Smart at Home
Virtual visits and digital resources
Throughout the pandemic, the Smart Museum of Art has remained dedicated to fostering opportunities for inquiry and exchange through our collections, exhibitions, and programs.
We’ve gathered together resources—some newly created for online distribution and some from the archive—for our community of students, scholars, caregivers, teachers, and life-long learners. This digital toolbox combines recordings of past programs, including artist talks, performances, and curator-led conversations, with educational guides, virtual tours, and other resources for at-home learning and creative engagement.
Enjoy the Smart from home! Check back soon, this page will be updated regularly.
Watch and Listen
In this group show, work by MacArthur Fellows foreground issues of the natural and built environments. Stream the curator-led tour »
Irene Hsiao creates dance and performance through object-driven inquiry with museum spaces, exhibitions, and artworks. Stream performances »
Exhibition curators and UChicago student researchers lead a virtual tour of Smart to the Core: Medium / Image organized by the Feitler Center. Stream the tour »
Explore passion, violence, and virtue in Renaissance art with curator Nora S. Lambert. Stream the tour »
Stream scholarly talks related to Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe. Browse the program archive »
A day-long series of live-streamed experiences and recorded offerings of care. Join us March 20 »
Inspired by Take Care, the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry invited UChicago students to submit short videos reflecting on the questions of how we care for ourselves and each other. Explore the series »
Unpack matters of care and explore Take Care during a virtual tour led by the exhibition co-curators. Experience the exhibition »
Based on a score by Irene Hsiao, participants independently created home videos for this community art project inspired by Liu Wei’s Merely a Mistake II No. 7. Explore the project »
Join artist Claudia Wieser and curator Jennifer Carty for a conversation and virtual tour of Claudia Wieser: Generations. Stream the video »
Take a virtual tour with exhibition co-curators and explore materials with a dozen Chinese contemporary artists as part of The Allure of Matter. Explore the video library »
A virtual cello-guided tour of Gu Dexin’s Untitled (1989) by Jonathan Gardner, UChicago AB ’20, Music. Watch on Facebook »
The Alley LP
A selection of interviews about The Alley, a regular Sunday gathering, jazz happening, and cultural space on the South Side of Chicago. Listen to select tracks »
Wu Hung delivers the keynote lecture “Material is the Message: Exploring an Overlooked Aspect of Contemporary Chinese Art.” Watch video »
Interviews with Suellen Rocca and Karl Wirsum, plus other videos about the work and the history of the group of artists that became known as the Chicago Imagists. Watch videos »
A playlist assembled by the students who curated last year’s Down Time: On the Art of Retreat. Listen on Spotify »
A remote student symposium on the theme of materiality and art, presented by the Feitler Center. Watch the panel discussion »
This 2018 symposium addressed the historic significance of the South Side as a community, a set of institutions, and a collection of artists. Watch the presentations »
A sustained partnership between the Smart and Rowe Elementary School, the Poetic Warriors program is a celebration of youth creativity and the power of art. Watch the documentary »
This outdoor sound art exhibition presented site-specific works by nine Chicago artists that explored thresholds, passageways, and common spaces across the University of Chicago’s campus. Take a virtual tour »
Create
A video series that offers hands-on artmaking activities for the home. Watch and create with us »
A series of hand-drawn coloring sheets by Erik L. Peterson, inspired by the works in Take Care. Download the sheets (PDF) »
Chicago Fundred Initiative
Join the Fundred Dollar Bill project and use your creativity for a future free of lead poisoning! Make a Fundred »
A series of hand-drawn coloring sheets by Erik L. Peterson, inspired by the works in The Allure of Matter. Share your work back using the hashtag #theallureofcoloring. Page 1 » Page 2 » Page 3 » Page 4 » Page 5 » Page 6 » Page 7 » Page 8 » Page 9 » Page 10 » Page 11 » Page 12 » Page 13 » Page 14 » Page 15 »
Tensions Unfold
Tensions Unfold, a coloring poster Gabrielle Sanson (MFA ‘20) designed for the exhibition Down Time: On The Art of Retreat. Download the sheets »
Read
On Ernest Cole's "House of Bondage"
Undergraduate Research Associate Serin Lee takes a closer look at the photography by Ernest Cole in the Smart Museum’s collection. Read the blog »
Inside “Down Time”
In a world transformed—if only temporarily—by coronavirus, what on earth is “down time”? Curator Leslie Wilson reflects. Read the blog »
This booklet features essays written by University of Chicago students that delve into the exhibition’s central themes of retreat, leisure, access, and identity. Download the booklet »
Discover the abstract and calligraphic art of Tang Chang (1934–1990), a firebrand working on the margins of both the Thai and international art scenes. Download the publication »
A unrealized, proposed tour of The Allure of Matter with dancers and guides, designed by Irene Hsiao. Read the post »