Presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), /Dialogues brings together leading curators, artists, designers, and arts professionals for a series of panel discussions, forums, and artistic discourse on topics of the moment, including institution building and public art.

Visit EXPO Chicago

1:30–2:30pm

COMIC RELIEF | MOLLY ZUCKERMAN-HARTUNG IN CONVERSATION WITH TYLER BLACKWELL

This conversation celebrates Molly Zuckerman-Hartung’s (SAIC MFA 2007) first museum monograph, Comic Relief, which accompanied a major survey of her work at the Blaffer Art Museum in Houston, curated by Tyler Blackwell (SAIC BFA 2013). The book acts as both a record of the exhibition and the artist’s wide-ranging body of work—from her involvement in the underground punk Riot Grrrl scene to her work as a painter and creator of layered, multimedia objects. Zuckerman-Hartung and Blackwell will discuss the making of this exhibition and publication, as well as recent and upcoming projects. The Comic Relief monograph is designed by Mark Owens, Director of Design at Walker Art Center, and features new texts by Blackwell, curator/art historian Kate Nesin, archivist Lisa Darms, and artist Annie Bielski. This panel is presented in partnership with Printed Matter and Independent Curators International and will be followed by a book signing of Comic Relief.

3:30–4:30pm

FORECAST FORM | CARLA ACEVEDO-YATES IN CONVERSATION WITH SUCHITRA MATTAI AND COSMO WHYTE

Panelists | Carla Acevedo-Yates (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), Suchitra Mattai (Artist), Cosmo Whyte (Artist)

Join Carla Acevedo-Yates, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago for a conversation on her exhibition Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today–which features artworks whose formal approaches reconfigure the relationship between identity and place through the lens of diaspora, displacement, and dispersal. Acevedo-Yates will be joined in conversation by contributing artists Suchitra Mattai and Cosmo Whyte. Mattai is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses craft-based processes to address topics such as legacies of colonialism and relationships between culture and gender. Whyte creates conceptual work through drawing, performance, and sculpture that explores how notions of identity are disrupted by migration. Acevedo-Yates was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and has worked as a curator, researcher and art critic across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Forecast Form will travel to the ICA Boston this year and to MCA San Diego in 2024. This panel is presented in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and ArtNexus and will be followed by a book signing of the Forecast Form catalog in the Soho House Snug.   

7:00–8:00pm

CHANCE THE RAPPER IN CONVERSATION WITH HANK WILLIS THOMAS

For EXPO CHICAGO’s keynote conversation during its 10th Anniversary opening, Chance the Rapper will be in conversation with Hank Willis Thomas, each looking at recent public art projects and their community building potential. Chance will discuss his current and upcoming Star Line Gallery visual art collaborations and recent Black Star Line Festival in Ghana, while Hank will present his upcoming public art sculpture Reach in collaboration with Coby Kennedy at O’Hare International Airport in collaboration with the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and the many recent initiatives of For Freedoms including For Freedoms News. This panel is presented in partnership with CULTURED.

The /Dialogues stage also presents an exhibition curated by Chance of select works produced by artists from his upcoming Star Line Gallery album, in addition to artwork made by his close collaborators. In response to these works, Chance presents a series of live audio experiences following this panel from 8:00pm-9:00pm CT, and continuing on Friday and Saturday from 6:00-7:00 p.m. CT.