EXPO CHICAGO: The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art drew thousands when it was held April 11-14 at Navy Pier, as the event continued to expand the parameters of the meaning of art.
The exhibitthe centerpiece of the annual eventfeatured 170 galleries from around the world. A number of Chicago galleries and other entities took part, including Document, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (via CPS Lives), Secrist | Beach, 65GRAND, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, moniquemeloche, and the Museum Science and Industry. Other galleries represented Mexico City, Miami, Brussels, Paris, Johannesburg, Amsterdam, NYC, Singapore, Dubai, Jamaica, Los Angeles, London and many other geographic spots.
Within Navy Pier's Festival Hall, IN/SITU featured large-scale sculpture, video, film and site-specific works. With Amara Antillaan independent curator and guest curator at Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Centerhelming, works by artists such as Ivan Argote, Lauren Yeager, Lucia Koch and Kiah Celeste generated a range of responses from patrons while entertaining and educating. Outside, IN/SITU featured works by Eddie Martinez and Brendan Fernandes; Martinez's works will be available to view through Aug. 25.
However, there was much more than the main exhibit for patrons. Highlights of the 2024 edition of /Dialogues included a keynote with Chance the Rapper, Asma Naeem (Baltimore Museum of Art) and Nate Freeman (Vanity Fair) on hip-hop and its contributions to contemporary art; a forum on criticism as art practice with ARTNews, featuring panelists Christina Catherine Martinez and Michelle Grabner (SAIC Crown Family Professor of Art) and moderator/ARTnews associate editor Tessa Solomon; and a conversation on arts spaces outside of traditional centers with Jenny Moore (Tinworks), Kristy Edmunds (MASS MoCA) and Jodi Throckmorton (John Michael Kohler Art Center).
Also, EXPO CHICAGO and presenting sponsor Northern Trust chose artworks from the fair's EXPOSURE sectionfeaturing galleries 10 years old and newerto be purchased for an institution's permanent collection. Since 2013, the award was given to one institution, but in 2022 it expanded to three U.S. institutions located in east, west and midwest regions. This year's recipients were the High Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
In addition, independent curator/STAV founder Stavroula Coulianidis was named the 2023 receipt of the Barbara Nessim Curatorial Travel Awardan annual travel grant of $3,000 awarded to support the curatorial practice of one woman curator attending the Curatorial Forum. The inaugural 21c Museum Hotels Civic Acquisition Prize was awarded to Slimen Elkamel's "Catching You" and the Azita Moradkhani piece "Iran."
And last, but certainly not least, the inaugural La Crema LGBTQIA+ Purchase Prize acquired two artworks from the 2024 edition of the exposition by LGBTQIA+ artists. The works are Nereida Garcia-Ferraz's 2023 paintings "Ella Esperando (She's Waiting)" and "Ella Detras de Ti (She's Behind You)." Miami's Spinello Projects exhibited the items.
Next year's event will take place April 24-27.
Andrew Davis