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GalleryX
Past

GalleryX

September 27, 2014 – June 21, 2015

GalleryX was a flexible, open space at the center of the Museum that served as a hub for creative discussions and experiences of all sorts during the Smart’s 40th anniversary exhibitions Carved, Cast, Crumpled (September 27–December 21, 2014) and Objects and Voices (February 12–June 21, 2015).

GalleryX was a home to informal displays of art, public discussions, programs, experiments, and a new project by Interpreters in Residence 500 Clown. It also provided a space for groups to convene, talk, share ideas, dream, and scheme.

Through these activities, the Smart encouraged visitors to explore the Museum and its collection in new ways. The lessons we learned from the GalleryX initiative informed our future approaches to interpretation and visitor engagement, and helped us to redefine the Smart’s role as a teaching museum in the twenty-first century.

GalleryX was designed by the Chicago-based Range Design.

An invitation

The Smart invited you to fill GalleryX with your own meetings, classes, get-togethers, rehearsals, and ideas.

The gallery was designed to be a free resource for groups and individuals to make use of during the Smart’s public hours. We welcomed book clubs, student organizations, music groups, professors, co-workers, school teachers, artist groups, theatre troupes, and community partners—anyone and everyone—to use GalleryX as a forum to meet, create, and collaborate.

Resources

  • Flexible seating for up to 25
  • Flatscreen monitor
  • Wi-fi
  • Display space for objects from the Smart’s collection

Guidelines

  • Available only during public hours*
  • To help protect the artwork, all regular visit guidelines applied (that means no food or drink)
  • We intended to be as flexible as possible, but each request is contingent on the approval of the Museum.

Office hours

Come muse with us! Between noon and 1:30 pm, the Smart offered daily drop-in experiences—part discussion, part tour, and partly undetermined—that invited new perspectives on art and ideas.

Organized by Museum staff, educators, and special guest artists in collaboration with you, our visitors, these informal experiences began in GalleryX and explored select artworks from the collection. The facilitated experiences ranged from close looking at a single work of art and played The Art of Experience: The Smart Museum to unconventional musical interventions and more.

Office hours were held daily (Tuesday–Sunday) between noon and 1:30 pm in GalleryX.

Support

The GalleryX initiative was made possible with support from Pamela and R. Christopher Hoehn-Saric and the Smart Family Foundation, University of Chicago Arts Council, and Ariel Investments.

UChicago Arts Council

The How to Make a Smart Museum programming series was made possible by the Efroymson Family Fund. Additional support was provided by the Illinois Humanities Council, and the Franke Institute for the Humanities.

Efroymson Family Fund   Illinois Humanities Council

Videos

How to Make a Smart Museum

The Museum Proposition
The first panel on October 23 invited creative thinkers to explore the question: what is the one thing, above all others, that must sit at the heart of an engaged art museum?
Arts, Agency, and Creativity, part 1
The second program on December 6, 2014 featured presentations and breakout sessions that explored the question: How can art inspire students and other learners to critically and creatively engage with the world?
Arts, Agency, and Creativity, part 2
The second program on December 6, 2014 featured presentations and breakout sessions that explored the question: How can art inspire students and other learners to critically and creatively engage with the world?
Arts, Agency, and Creativity breakout sessions
How can art inspire students and other learners to critically and creatively engage with the world?
The Technology Question, part 1
On April 23, 2015, the Smart Museum of Art hosted a panel discussion and debate around technology in museums. The event was presented as part of the Smart’s 40th anniversary How to Make a Smart Museum program series and considered the questions: Does technology play a role in creating authentic experiences with works of art? If so, what role?
The Technology Question, part 2
On April 23, 2015, the Smart Museum of Art hosted a panel discussion and debate around technology in museums. The event was presented as part of the Smart’s 40th anniversary How to Make a Smart Museum program series and considered the questions: Does technology play a role in creating authentic experiences with works of art? If so, what role?
The Act of Participating: Participation for What Purpose?
On March 5, 2015, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University hosted a dinner and conversation at the Chicago Cultural Center. The event was presented as part of the Smart’s 40th anniversary How to Make a Smart Museum program series and considered the question: “How do museums foster and support active participation?”
The Act of Participating: Public Wondering
On March 5, 2015, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University hosted a dinner and conversation at the Chicago Cultural Center. The event was presented as part of the Smart’s 40th anniversary How to Make a Smart Museum program series and considered the question: “How do museums foster and support active participation?”
The Act of Participating: An Artists' Congress
On March 5, 2015, the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University hosted a dinner and conversation at the Chicago Cultural Center. The event was presented as part of the Smart’s 40th anniversary How to Make a Smart Museum program series and considered the question: “How do museums foster and support active participation?”
Presented in the Richard and Mary L. Gray Gallery
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