Past Exhibitions : 2023
The Metropol Drama
February 23–July 9, 2023
The Metropol Drama proposes another way of looking at our aesthetic, economic, and emotional history—an amalgam we call “cosmopolitanism.”
not all realisms
February 23–June 4, 2023
not all realisms addresses photography in the context of Africa’s long 1960s—amid resistance, revolution, new nationalist and transnational movements, and the stuff of daily life therein.
Calling on the Past: Selections from the Collection
March 21, 2023–February 4, 2024
Calling on the Past invites visitors to experience the Smart Museum’s collection anew, through a sensory exploration of color, texture, and form.
Ted Stamm: In Transit
June 27–August 6, 2023
This small, focused exhibition celebrates the work of Ted Stamm (1944–1984), an artist whose gregarious practice expanded abstract painting into his everyday life.
Smart to the Core: Poetry is Everything
September 21, 2023–February 4, 2024
This exhibition examines the practice of poetry as a form of communication, linguistic innovation, political performance, and embodied presence—considering how poetry can be a lens for understanding humanity.
Ruth Duckworth: Life as a Unity
September 21, 2023–February 4, 2024
This exhibition positions Ruth Duckworth as an innovative Chicago sculptor, deeply engaged in the natural world and responding to artistic developments in the U.S. in the 1960s and 70s.