Exhibitions at cultural institutions across the city will feature renowned artists
The Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago is organizing three exhibitions this spring across the city, marking the 40th anniversary of the MacArthur Fellows Program.
The projects will be presented in conjunction with Toward Common Cause: Art, Social Change, and the MacArthur Fellows Program at 40. MacArthur Fellows Dawoud Bey, Jeffrey Gibson, An-My Lê and Shahzia Sikander are among the 29 participating artists.
Toward Common Cause is a multivenue exhibition, featuring more than two dozen exhibition, programmatic and research partner organizations, including UChicago’s Arts + Public Life.
The exhibition will encompass a broad spectrum of contemporary artistic practice, including community-based projects in public spaces as well as solo and group presentations in museum, gallery and community spaces.
Additional initiatives will open later this summer and into the fall. The full list of participating artists and other details are available online at the exhibition website.
Jeffrey Gibson: Sweet Bitter Love
May 28–September 18, 2021
Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL 60610
Sweet Bitter Love presents Jeffrey Gibson’s reflections on representations of Indigenous people in cultural institutions. Gibson, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, responds to nineteenth-century portraits of Indigenous people in the Newberry Library’s collection. His paintings and wallpaper refute ethnographic symbolism with vibrant, glittering layers.
