Fall exhibitions

This fall, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) 32,000 square foot public exhibition space, Sullivan Galleries, will host work from students, faculty, and acclaimed and emerging artists.

Envisioning Justice
New Visions Beyond Incarceration by Chicago Artists & Communities
Through October 12
What do we mean when we ask for and envision justice? Envisioning Justice shares the work of Chicago artists and communities as they visualize, actualize, and reimagine strategies, policies, and approaches in the service of a society that is just for all. Featuring artwork, ephemera, and documentation from seven Chicago communities impacted by incarceration and works by artists whose practices respond to such themes, this exhibition interrogates the failures of our criminal justice system while presenting plans toward self-empowerment and communal liberation. Envisioning Justice includes artworks, collective action, and curatorial efforts of more than a dozen SAIC faculty, alums, and students, including curator Alexandria Eregbu (BFA 2013), and is presented in partnership with Illinois Humanities.

Faculty Projects exhibition
Through October 19, 2019
Faculty Projects is an annual exhibition that presents work by SAIC faculty who have recently completed sabbatical and other leave projects or who are retiring. By sharing their current work with the School community, faculty can communicate how their research and practices relate to the local, national, and international art and design communities. The exhibition features work by Christopher Baker (Art and Technology Studies), Susanna Coffey (Painting and Drawing), Shawn Decker (Sound, Art and Technology Studies), Richard Deutsch (Painting and Drawing), Andy Hall (Contemporary Practices), Michiko Itatani (Painting and Drawing), Ginger Krebs (Performance), Shaurya Kumar (Printmedia), Kirsten Leenaars (Contemporary Practices), Joan Livingstone (Fiber and Material Studies), Adelheid Mers (Arts Administration and Policy), Mary Patten (Visual and Critical Studies; Film, Video, New Media, and Animation), Kerry Richardson (Contemporary Practices; Film, Video, New Media, and Animation), and Shawn Michelle Smith (Visual and Critical Studies). Faculty Projects is organized by graduate curatorial assistants Tess Haratonik (Dual MA 2020) and Nura Husseini (MFA 2020).

A Constellation of Instances
Through October 18, 2019
We encounter constellations as pre-determined. But, if we look again they can be re-inscribed with infinite variability. Just as we can redraw the lines between stars, we do not have to perceive personal narratives composed of memories, spaces, and times as fixed. Curated by graduate curatorial assistants Constanza Mendoza-Guerra (MA 2020) and Shannon Hebert Waldman (Dual MA 2020), the work of the seven artists gathered in A Constellation of Instances invite us to reroute our narrations of reality. The work on view challenges static modes of storytelling that value long dominant perspectives, moving us instead towards a position of dynamic storytelling which emphasizes the need for a multiplicity of perspectives. From this frame of reference, the works acknowledge that circumstances change how we talk about ourselves and the world around us at specific times in our lives.

Re:Working Labor
September 21–November 27
Bringing together more than 80 artists in 12 projects that produce new representations of labor in an increasingly technologized global economy, Re:Working Labor aims to produce not one conversation, but overlapping conversations—perspectives that touch one another—with representations of contemporary labor that shift in scale and scope, yet speak to each other in fundamental ways. The exhibition is part of a multi-year research project on the subject of labor curated by Daniel Eisenberg and Ellen Rothenberg, inaugural fellows in SAIC’s Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice. An integrated program of lectures, workshops, presentations, performances, and film screenings, has been scheduled to accompany the exhibition throughout fall 2019.

Participating artists include:Yuri Ancarani, Stephanie Comilang, Antje Ehmann, Kevin Jerome Everson, Harun Farocki, Cao Fei, Fabien Giraud, David Hall, Deanna Ledezma, Carole Frances Lung, Nneka Kai, Ibrahim Mahama, Julia Pello, John Preus, Riar Rizaldi, Josh Rios, Anthony Romero, Stephanie Rothenberg, Gregory Sholette, Raphaël Siboni, Eva Stotz, Pilvi Takala, Ryan Trecartin, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Leilah Weinraub, Caroline Woolard, and Li Ziqi.

Fall undergraduate exhibition
November 16–December 6
SAIC’s annual exhibition features work from more than 100 talented SAIC students completing undergraduate degrees this fall. SAIC promotes crossing disciplines and challenging assumptions, and the results of this approach are showcased in this exhibition.

About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. Learn more at saic.edu.