SAIC at CAA 2026

Each year at the College Art Association Conference—the largest convening of art historians, artists, designers, curators, and visual arts professionals—SAIC community members lead brilliant academic presentations and workshops. Explore where to find SAIC connections at this year’s conference below.

Join us at our SAIC at CAA Reception on Friday, February 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at SAIC Galleries. Click here for more details. Please note that registration to the 2026 CAA Conference is not required to attend the event. 

2026 CAA Conference programming, participants, and registration information can be found here.

Session: Time Out of Joint: Art Against Efficiency
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-8
Presenter: Albert Stabler (MA 2003)

Session: Time Out of Joint: Art Against Efficiency
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Montana Torrey (BFA 2003)

Session: Challenging National Art Histories Today: What We Can Learn from the Second World?
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Presenter: Daniel R. Quiles, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago        

Session: A New Perfect Moment: Sex, Gender Ambiguity, and Identity Beyond the Binary
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-4 (Hybrid)
Chair: Chanhee Choi (MFA 2016)   
Chair: Katie Doyle (BFA 2016)    
Presenter: Derrick Woods-Morrow (MFA 2016)

Session: Currents: Video’s Aqueous Aesthetics
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2 (Hybrid)
Discussant: Jessica Bardsley (MA 2012)    
Presenter: Stephanie Cristello (BFA 2013)
Presenter: Corinna Kirsch (MA 2009)

Session: Possession and Dispossession: Intersections of Art and Law 
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Chair: Madalen Benson (MA 2019)    

Session: In Touch/Out of Touch with Touch
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Presenter: Dr. Cala Coats (MA 2002)

Session: Beyond the Theory-Practice Divide: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Methods for Research and Scholarship in Art and Art History
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Joliet Room
Presenter: Dace Demir (MA 2006)   

Session: The Value of Play in the Creative Process
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Chair: Ting Zhou (MFA 2013)
Presenter: Etta Sandry (BFA 2013)

Session: Architecture and the Subterranean Realm
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford C
Presenter: Nicolay Duque-Robayo (MA 2021)

Session: From Decommissioned Statues to Gardens of Heroes
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room
Presenter: Susan Snodgrass (SAIC 1990)

Session: Asian American Art
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-3
Presenter: Jacob Zhicheng Zhang (MA 2019)

Session: Unconventional Prose: "I Don't Think About Being Great: Selected Writings" by Robert Rauschenberg
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room
Panelist: Theaster Gates (HON 2013)
Panelist: Lisa Wainwright, Chair of Painting and Drawing, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Panelist: Anna Martine Whitehead, Assistant Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Panelist: Matthew Goulish, Adjunct Professor, Liberal Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Hot Glue not Hot Mess: Foundation Projects and Practices That Actually Work (and Why We Love Them)
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Presenter: Evan Fusco (MFA 2019)
Presenter: Jason Dunda (MFA 2001)

Session: Decolonizing Narratives: Rewriting Histories, Reclaiming Futures
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-1
Chair: Boram Kim (MA 2023)
Presenter: Jinyoung Koh (BFA 2008)

Session: Numbers in the Dark? Quantitative Aesthetics and the Future(s) of Art / History
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-2
Presenter: Hannah Pivo (MA 2017)
Presenter: Sarah Bricke (MFA 2023)

Session: The Politics of AI as a Medium of Art
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-4 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Chanhee Choi (MFA 2016)

Session: Numbers in the Dark? Quantitative Aesthetics and the Future(s) of Art / History
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-2
Presenter: Victoria Rose Pass (MA 2005)

Session: Learning Through Discomfort
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Presenter: Sandra F. Racek, Lecturer, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Art in Precarious Times: Mapping Threats, Increasing Preparedness, and Improving Safety for Artists and Cultural Workers in the United States
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room
Chair: Patrick Bond (BFA 1997)

Session: Pigments and Praxis in the Early Modern Period
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Chair: Gerrit Albertson, Associate Paintings Conservator, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Learning Through Discomfort
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location:  Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Presenter: Christina Gomez, Professor and Graduate Director of Visual & Critical Studies, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Pigments and Praxis in the Early Modern Period 
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location:  Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Presenter: Ken Sutherland, Mellon Director of Scientific Research in the Department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Queer Wanting
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Michigan 
Presenter: Kean O'Brien (BFA 2008)

Session: Distinguished Scholar Session
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 2nd Floor, Grand Ballroom (Hybrid)
Panelist: Eddie Anthony Chambers, Goldabelle McComb Finn Distinguished Professor in Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Surrealist Women Artists and Mental Illness
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-4 (Hybrid)
Chair: Lee Colón (MA 2013)

Session: Words in Place: Regionality and Text-Based Practices
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Joliet Room
Presenter: Amira Hegazy (MFA 2020)

Session: (Methodological) Black Holes in Photography
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Presenter: Rachel Hutcheson (MA 2013)

Session: Ungrading Art History
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Astoria Room (Hybrid)
Chair: Brian T. Leahy (MA 2015)

Session: Mission Critical: Tactics of Solidarity and Care in Arts Publications Today
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room 
Presenter: January Arnall (BFA 1999)

Session: Archives as Sites of Resistance: Toward a Counter-History in Palestine
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford C
Chair: Ruslana Lichtzier (MA 2013)

Session: Critical Kinship and Ancestral Entanglements in Contemporary Art
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Huron
Chair: Joshua Rios, Associate Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Ekphrasis Now
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-5
Chair: David B. Raskin, Professor, Mohn Family Professor of Contemporary Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: SAC Exhibition: Parallel Worlds Artists Roundtable
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-4 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Chun-Shan (Sandie) Yi (MA 2005)

Session: Supporting Art Historical Research in a Time of Institutional Uncertainty
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-3
Chair: Jill Bugajski, Executive Director, Research Center, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Engaging/Exhibiting/Creating (with) Archives
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford B (Hybrid)
Presenter: Craig Lee, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Building Your Teaching Toolkit Workshop: Teaching Across Ability 
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-8
Workshop Leader: Barbara Bergstrom (BFA 2002)

Session: Video from the Margins
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Sarah Faulk (BFA 2016)

Session: Mobilizing Models: How Artistic Intelligence Reprograms AI
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Marquette Room
Presenter: Grace Han (BFA 2010)

Session: Crossing Borders, Genres, and Styles: Transnational Painting in the 20th and 21st Centuries
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Astoria Room (Hybrid)
Presenter: Elliot Reichert (MA 2019)

Session: Rooting, Framing, and Envisioning: Geo-aesthetic Approaches to the Jiangnan Region of China
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 1
Presenter: Jiayi Zhu (BFA 2021)

Session: Sculpture and the Non-Normative Body
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 2 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Weronika Malek-Lubawski (BFA 2017)

Session: Interpreting Together: Stakeholder Collaboration in Exhibition Planning
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Huron
Chair: Marielle Epstein, Assistant Director of Interpretation, Art Institute of Chicago
Discussant: Lisa Cakmak, Mary and Michael Jaharis Chair and Curator of Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, Art Institute of Chicago
Discussant: Katharine Raff, Elizabeth McIlvaine Curator, Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Dreamers and Schemers: On Trans* and Queer Worldbuilding
Time: 2:30–4:00 p.m. 
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford C
Presenter: Steven Frost (MFA 2011)

Session: Communal Art History: New Methods of Comparative Studies of East Asian Art
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Michigan
Presenter: James Grady (BFA 2011)

Session: A Moving Target: The Intersection of Communication Design, Technology, and Education
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Huron
Chair: Yechen Zhao, Assistant Curator, Photography and Media, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Materiality and the Reception of Ancient Objects
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Private Dining Room 1
Presenter: Stephanie Rose Caruso, Assistant Curator, Art Institute of Chicago
Chair: Andrea Morgan, Research Associate, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Indigenous Art and the Gendered Violence of Extractivism
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford A
Chair: Elizabeth Hawley (BFA 2020)

Session: Bureaucratic Realism: Systems, Forms, and Fictions in Contemporary Art
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room
Chair: Duncan G. MacKenzie (MFA 2002)

Session: Highlights in Undergraduate Research 1
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-6
Presenter: Matthew Cortez (BA 2025)

Session: CTRL + ALT + RESIST
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Marquette Room
Chair: Chanhee Choi (MFA 2016)

Session: Bureaucratic Realism: Systems, Forms, and Fictions in Contemporary Art
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Waldorf Room
Chair: Duncan MacKenzie (MFA 2002)

Session: Art Worlds in Transition: Cross-Border Networks, Local Publics, and Institutional Reconfiguration
Time: 9:00–10:30 a.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-2
Chair: Dace Demir (MA 2006)

Session: Photographic Subjectivities: Seeing, Being Seen, Refusing the Frame
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford B (Hybrid)
Presenter: Rashayla Marie Brown (MA 2017)

Session: Obscene Beauty: Design’s Affair with Luxury
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Ontario
Chair: Victoria Rose Pass (MA 2005)

Session: Speculating on Value: Art and Financialization in Contemporary Art Practice
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Joliet Room
Presenter: Giovanni Aloi, Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 

Session: The Rise of Historically Marginalized Contemporary Artists, 2014-2024
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-5
Presenter: Lisa Slominski (BA 2003)

Session: Seeing Cézanne Anew
Time: 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago 8th Floor Lake Michigan
Chair: Gloria L. Groom, Chair and Winton Green Curator, Painting and Sculpture of Europe, and Executive Director of Initiatives in France, Art Institute of Chicago
Presenter: Kim Muir, Research Conservator, Art Institute of Chicago

Session: The Agency of Artists: Through and Beyond Books
Time: 2:00–4:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-4 (Hybrid)
Presenter: Amira Hanafi (MFA 2008)
Presenter: April Sheridan, Special Collections Librarian, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Funding Your Scholarship, Research and Practice: Strategic Proposal Writing in an Era of Uncertainty for the Arts and Humanities
Time: 2:00–4:30 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-8
Workshop Leader: Hannah Jasper (BFA 2015)

Session: Artists Collaborations in Intermedia Visual Arts
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Astoria Room (Hybrid)
Presenter: Lucia Fabio (BFA 2007)

Session: Performance Art and Passivity
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Michigan
Chair: Aliza Shvarts, Director of Low-Residency MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Session: Photographic Sovereignty
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 8th Floor, Lake Huron
Presenter: Kristie Kahns (MA 2024)

Session: The New Internet: Alternative Forms of Networking
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, Lower Level, Salon C-8
Workshop Leader: Tatyana Scott (MA 2023)

Session: Material Receptions of the Ancient Mediterranean
Time: 4:30–6:00 p.m.
Location: Hilton Chicago, 3rd Floor, Williford C
Presenter: Lillian Sellati, Kress Interpretive Fellow in Interpretation and Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, Art Institute of Chicago