EXPO CHICAGO Announces IN/SITU, VIDEO, & EXPOSURE Curators for 2018 Exposition and EXPO CHICAGO 2018 Selection Committee

CHICAGO—EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art, is pleased to announce the selected curators for the IN/SITU, EXPO VIDEO and EXPOSURE programs, as part of the 2018 edition September 27–30, at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. Showcasing large-scale installations and site-specific works throughout Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, IN/SITU will be curated by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Curator at large, Latin America Pablo León de la Barra. EXPO VIDEO, a dynamic screening program for film, video and new media works, will be selected by KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin Curator Anna Gritz. Deputy Director/Chief Curator at Dallas Contemporary Justine Ludwig, returns for the second year to curate the EXPOSURE section—highlighting solo and two-artist presentations of emerging work from galleries eight years and younger.  

These core programs will be presented alongside the seventh edition of EXPO CHICAGO, featuring more than 135 of the world’s leading galleries chosen by a distinguished Selection Committee comprised of top international gallerists, including Stefania Bortolami | Bortolami, New York; John Corbett and Jim Dempsey | Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago; Chris D’Amelio | David Zwirner, New York, London, Hong Kong; Kavi Gupta | Kavi Gupta, Chicago; Rhona Hoffman | Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; David Nolan | David Nolan Gallery, New York; Javier Peres and Nick Koenigsknecht | Peres Projects, Berlin; Jessica Silverman | Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; and Susanne Vielmetter | Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles.  

“We are proud to be working with such an illustrious team of international curators to shape our program sectors,” said EXPO CHICAGO President | Director Tony Karman. “Our 2018 Program Curators bring a broad range of experience, international perspective and influence to our seventh edition, and I am confident that their work will profoundly extend the legacy of excellence in our programming.”  

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IN/SITU Curator | Pablo León de la Barra

Installed within the expansive, vaulted architecture of Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, IN/SITU features large-scale, suspended sculptures and site-specific works. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Curator at large, Latin America Pablo León de la Barra, will curate a selection of works featuring artists from leading international exhibitors participating in the 2018 exposition.  

“Having participated in EXPO CHICAGO as part of the /Dialogues program in 2015, I look forward to working closely with the exhibiting galleries and the EXPO CHICAGO team in a different capacity, selecting and presenting this year’s IN/SITU program”, said León de la Barra. “Placing large-scale installations within the context of an exposition is a unique platform, and I welcome the opportunity to work with the leading galleries and artists, building upon the strong works and curatorial vision that the program has featured in past editions.”  

León de la Barra, Curator at large, Latin America at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Chief Curator MAC Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro and associate curator at MASP, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, was born in Mexico City in 1972 and lives in Rio de Janeiro.  He holds a Ph.D. in Histories and Theories from the Architectural Association, London. He was previously the Guggenheim UBS MAP Curator, Latin America (2013-2016) at the same institution and Director of the Casa França-Brasil in Rio de Janeiro (2015-16). León de la Barra has organized or co-organized exhibitions at institutions worldwide including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; MOCAD, Detroit; South London Gallery, London; Kunsthalle Zürich; Museo Tamayo and Museo Jumex, Mexico; TEOR/éTica, San José, Costa Rica; Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara; Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro. He was founder and co-curator of the 1st and 2nd Bienal Tropical, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2011 and 2016), co-curator of SITE Santa Fe Biennial, New Mexico (2016) and curator of the Mexican Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.  

León de la Barra follows past IN/SITU curators Florence Derieux (2017) | Independent Curator; Diana Nawi (2016) | Associate Curator at Pérez Art Museum Miami; Louis Grachos (2015) | Executive Director of The Contemporary Austin; Renaud Proch (2014) | Executive Director, Independent Curators International (ICI); Shamim M. Momin (2013) | Director and Curator, Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND); and Michael Ned Holte (2012) | Independent Curator and Art Critic.  

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EXPO VIDEO Curator | Anna Gritz

EXPO VIDEO features a dynamic, curated screening program for film, video and new media works by artists represented by 2018 exhibitors. Curated by KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin Curator Anna Gritz, the program will be presented within large-format screening rooms on the main floor of the exposition.  

“Presenting film and video in the context of a fair, faces the challenge of time—the time that is demanded from each viewer amongst an excess of distractions as well as a chunk of his or her time in exchange for another,” said Gritz. “However, it is exactly that exchange that makes the experience so immensely rewarding. As the 2018 EXPO VIDEO Curator, I am honored to continue the unwavering commitment that EXPO CHICAGO has toward the film and video medium, and thrilled to develop an inspiring and thought-provoking program in close conversation with the participating artists and galleries.”  

At KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Gritz curated exhibitions by Paul Elliman, Nicholas Mangan, Margaret Honda and Lucy Skaer. In 2018 Gritz is working towards exhibitions with Ericka Beckmann, Judith Hopf, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Steve Bishop, Tamara Henderson and Sidsel Meineche Hansen. Previously she held curatorial positions at the South London Gallery (SLG), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London and the Hayward Gallery in London where she curated film, performance and exhibitions, and commissioned new works by artists including Juliette Blightman, Michael Smith, Bonnie Camplin, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jill Magid, Lis Rhodes as well as the group exhibitions Last Seen Entering the Biltmore (2014) and independently Duh – Art and Stupidity (co-curated with Paul Clinton) at Focal Point Gallery (2015). Gritz writes for catalogs and regularly contributes to a number of publications and magazines, such as Art Monthly, Art Agenda, frieze, Mousse and Cura. She served as a curatorial Attaché for the 20th Biennale of Sydney in 2016.  

Gritz follows past EXPO VIDEO curators Ali Subotnick (2017) | Independent Curator; Daria de Beauvais (2016) | Curator at Palais de Tokyo; Alfredo Cramerotti (2015) | Independent Curator and Director of MOSTYN (Wales, United Kingdom); Astria Suparak, (2014) | Artist and Independent Curator; and Dean Otto (2013) | Program Manager of the Film/Video Department at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center.  

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EXPOSURE Curator | Justine Ludwig

The EXPOSURE section, installed on the main floor of the exposition, features solo and two-artist presentations represented by galleries eight years and younger. Focusing on a curated selection of emerging artists, with the advisement of the Selection Committee, Deputy Director/Chief Curator at Dallas Contemporary Justine Ludwig returns to curate the EXPOSURE section for the second year.  

“After working on the EXPOSURE section of EXPO CHICAGO in 2017, I had the pleasure of being acquainted with new artists and gallery programs,” said Ludwig. “It was an opportunity to provide a platform for emerging gallery programs, as well as a unique learning experience for myself. This year, we look to further diversify the gallery program and bring a global understanding of emerging contemporary art through wide ranging media.”

Ludwig’s recent curated exhibitions include Nadia Kaabi-Linke: Walk the Line, Pia Camil: Bara, Bara, Bara, Pedro Reyes: For Future Reference, and Laercio Redondo: What ends every day. Her research interests include architecture, economics and the aesthetics of globalization. Ludwig has an MA in Global Arts from Goldsmiths University of London and a BA in Art with a concentration in Art History from Colby College.