2018 Programming
EXPO CHICAGO’s robust programming allowed visitors the opportunity to extend discussion and discourse beyond the booths of the fair. /
Dialogues, presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, once again offered panel discussions, conversations and provocative artistic discourse between today’s most respected art professionals including a featured symposium
Present Histories: Art & Design in Chicago in conjunction with The Terra Foundation for American Art’s year-long initiative
Art Design Chicago, featuring a performative intervention by artist
Brendan Fernandes and conversations featuring writer
Sarah Thornton, AfriCOBRA founding member
Gerald Williams (SAIC BFA 1951), artists
Torkwase Dyson,
Kay Rosen,
Theaster Gates (SAIC HON 2014) and
more.
Additional panels included a discussion with 2017 MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey on the artist's continued interest in the ways in which history can be engaged, invoked and materialized in relation to African American history and experience; an open-to-the-public conversation for the Curatorial Forum on immersion and the senses in exhibition making, featuring Anna Gritz (Curator | KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin and 2018 EXPO VIDEO Curator), Andria Hickey (Senior Curator | MOCA Cleveland), Sean Raspet (Artist | Jessica Silverman Gallery) and Jo-ey Tang (Director of Exhibitions | Beeler Gallery, Columbus College of Art and Design), moderated by Stephanie Cristello (Director of Programming | EXPO CHICAGO, Editor-in-Chief | THE SEEN, SAIC BFA 2013); Iván Navarro and Marcela Guerrero (Assistant Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art) on institutional structures of power; a conversation moderated by Co-Curator of the U.S. Pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale Mimi Zeiger with architects and scholars on how data is visualized, and the responsibility of representation; and Daniel Berger, a leading clinician and researcher in the field of HIV/AIDS as well as an avid art collector and Founder of Iceberg Projects, on the occasion of his recent book Militant Eroticism: The ART+Positive Archives published by Sternberg Press.
As part of the 2018 Exchange by Northern Trust: An Interactive Conversation Around the Art of Collecting, a series of exclusive discussions on the contemporary art market, institutions and the economy, EXPO CHICAGO and Art Vérité partnered to present the inaugural Professionals Forum in the United States. The Forum provided professional and preventative specialist knowledge and skills as it relates to the growing legal issues of fraudulent activity in art. Discussion topics included: Contract is King: Due Diligence and Reducing Problems in Art Dealing, Caveat Emptor: Equipping Collectors and Art Professionals and Safeguarding Your Rights: What Artists and Collectors Need to Know. Panelists included Dr. Sharon Flescher, Executive Director of IFAR and Editor-In-Chief of the IFAR Journal; Andrea Danese, CEO and President of Athena Art Finance Corp.; and Brian C. Brusokas, Special Agent for the FBI Art Crime Team.
Additional panelists for Exchange by Northern Trust: An Interactive Conversation Around the Art of Collecting included collectors Mamadou-Abou Sarr and Catherine Sarr, President of Strategic Giving and The Chicago Community Trust Executive Committee Member, Shawn M. Donnelley, Desert X Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Artsy Senior Market Reporter Eileen Kinsella.
Curated by Pablo León la Barra, the 2018 IN/SITU program featured major suspended installations in addition to large-scale work capitalizing on the unique architecture of Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. IN/SITU featured the work of Carmen Argote (Instituto de Visión | Bogota), Iván Argote (PERROTIN | New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai), Firelei Báez (Kavi Gupta | Chicago), Judy Chicago (Jessica Silverman Gallery | San Francisco and Salon 94 | New York), Sam Durant (Praz-Delavallade | Los Angeles, Paris), Iván Navarro (Paul Kasmin Gallery | New York), Postcommodity (Bockley Gallery | Minneapolis), Carlos Motta (P.P.O.W | New York), Oscar Murillo (David Zwirner | New York, London, Hong Kong), Bosco Sodi (Paul Kasmin Gallery | New York).
The 2018
EXPO VIDEO program,
Portrait of a Tongue — Towards Non-Visibility, was on view in two large-format screenings rooms on the main floor of Festival Hall. Curated by
Anna Gritz, EXPO VIDEO featured an in-depth presentation by nine artists whose films question the material reality of contents pictured in an image. Artists included
Kandis Williams (Night Gallery | Los Angeles),
Ed Atkins (Gavin Brown’s enterprise | New York, Rome),
Hannah Black (Arcadia Missa | London),
Judy Chicago (Jessica Silverman Gallery | San Francisco and Salon 94 | New York),
Tony Cokes (Video Data Bank),
Adam Putnam (P.P.O.W | New York),
Nicole Wermers (Jessica Silverman Gallery | San Francisco) and
Kathleen White (Martos Gallery | New York). For a complete Curatorial Statement and descriptions of the selected artworks, click
here. IN/SITU Outside, in partnership with the Chicago Park District and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events featured the work of Justin Brice Guariglia (MARUANI MERCIER) Iván Navarro (Paul Kasmin Gallery) and Lawrence Weiner and will be on display for an extended period of time throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods and along the lakefront.
OVERRIDE | A Billboard Project, in collaboration with Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, allowed EXPO CHICAGO to once again further extend its reach throughout the city by placing the work of 13 artists from local, national and international galleries on Chicago’s City Digital Network. As part of a dedicated site-specific installation series, Chicago-based artist
Theaster Gates displayed his latest series
Black Madonna (2018) exclusively on the billboard located at 515 W. Ida B. Wells Dr. The citywide public art initiative launched September 17 and is on view through October 7. For a complete listing of all OVERRIDE artists and documentation, click
here.
EXPO CHICAGO presented the second annual
EXPO Sound program during the seventh edition. Curated by
Daata Editions, work by renowned contemporary artists were paired with sound pieces produced by current students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The program was installed at the /Dialogues Stage within the exposition hall, providing a dynamic interlude to the panel programming at the 2018 edition. For a list of artists and work, click
here.
19 Special Exhibitions were included in this year’s exposition highlighting EXPO CHICAGO’s mission to illustrate and preserve the important link between the arts, philanthropic and nonprofit organizations through unique and high-quality exhibitions. Top museums, universities, organizations and institutions participated. For a complete list of participants and projects, click
here.
EXPO CHICAGO also presented the third annual Art Critics Forum on Saturday, September 29. Moderated by THE SEEN writer Ruslana Lichtzier, “Criticism and the Image” featured presentations by noted journalists including freelance writer Ann Binlot, LEAP Editor-in-Chief Robin Peckham, Art in America Editor William S. Smith and Terremotto Editor Diego Del Valle Rios, followed by a roundtable discussion.