. Together, they bring a long-standing collaborative relationship and a multidisciplinary approach to the evolving SAT platform.
Founded in 2018, Sharjah Architecture Triennial is the first platform of its kind in the region, dedicated to architecture and urbanism across a vast geography that spans West Asia, South Asia, and the African continent. In its third edition, SAT continues to provide a critical space for architects, designers, researchers, and the public to examine how the built environment shapes — and is shaped by — pressing social, ecological, and political realities. Anchored in Sharjah, SAT is also deeply embedded in the city’s rapidly transforming urban landscape, drawing on its dynamic history of adaptive reuse, grassroots initiatives, and alternative spatial practices.
As curator of SAT03, Rao brings a unique perspective shaped by her anthropological training, academic research, and engagement with both theoretical and lived dimensions of urban life. Currently based between New York and Mumbai, Rao teaches at the Yale School of Architecture and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Public Culture (Duke University Press). Her work explores the intersections of the built environment, migration, memory, and informal infrastructures, particularly within the contexts of South Asia and North America. She has also developed a growing body of curatorial and artistic work, including Multiplicity, co-curated for the 2022 Lisbon Architecture Triennale, and Seeking Refuge and Making Home, exhibited at the Centre for Architecture in New York (2023). Rao’s contributions as an artist have been featured in the Kochi Biennale (2016), Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), Chicago Architecture Biennial (2023) and Berlinale Film Festival (2025).
She is joined by Tau Tavengwa, whose editorial and curatorial work focuses on creating new narratives around cities and urban transformation in the Global South. Tavengwa is the founder and editor of Cityscapes Magazine, a critical journal that investigates the complexity of contemporary urban life through grounded, interdisciplinary storytelling. He is also co-founder of CS Studio, an urbanist think tank that brings together design, research, and social practice. Tavengwa has held fellowships at Harvard GSD, LSE Cities, and the Max Planck Institute and has served as Curator-at-Large at the African Centre for Cities in Cape Town. His curatorial projects span continents and include the Lisbon Architecture Triennale and Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as jury roles for the STARTS Prize and other significant initiatives.
Rao and Tavengwa’s collaboration for SAT03 builds on their shared commitment to shaping more inclusive, responsive and just urban futures. Their curatorial vision aligns with SAT’s ethos of using architecture as a tool for collective reflection and proposition. Rather than framing architecture as merely a visual or representational medium, they propose SAT03 as a propositional platform, one that brings together experimentation, community knowledge, and transdisciplinary inquiry to generate tangible strategies for inhabiting and imagining cities.
In the words of the curators:
“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.”
This expanded curatorial scope is welcomed by Hoor Al Qasimi, President and Director of Sharjah Architecture Triennial and Sharjah Art Foundation.
“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.”
Mona El Mousfy, architect and founding advisor to SAT, also notes the significance of this appointment:
“We are thrilled to have Vyjayanthi Rao as curator for our upcoming edition. Her deep knowledge of urbanism, with her particular focus on South Asian cities and neighborhoods, brings invaluable insight to the project. Vyjayanthi has invited her long-time collaborator, Tau Tavengwa, to join as associate curator. Tau is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of the field and reimagining the architecture triennial model alongside her.”
To mark the launch of the new curatorial team, SAT hosted a public event, ‘Meet the Curators of the 2026 SAT Edition’, on May 10, 2025, at its headquarters in Al Qasimiyah School, Sharjah. The event introduced Rao and Tavengwa to local audiences, offering a first glimpse into their vision and approach. Framed as a conversation with members of the SAT team, it served as a pivotal moment to establish a community around the third edition’s conceptual framework.
Together, Vyjayanthi Rao and Tau Tavengwa bring to SAT03 an ambitious and collaborative methodology—one grounded in deep research, collective authorship, and sustained engagement. As the third edition begins to take shape, it signals a renewed commitment to architectural thinking that is both locally embedded and globally resonant and critically urgent.
For more information, please visit the Sharjah Architecture Triennial.
