Past Exhibitions
Take Care
Fall 2020 and Online
What does it mean to care for something, someone, or ourselves? Drawing generously from the Smart Museum’s collection, Take Care seeks to unpack matters of care from the personal to the collective.
Claudia Wieser: Generations
Fall 2020 and online
Generations is a seven-year survey of the distinctive, multi-faceted practice of Berlin-based artist Claudia Wieser.
Museum as classroom
Fall 2020
Organized by the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry, this presentation features clusters of artworks that were selected for individual courses across disciplines at the University of Chicago—ranging from “Diasporic Practices in Contemporary Art” to “Ancient Mediterranean Worlds.”
The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China
Reconfigured presentation: July 24–August 9, 2020
From gunpowder to crystal, and silk to cigarettes, contemporary artists working in China have experimented with various materials, transforming seemingly everyday objects into large-scale artworks
John Preus: Adaptation
January 6–June 14, 2020
A site-specific installation at Harris Public Policy provides a platform for conversations about public education and the future of the public realm in general.
Down Time: On the Art of Retreat
October 25–December 15, 2019
Where can we turn when we need space and time away? Organized by UChicago students, this exhibition presents a range of public, private, and imagined settings—from lush gardens in France, to shadowy hallways, to kaleidoscopic landscapes—that point to realms of retreat.
Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power
October 19 – December 15, 2019
Meleko Mokgosi’s twenty-panel painting installation explores the theme of feminism in the context of southern Africa.
The Chicago Sound Show
September 27–December 29, 2019
This outdoor sound art exhibition presents site-specific works by nine Chicago artists that explore thresholds, passageways, and common spaces across the University of Chicago’s campus.
Samson Young: Silver Moon or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy Of Me?
September 18–December 15, 2019
In his first U.S. museum exhibition, Samson Young premieres a trilogy of animated music videos that explores varying concepts of social progress and utopia.
Cross Currents / Intercambio Cultural
July 11–August 18, 2019
This exhibition explores how issues of Latin American and Latino/a identity and place are manifest in the practices of artists working in Chicago and Havana.