SAIC at Chicago Exhibition Week

Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60603
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Free Admission
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The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Visiting Artist Program presents a lecture by artist Catherine Opie followed by an audience Q&A.

Doors open at 5:45 p.m. Free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Explore the Visiting Artists Program homepage for visitor information, recordings of past events, and more.

For more than 30 years, Catherine Opie has captured often overlooked aspects of contemporary American life and culture. One of the most important photographers of her generation, her photographic subjects have included early seminal portraits of the LGBTQ+ community, the architecture of Los Angeles' freeway system, mansions in Beverly Hills, Midwestern icehouses, high school football players, California surfers, abstract landscapes of National Parks, and the Bel-Air residence of Elizabeth Taylor, among others. In 2018 Opie debuted her first film, The Modernist, a dystopic view of Los Angeles, a city that has figured prominently in her work over the years. Her complex and diverse body of work is political, personal, and highly aesthetic—the formal, conceptual, and documentary are always at play.

The Renaissance Society
Constellation, 3111 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
7:00 p.m.
Free Admission
Registration Required

Hamza Walker was Director of Education at the Renaissance Society for 20 years, between 1994 and 2015. During that time, he wrote essays about every single exhibition, both those he organized and many others curated by Suzanne Ghez. These texts were published first in the Renaissance Society’s newsletters and then eventually on the exhibition posters, which were distributed far more widely. In the course of this workman-like writing in the service of the institution, Walker developed not only his distinctive personal writing style and a keen eye, but also a theory of what museum education could be and do. In his writing, Walker draws on his art historical knowledge but looks equally to current events (both minutely local and international), insisting on the mutual relevance and related nature of the two. In Walker’s own words, “if we’re going to live up to the idea that art is for everybody, it needs a set of wider reference points,” an emphasis that has arguably shaped the identity of the institution in turn.

This book collects those essays together into a volume that celebrates Hamza’s brilliant, joyful and generous writing. It also serves as a lively record of 20 years of the Renaissance Society’s exhibition programming, and reflects the prevalent theories, issues, and fashions of the art world during that time, not to mention the events occurring in the wider world.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Hamza Walker (Bill & Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor)

Corbett vs Dempsey
2156 W. Fulton St.
Chicago, IL 60612
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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In the first gallery exhibition since Pope.L's untimely death in 2023, No Thing Skin Sets presents a precisely gathered selection of recent work, including the major installation I Machine (2014–2022), on which the artist worked during most of the time he was based in Chicago. In the McPhee, CvsD presents a tribute to Pope.L's little known post-punk band Jon Waine, with historical artifacts and the release of a double CD of previously unheard music, 1975–1983.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jim Dempsey (BFA 1991, Co-founder of Corbett vs Dempsey) 

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
9:00–11:00 p.m.
Paid Admission
Registration Required

On Tuesday, September 15, experience the museum after hours with curated food and cocktails, a DJ set by Vic Mensa, and late-night access to the galleries—including a final chance to see the blockbuster exhibition Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón before it closes. This is the official afterparty of Arts Alliance Illinois’ Revel gala earlier in the evening.

SAIC Community Spotlights:
Edra Soto (MFA 2000, Featured in Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón)
Leasho Johnson (MFA 2020, Featured in Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón) 

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
800 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60607
3:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Join curator Ross Stanton Jordan for a special tour of Perennial City: Experiments in Urban Gardening, featuring rare archival images and new artists’ interventions in the historic home.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ross Stanton Jordan (MA 2013, Curator)
Erin Minckley (MFA 2012, Featured artist)

The Digs
333 N. Oakley Blvd., #305
Chicago, IL 60612
6:00–9:00 p.m.
Paid Admission
Registration Required

Chicago Critique Group is bringing artists together for an evening of drawing and sculpting with a live model. Draw, sculpt, or move between the two while practicing observation and exploring figuration.

Less of a formal class and more of a shared working session, this is a chance to make, practice, and spend time alongside other Chicago artists. Bring your favorite drawing materials, or work with clay provided by The Digs.

All money goes towards supporting the model and other Digs programming.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Isaiah McDaniel (MFA 2026, Founder of Chicago Critique Group)
Fawn Penn (BFA 2020, Co-Founder of The Digs)
Zoe Minzenberger (BA 2020, Co-Founder of The Digs)

LATITUDE
2003 W. Fulton St., #211
Chicago, IL 60612
3:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
Registration Encouraged

Join us for a hands-on experience making your own glass plate ink-jet transfer! Combine the magic of a digital and analog photographic process. Bring a photo to the lab and we will help you make a glass plate of your own.

No prior experience is necessary. Bring a photograph and our team will guide you through the process. This is an invitation to think differently about how images move between screens and surfaces and how photography can bring people together! Come make something and see what’s possible with the resources and community at the Latitude lab.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Dæja Hansdóttir (BFA 2015, Executive Director of LATITUDE Chicago)
Amanda Thomas (BFA 2020, Lab Assistant at LATITUDE Chicago) 

Studio Gang
1520 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL 60642
4:00–6:00 p.m. 
Free Admission
Registration Required

Join Studio Gang and guest curator Craig Lee to celebrate the opening of Best Nest: Design for Nature and Culture. The exhibition reveals how bird nests—a particularly complex form of animal architecture—have influenced the thinking, research, and design approach of Jeanne Gang and her architectural practice, Studio Gang, across scales and media.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jeanne Gang (HON 2013, Founder of Studio Gang)

Chicago Artists Coalition
1431 W. Hubbard St., #201
Chicago, IL 60642
4:00–6:00 p.m.
Free Admission
Registration Required

CAC invites you to tear, rearrange, and mend your own collages in response to idioms inspired by our current exhibition, All Is Fish That Comes to the Net!

Join us from 4:00–6:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 17 for a workshop led by currently exhibiting CAC Residents Rob Croll, Nick D’Alessandro, Taj Richardson, and Van Payne. All materials will be provided, but participants are encouraged to bring a meaningful image or idiom to use in their collage. Register for FREE with the link.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Rob Croll (MFA 2024)
Nick D'Alessandro (BFA 2023)
Van Payne (BFA 2023)

Chicago Artists Coalition
1431 W. Hubbard St., #201
Chicago, IL 60642
5:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Open studios hosted by CAC’s 2026 on-site Residents: Ellie Dale Anderson, Bintou Diallo, Anwar Mahdi, Pablo Monterrubio, Maya Nguyen and Katie Vota. Meet the artists and see their space! No registration necessary.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ellie Dale Anderson (MFA 2025)
Anwar Mahdi (BFA 2017)
Pablo Monterrubio (MFA 2016)
Maya Nguyen (MFA 2023)
Katie Vota (MFA 2015)

SoNa Chicago
1527 N. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Opening reception for Rooted. Uprooted., Laleh Motlagh’s solo exhibition at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art. No RSVP required.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Laleh Motlagh (Lecturer, Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects)

ANDREW RAFACZ
1749 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago IL 60622
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Opening reception for Sophia Heymans, Xiaohan Jiang, and Anne Toebbe, a group exhibition of new and recent works in Galleries One & Two at ANDREW RAFACZ.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Xiaohan Jiang (BFA 2022, MFA 2025)

LATITUDE Chicago
2003 W. Fulton St., Ste. 211
Chicago, IL 60612
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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The Latitude Artist Residency has been a part of our organization since the very beginning and has always been mutually transformative. In 2026, we welcomed our 100th Artist in Residence. We are celebrating this milestone with an exhibition centering the AIR program and its legacy. This year Latitude’s annual fundraiser Pinhole will feature the vast array of incredible artists who have helped to shape this organization.

Latitude strives to support artists: all proceeds of prints sold will be split 50/50.

Marzena Abrahamik, Alejandro T. Acierto, Lawrence Ageyi, Beck Andersen, Anwulika Anigbo, Lucy Wood Baird, Mara Baker, Lyndon Barrois Jr., Aimée Beaubien, Elizabeth Bick, Jeremy Bolen, Clarissa Bonet, Jan Brugger, Samantha Cabrera-Freind, Billie Carter-Rankin, Alex Chitty, Kelli Conell, Paul D’Amato, Nat Decker, Todd Deidrich, KT Duffy, Amy Elkins, Liz Ensz, Assaf Evron, Rachel Fein-Smolinski, wd floyd, Jackie Furtado, Madeline Gallucci, Parisa Ghaderi, Max Guy, Jessica Harvey, Robert Chase Heishman, Daniel Hojancki, James Hosking, Alan Huck, Ai Iwane, Dominika Jackuliakova, Kelly Kristin Jones, Priya Kambli, Kean’Obrien, Cole Kelley, Jessica Labatte, Yashoda Latkar, Chantal Lesley, Xi Li, Luftwerk, Adriano Machado, Jordan Martins, Jordan Matthew, Nicole Mauser, Cecil McDonald Jr., Isabelle Frances McGuire, Noritaka Minami, Joseph Josué Mora, Gabriel Moreno, Nyeema Morgan, Natasha Moushtache, Eliza Myrie, Huong Ngo, B. Ingrid Olson, zakkiiyyah najeebah dumas oneal, Carlos Javier Ortiz, Nathan Pearce, Zoe Rain, Jason Reblando, Kayla Reefer, Justin Rhody, Bri Robinson, Oli Rodriguez, Ken Rosenthal, Amina Ross, David Rothenberg, Jay Turner Frey Seawell, Sara Sowell, Shelby Stone, José Taymani, Sonja Thomsen, Zsofi Valyi-Nagy, TaiTaiX Tina Wang, Claudia Weber, Nicole White, Joseph Wilcox, Alex Wolfe, Jaclyn Wright, Reuben Wu, Guanyu Xu

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Mara Baker (BFA 2005)
Aimée Beaubien (BFA 1989, MFA 1994, Professor, Photography)
Billie Carter-Rankin (MFA 2020)
Alex Chitty (MFA 2008)
Liz Ensz (MFA 2013)
Assaf Evron (MFA 2013)
Jackie Furtado (BFA 2012)
Kelly Kristin Jones (MFA 2012)
Kean O'Brien (BFA 2008)
Cole Kelley (BFA 2012)
Jessica Labatte (BFA 2004, MFA 2009)
Xi Li (SAIC 2026)
Luftwerk - Petra Bachmaier (BFA 1999) and Sean Gallero (BFA 1998)
Isabelle Frances McGuire (BFA 2016)
Joseph Josué Mora (BFA 2018)
Hương Ngô (MFA 2004)
B. Ingrid Olson (MFA 2021)
Bri Robinson (MA 2024)
Oli Rodriguez (MFA 2009)
Ken Rosenthal (MFA 1993)
Amina Ross (BFA 2015)
José Taymani (BFA 2021)
Nicole White (MFA 2012)
Alex Wolfe (BFA 2013)
Guanyu Xu (BFA 2016, MFA 2019)
Dæja Hansdóttir (BFA 2015, Executive Director of Latitude)

Tala
1644 W. Chicago Ave., #1
Chicago, IL 60622
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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A solo exhibition by Jesús Hilario-Reyes at Tala, on view during Chicago Exhibition Week.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jesús Hilario-Reyes (BFA 2019)

Elise Seigenthaler Gallery
1709 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Opening reception at Elise Seigenthaler Gallery, 1709 W. Chicago Ave., part of the West Town openings on Thursday, September 17.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Elise Seigenthaler (BFA 2019, Founder of Elise Seigenthaler Gallery)

The Digs
333 N. Oakley Blvd., #305
Chicago, IL 60612
5:30–9:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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A one-night-only opening and closing for Meld Form: Along the Way, at The Digs Chicago, 333 N. Oakley Blvd. #305.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Charlotte Saylor (MFA 2025, Featured artist)
Fawn Penn (BFA 2020, Co-Founder of The Digs)
Zoe Minzenberger (BA 2020, Co-Founder of The Digs)

Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Ave.
Chicago IL 60615
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
RSVP Encouraged

Join us for a fun night of creativity at the Guida Family Creative Wing Open Studio Night!

Come meet and visit the studios of our Jackman Goldwasser residents ebere agwuncha, Carlos Flores, Cydney M. Lewis, Pooja Pittie, Aleksandra Kędziorek, and Community Artists D. Lammie-Hanson, Jess Atieno, Kiana Shahnia, Olivia Rosato, Anwulika Anigbo, and Laveen Gammie.

Hyde Park Art Center and the Guida Family Creative Wing studios are ADA accessible. An elevator is located at the entrance to the Art Center, which lets visitors out next to the Creative Wing. Masks available at the Art Center’s front desk.

This program is presented as part of Chicago Exhibition Week.

Thursday, September 17, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Cydney M. Lewis (SAIC 2006)
Jess Atieno (MFA 2021)
Mariela Acuña (MA 2024, Director of Exhibitions & Residency at Hyde Park Art Center)

GRAY Chicago
2044 W. Carroll Ave.
Chicago, IL 60612
6:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Jaume Plensa: Beyond Silence opens at GRAY Chicago with a public opening reception.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jaume Plensa (HON 2005)
Valerie Carberry (BFA 1993)(President and Chief Executive Officer of GRAY Gallery Chicago and New York)

Magic Hour Gallery
661 W. Lake St.
Chicago, IL 60661
6:00–10:00 p.m.
Registration Required

Join us for the inaugural exhibition of Magic Hour Gallery, celebrating Chicago Exhibition Week. The gallery takes its name from the brief daily window when changing light transforms the familiar, a fitting metaphor for what we're trying to do: give visibility to artists who haven't had enough of it.

The inaugural show brings together over 20 artists, local to Chicago and beyond, across painting, sculpture, textile, photography, and design. Each work considers how art captures and carries the moment in which it was made. Join us from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. for an evening of art, music, and light refreshments as we open our doors for the first time. 661 W. Lake St., Chicago. RSVP required.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Dustin McBride (BFA 2010)
Jackie Hilmes (SAIC 2016)
Sal Dominguez (BFA 2019)

The Franklin
3522 W. Franklin Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60624
7:00–9:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Opening reception for Human-Nature at The Franklin, 3522 W. Franklin Blvd.

Artists participating in the exhibition will give a guided tour, led by Edra Soto, co-director at The Franklin.

Alumni Spotlight:
Edra Soto (MFA 2000, Co-Director of The Franklin)
Andres L. Hernandez (MA 2003, MFA 2025, Associate Professor, Art Education)
Carlos Salazar-Lermont (MA 2019)
Hai-Wen Lin (MDF 2023)  
Monika Plioplyte (MFA 2019)
Norman Teague (MFA 2016)

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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This performance will be taking place in the MCA Plaza and is free and open to the public. The run time is roughly two hours. Audiences may come and go as they wish.

Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater blends the retro technology of stereoscopic photography with live performance-based image-making and explores the porch as an emblem of generosity and social porousness at a moment of increasing isolation and division. Inspired by the writings of 20th-century conservationist Aldo Leopold, the work centers on a pair of benches designed to support attentive observation of the natural world. With a set of 12 original stereoscopic photographs guiding a two-hour score, the performance investigates how slight differences in perception can produce either heightened depth or clashing understandings of reality.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Michelle Grabner (Professor, Crown Family Professor in Painting and Drawing)
Mark Jeffery (Professor, Performance)
Kelly Kaczynski (Professor, Adjunct, Sculpture and Low-Residency MFA)
Kristin Mariani (BFA 1994, MFA 2020)(Professor, Adjunct, Fashion Design) 
Judd Morrissey (Professor, Art and Technology/Sound Practices, and Low-Residency MFA)
James Sommerfeldt (SAIC 2011, Lecturer, Fashion Design)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
7:30–8:45 p.m.
Paid Admission
Read More

Protected by Invisible Fence is a choreographic work that examines the often-unseen technological forces shaping contemporary life—from the pressure to optimize health and productivity to the performance of identity on social media. A responsive network is created onstage by eight human performers and eight technologically enhanced crowd-control stanchions that detect when performers pass by or touch them and share quantifications of these activities through sound and light. Vernacular movement patterns, adapted from sources such as TSA screenings, warehouse workflows, screen savers, and reflex tests, invite audiences to reflect on how surveillance technologies influence our relationships with one another.

Run time: approximately 75 minutes

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ginger Krebs (BFA 1998, Lead artist)
Eunjin Choi (MFA 2025, Performer)
Joseph Kramer (MFA 2010, Performer)
Yuxuan Zhong (BFA 2025, Performer)
Bocheng Zhang (BFA 2024, Collaborating artist)
John Rich (MFA 2011, Supporting MCA Staff)
Josh Hoglund (MFA 2015, Supporting MCA Staff)
Chloe Cucinotta (Post-Bacc 2016, Supporting MCA Staff)

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
12:00–2:00 p.m.
Read More

This performance will be taking place in the MCA Plaza and is free and open to the public. The run time is roughly two hours. Audiences may come and go as they wish.

Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater blends the retro technology of stereoscopic photography with live performance-based image-making and explores the porch as an emblem of generosity and social porousness at a moment of increasing isolation and division. Inspired by the writings of 20th-century conservationist Aldo Leopold, the work centers on a pair of benches designed to support attentive observation of the natural world. With a set of 12 original stereoscopic photographs guiding a two-hour score, the performance investigates how slight differences in perception can produce either heightened depth or clashing understandings of reality.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Michelle Grabner (Professor, Crown Family Professor in Painting and Drawing)
Mark Jeffery (Professor, Performance)
Kelly Kaczynski (Professor, Adjunct, Sculpture and Low-Residency MFA)
Kristin Mariani (BFA 1994, MFA 2020, Professor, Adjunct, Fashion Design) 
Judd Morrissey (Professor, Art and Technology/Sound Practices, and Low-Residency MFA)
James Sommerfeldt (SAIC 2011, Lecturer, Fashion Design)

SoNa Chicago
1527 N. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
12:15–1:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Read More

Artist talk with Laleh Motlagh on the occasion of her solo exhibition Rooted. Uprooted. at SoNa Chicago Contemporary Art. No RSVP required.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Laleh Motlagh (Lecturer, Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects)

UIC Gallery 400
400 S. Peoria St.
Chicago IL 60607
12:30–4:30 p.m.
RSVP Required

For this hands-on workshop you will explore colour interactions and texture through three printmaking techniques: risography, a high-speed digital screen printmaking method; relief printing, in which the printing surface is carved away leaving a raised area to be inked; and monotype, a spontaneous, painterly technique in which a print is made by pressing paper on a painted glass, metal, or plastic sheet.

Chicago Printers Guild members Gabe Hoare and Eric Von Haynes will demonstrate these printing methods, leading you through the layering of patterns and chromatic gradients.

The workshop begins with a brief tour of Press & Pull at 12:30 p.m.; the workshop itself begins at 1:00 p.m. You may attend the tour without joining the workshop. Open to newcomers and experienced printmakers alike — no previous experience required. Materials, equipment and light refreshments are provided.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Eric Von Haynes (BFA 2005, Workshop leader and Chicago Printers Guild member)

Bert Green Fine Art
8 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 620
Chicago, IL 60603
12:00–5:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Extended gallery hours at Bert Green Fine Art for Chicago Exhibition Week, with Sundowning — paintings by Kevin Blake, curated by Dan Cameron — on view.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Kevin Blake (MA 2011)

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602
12:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Grand Army of the Republic Hall, 2nd Floor North

Join Veteran Art Triennial co-curator Aaron Hughes and artist-activist Dorothy Burge for an exclusive preview tour of Freedom Fighters, Burge's new exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Set within the cases of the Grand Army of the Republic Hall, the tour will explore the featured pieces and offer historical insights into the inspiration behind their creation. Don't miss this special event!

No RSVP required.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Aaron Hughes (Lecturer, Printmedia)

Volume Gallery
1700 W. Hubbard St.
Chicago, IL 60622
1:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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The two renowned textile artists will discuss Matson’s latest work, intricately woven pieces celebrating revolutionary histories.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Diana Guerrero-Maciá (Professor, Presidential Professor, Fiber and Material Studies)

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602
2:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Chicago Rooms, 2nd Floor North

Take a deeper dive into the exhibition To Be Remembered: Woven Matters of the Heart, on view at the Chicago Cultural Center. Hear from the featured artists themselves on how they index their own histories through their fiber practices. Each artist researched the archives and their own family lineages to bridge historical gaps left in personal and historical narratives. Come on a journey with us as we strengthen the connections between our past, present, and future.

No RSVP required.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Thương Hoài Trần (MFA 2022, Featured artist)

Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Ave.
Chicago IL 60615
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Free Admission
RSVP Encouraged

Please join curator Aleksandra Kędziorek, Jackman Goldwasser Resident, and artist Jeff Carter for a conversation exploring how time shapes architectural memory through the reintroduction of lost ecologies and history.

Kędziorek will present Nenúfars, a collaboration with design collective CENTRALA. The project reintroduced aquatic plants to the iconic pool of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona — a discontinued aspect of the Pavilion’s original 1929 design.

Carter will present research informing The Singer Pavilion Project, his solo exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center, focusing on the Singer Pavilion’s Modernist landscape design by Hideo Sasaki, its destruction and abandonment, and current state of wild regrowth.

This program is presented as part of Chicago Exhibition Week.

Saturday, September 19, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 South Cornell Avenue

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jeff Carter (MFA 1998)

Corbett vs Dempsey
2156 W. Fulton St.
Chicago, IL 60612
4:00–5:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Read More

As part of the exhibition of works by Pope.L, Corbett vs. Dempsey presents a conversation between John Corbett and Hamza Walker on the topic of Jon Waine, the band Pope.L co-led in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

As a special treat, original band members Franc Palaia (drums) and Ellen La Forge (bass) will perform selections from the Jon Waine repertoire.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Hamza Walker (2026-27 Bill & Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor)

Process/Process
2415 W. 19th St., 2-C
Chicago, IL 60608
4:30–6:30 p.m.
Free Admission
Read More

Join Process/Process for a special reception and exhibition viewing of Ribbon Fence, a series of colorful monoprints by Victoria Martinez newly published by Process/Process.

All other visits are by appointment: hello@process-process.com

More on Process/Process’s site.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jessica Cochran (MA 2008, Co-founder of Process/Process)
Angee Lennard (BFA 2004, Co-founder of Process/Process)

Logan Center Exhibitions
915 E. 60th St.
Chicago IL 60637
4:30 p.m.
Free Admission
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Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th Street.

Jenny Harris is a doctoral candidate and Neubauer Family Distinguished Fellow in Art History at the University of Chicago. Her research explores modern and contemporary art with specializations in the relationships between abstraction and ornament, dance and performance, and craft and design. Her dissertation analyzes the influence of dance and choreography on American visual artists and institutions between 1930 and 1960 and has been supported by fellowships from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, the Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust, the France Chicago Center at the University of Chicago, and the Center for Ballet and the Arts. Prior to doctoral study, Jenny worked in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Painting and Sculpture where she contributed to the inaugural reinstallation of the museum’s collection in 2019 and the exhibition "Robert Rauschenberg: Among Friends" (2017), and co-organized "The Shape of Shape, Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman" (2019). She has since held curatorial fellowships in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Jenny’s art historical research has resulted in publications in "The New York Times", the "Journal of Surrealism and the Americas", and several exhibition catalogues. Critical writing has appeared in "Artforum" and the "Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies", among other publications. Jenny holds a B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College.

“Longer Than the Sky: Art of the Obama Years” charts a provisional history of art made during the years of the Obama presidency—a period marked as much by continuity as by change. Comprising nearly forty works by a multigenerational group of artists, it centers on artistic practices that gained relevance for the ways they engaged self-reflexively with their historical moment. Stylistically varied, these artworks have been assembled for the ways they offer distinct perspectives on the shared circumstances in which they were made. While some address specific political events, the majority evoke their political context more obliquely, highlighting a set of overlapping social, technological, and aesthetic concerns that shaped the art of this era.

On view through October 11th, “Longer Than the Sky” is presented by Logan Center Exhibitions and curated by Jenny Harris, doctoral candidate in Art History at the University of Chicago.

Artists included: Darren Bader, Kevin Beasley, Andrea Fraser, Gaylen Gerber, Rachel Harrison, Jenny Holzer, Jacqueline Humphries, Josh Kline, Louise Lawler, Jason Lazarus, Ralph Lemon, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall, Aliza Nisenbaum, Catherine Opie, Our Literal Speed, Jennifer Packer, Adrian Piper, Pope.L, Seth Price, Cameron Rowland, Allan Sekula, Cauleen Smith, Hito Steyerl, Diamond Stingily, Martine Syms, Jack Whitten, Amanda Williams, and Danh Vo

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Gaylen Gerber (MFA 1980, Professor, Patrick and Dania Leemputte Chair in Painting and Drawing)
Aliza Nisenbaum (BFA 2001, MFA 2005)
Martine Syms (BFA 2007)
Amanda Williams (HON 2025)

Arts of Life​/​Circle Contemporary
Venue West, 221 N. Paulina St.
Chicago, IL 60612
5:00–8:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Gallery hours for DEATH MAGIC with curator Ryan Michael Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and curator based in Chicago. His work has been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Singapore), Breese Little (London), Abbaye Saint-Magloire (France), Come Again (Berlin), the International Museum of Surgical Science (Chicago) and Western Exhibitions (Chicago).

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ryan M. Pfeiffer (BFA 2015)
Rachael Bos (BFA 2021)
Monika Plioplyte (MFA 2019)

Venue West
221 N. Paulina St.
Chicago, IL 60612
5:00–10:00 p.m.
Paid Admission
Read More

Saddle up for an out-of-this-world evening celebrating creativity, community and the arts at Arts of Life’s Annual Benefit Auction & Dance Party. Music, food, drinks, dancing and one-of-a-kind auction experiences, all in support of artists with disabilities. Raise a glass, meet the artists, and join us for a night where disco meets the desert sky.

Honoring Scott Speh, owner and director of Western Exhibitions. VIP performance by Zander Raymond, with evening tunes from TRQPITECA.

Featured artists: Ariée, Noelle Africh, Marcelo Anon, Iris Bernblum, Alexis de Chaunac, Michael Cuadrado, Rocco Dicaro, Sam Filicky, Danny Frownfelter, Madeline Gallucci, Ben Gould, Eli Greene, Natashya Jacob, Emory Jones, Nanako Kono, Bill Lilly, Lawrence M., Victoria Martinez, Travis Morehead, Aya Nakamura, Vontrell Nunn, Angel Sanders, Lewis Sandoboe, Mindy Rose Schwartz, Andrew Sloan, Jan Tischy, Oly Trindl, Candace Turner, Lucy Walsh, Marvin Young, Araceli Zuniga.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Noelle Africh (MFA 2022, Featured Artist)
Iris Bernblum (BFA 1997, Featured Artist)
Alexis de Chaunac (MFA 2022, Featured Artist)
Nanako Kono (MFA 2025, Featured Artist)
Aya Nakamura (MFA 2011, Featured Artist)
Jan Tischy (MFA 2009, Professor, Photography, Art & Technology/Sound Practices, Featured Artist)
Araceli Zuniga (BFA 2022, Featured Artist)
Betsy O’Brien (BFA 2010, Featured Artist)
Brian Jucas (MFA 2022, Host committee member)
Marc LeBlanc (BFA 2003, Host committee member)
Cortney Lederer (MA 2009, Host committee member)
Pia Singh (MA 2020, Host committee member)

Sawhorse
4222 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago IL 60639
6:00–9:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Closing reception for Own Who You Are, a solo exhibition by Jesse Bond.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Molly Sheffield (MA 2024, Co-founder of Sawhorse)

Cerdito Muerto
1700 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60608
6:00–8:00 p.m.
RSVP Required
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Please join The Laksmi Project for the annual LP. Salon, featuring LP. Friend, Yvette Mayorga. Yvette Mayorga will be in conversation with film photographer and artist, Jairo Granados Cardenas at Pilsen restaurant Cerdito Muerto, as they examine the importance of Latinx art and artists in Chicago. The panel will be moderated by Andrea Alvarez, PhD, Curator at Buffalo AKG, with an introduction by Ionit Behar, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Limited spots available.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Yvette Mayorga (MFA 2016)
Ionit Behar (MA 2013)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
7:30–8:45 p.m.
Paid Admission
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Protected by Invisible Fence is a choreographic work that examines the often-unseen technological forces shaping contemporary life—from the pressure to optimize health and productivity to the performance of identity on social media. A responsive network is created onstage by eight human performers and eight technologically enhanced crowd-control stanchions that detect when performers pass by or touch them and share quantifications of these activities through sound and light. Vernacular movement patterns, adapted from sources such as TSA screenings, warehouse workflows, screen savers, and reflex tests, invite audiences to reflect on how surveillance technologies influence our relationships with one another.

Run time: approximately 75 minutes

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ginger Krebs (BFA 1998, Lead artist)
Eunjin Choi (MFA 2025, Performer)
Joseph Kramer (MFA 2010, Performer)
Yuxuan Zhong (BFA 2025, Performer)
Bocheng Zhang (BFA 2024, Collaborating artist)
John Rich (MFA 2011, Supporting MCA Staff)
Josh Hoglund (MFA 2015, Supporting MCA Staff)
Chloe Cucinotta (Post-Bacc 2016, Supporting MCA Staff)

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
3:00–5:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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This performance will be taking place in the MCA Plaza and is free and open to the public. The run time is roughly two hours. Audiences may come and go as they wish.

Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater blends the retro technology of stereoscopic photography with live performance-based image-making and explores the porch as an emblem of generosity and social porousness at a moment of increasing isolation and division. Inspired by the writings of 20th-century conservationist Aldo Leopold, the work centers on a pair of benches designed to support attentive observation of the natural world. With a set of 12 original stereoscopic photographs guiding a two-hour score, the performance investigates how slight differences in perception can produce either heightened depth or clashing understandings of reality.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Michelle Grabner (Professor, Crown Family Professor in Painting and Drawing)
Mark Jeffery (Professor, Performance)
Kelly Kaczynski (Professor, Adjunct, Sculpture and Low-Residency MFA)
Kristin Mariani (BFA 1994, MFA 2020, Professor, Adjunct, Fashion Design) 
Judd Morrissey (Professor, Art and Technology/Sound Practices, and Low-Residency MFA)
James Sommerfeldt (SAIC 2011, Lecturer, Fashion Design)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
2:00–3:15 p.m.
Paid Admission
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Protected by Invisible Fence is a choreographic work that examines the often-unseen technological forces shaping contemporary life—from the pressure to optimize health and productivity to the performance of identity on social media. A responsive network is created onstage by eight human performers and eight technologically enhanced crowd-control stanchions that detect when performers pass by or touch them and share quantifications of these activities through sound and light. Vernacular movement patterns, adapted from sources such as TSA screenings, warehouse workflows, screen savers, and reflex tests, invite audiences to reflect on how surveillance technologies influence our relationships with one another.

Run time: approximately 75 minutes

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ginger Krebs (BFA 1998, Lead artist)
Eunjin Choi (MFA 2025, Performer)
Joseph Kramer (MFA 2010, Performer)
Yuxuan Zhong (BFA 2025, Performer)
Bocheng Zhang (BFA 2024, Collaborating artist)
John Rich (MFA 2011, Supporting MCA Staff)
Josh Hoglund (MFA 2015, Supporting MCA Staff)
Chloe Cucinotta (Post-Bacc 2016, Supporting MCA Staff)

M. LeBlanc
3514 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
11:00 a.m.
Free Admission
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Join us Sunday, September 20, at 11:00 a.m., for an in-depth conversation with artist Joseph Grigely about the current exhibition.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Joseph Grigely (Professor, Visual and Critical Studies)
Marc LeBlanc (BFA 2003, Founder of M. LeBlanc)

Epiphany Center for the Arts
201 S. Ashland Ave.
Chicago, IL 60607
3:00–6:00 p.m.
Free Admission
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Closing reception featuring the work of LMRM, Ethan Shay-Cowell, LATITUDE, Laleh Motlagh, Benjamin Holmes and Max Li, along with a special video screening series curated by Teddy Sandler.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Vincent Uribe (BFA 2013, Director of Epiphany Center for the Arts)
Hope Wang (BFA 2018, Founder of LMRM)
Ethan Shay-Cowell (BFA 2025)
Dæja Hansdóttir (BFA 2015, Executive Director of LATITUDE)
Laleh Motlagh (Lecturer, Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects)
Benjamin Holmes (MFA 2026)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
4:00–4:45 p.m.
Included with museum admission

Maria Gaspar’s We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (After Angela Davis) is a sonic sculpture with live performance activations by guest musicians Damon Locks, Ben LaMar Gay, and Mauricio López F. Composed of salvaged jail debris found following the 2021 demolition of Division I at the Cook County Department of Corrections in Chicago, this work stems from the artist’s sustained engagement with the nearly century-old carceral institution located in Little Village, her childhood neighborhood.

The title is drawn from a line in Angela Davis: An Autobiography to highlight how community building and collective action are acts of creativity, trust, and transcendence. This concept is manifested in three distinct sculptures—a demolition bucket, a claw, and a grappler used during the jail’s deconstruction—which integrate cell bars to evoke its carceral history while honoring the lives of the individuals once held within. Woven into the physical soundscape and attunement of these bars, are lyrical components from a workshop series Gaspar facilitated at Walls Turned Sideways with poets and writers impacted by the criminal injustice system. Using the metal from the bars as a conductor, the musical improvisations generate a sonic structure of care, support, and release, standing in contrast to those of submission, restraint, and control.

Kovler Atrium. This performance is included with museum admission.

SAIC Community Spotlight:
Maria Gaspar (Professor, Contemporary Practices)
Damon Locks (BFA 1991)
Mauricio López F. (MFA 2025)

SAIC Galleries
33 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

'LeRroy Neiman: A Keen Observer of Style'
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
LeRoy Neiman (BFA 1950)

'Style is the Body Thinking'
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Michelle Grabner (Crown Family Professor in Painting and Drawing)(Curator)
Benny Andrews (BFA 1958)
Elijah Burgher (MFA 2004)
Nik Cho (BFA 2022, MFA 2024)
Jeanne Dunning (MFA 1985)
Mari Eastman (MFA 1996)
Yvette Mayorga (MFA 2016)
LeRoy Neiman (BFA 1950)
Aliza Nisenbaum (BFA 2001, MFA 2005)
Ed Paschke (BFA 1961, MFA 1970)
Brianna Perry (MFA 2024)
Cheryl Pope (BFA 2003)
Christina Ramberg (BFA 1968, MFA 1973)
Chloe Seibert (BFA 2011)
Tony Tasset (MFA 1985)
Karl Wirsum (BFA 1961, HON 2016)
Saya Woolfalk (MFA 2004)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611

'Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón'
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Edra Soto (MFA 2000)
Leasho Johnson (MFA 2020)

'Atrium Project: Celeste Rapone'
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Celeste Rapone (MFA 2013)

Hyde Park Art Center
5020 S. Cornell Ave.
Chicago, IL 60615

'Ground Floor: A Biennial Exhibition of New Art from Chicago' 
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Ricardo De Lima (MFA 2025)
Emma Difani (MFA 2026)
Aidan Anne Frierson (BFA 2021, MFA 2025)
Liang He (BFA 2022, MFA 2026)
Xingyu Huang (MFA 2025)
Susan Jablonski (BFA 2019)
Mauricio López F. (MFA 2025)
Isaiah Lee (MFA 2026)
Te Palandjian (MFA 2026)
Breanna Nannette Robinson (BFA 2017)
Nanako Kono (BFA 2023, MFA 2025)

'Jeff Carter: The Singer Pavilion Project'
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Jeff Carter (MFA 1998)

Chicago Artists Coalition
1431 W. Hubbard St., Suite 201
Chicago, IL 60642
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Sebastian Bruno-Harris (MFA 2023)
Rob Croll (MFA 2024)
Nick D'Alessandro (BFA 2023)
Van Payne (BFA 2023)

ACRE Projects
2921 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60657
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
E. Saffronia Downing (MFA 2020)

21c Museum Hotel Chicago
55 E. Ontario St. 
Chicago, IL 60611
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Willea Zwey (BIA 2014)

Met him pike hoses
1500 S. Western Ave., Suite 407
Chicago, IL 60608
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Danny Bredar (MFA 2019)

Chinese American Museum of Chicago
238 W. 23rd St.
Chicago, IL 60616
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Yuge Zhou (MFA 2015)

Regards Gallery
2216 W.Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Judith Geichman (MFA 1978)

Old Friends Gallery
3149 N. Halstead
Chicago, IL, 60657
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Fawn Penn (BFA 2020, Co-founder of Old Friends)

Monique Meloche Gallery
451 N. Paulina St.
Chicago, IL 60622
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SAIC Community Spotlight:
Monique Meloche (SAIC 1994, Owner of Monique Meloche)