September 20–December 20, 2014
The Art Institute of Chicago
Fullerton Hall
111 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago
Can a life practice be an art practice?
With this fall program of exhibitions, a symposium, events, and books, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago explores the role artists can play in shaping the future.
Exhibition
A Proximity of Consciousness: Art and Social Action
September 20–December 20
Opening: Friday, September 19
Sullivan Galleries, 33 South State Street, 7th floor
At the core of Chicago’s intellectual and creative life stand influential artists for whom this city itself was a springboard for a new way of thinking about art at the intersection of society. This exhibition brings their ideas alive through ten newly commissioned projects.
Exhibition
Joseph Beuys: Untitled (Sun State), 1974
Through February 6, 2015
The Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Wing, Gallery 294, 159 East Monroe Street
Joseph Beuys spoke at SAIC during his 1974 trip to the United States to promote his Free International University. The chalkboard created during that lecture-performance returns to Chicago on the 40th anniversary of the artist’s historic trip, on loan from the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Lecture
“In Dialogue: Claire Bishop and Claire Doherty”
Thursday, October 2, 6pm
Rubloff Auditorium, 230 South Columbus Drive
This dialogue between art historian and critic Claire Bishop and Claire Doherty, who is renowned for pioneering new forms of public art in unexpected locations across the world, continues a season of critical thinking around social practice.
Symposium
“A Lived Practice”
November 6–8
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 South Michigan Avenue
Registration for “A Lived Practice” symposium will open in early October.
This weekend intensive program probes the reciprocal relationship of art and life: one can make a life as an artist, but we can all lead a meaningful life of heightened consciousness and awareness. So what can we glean from art practice to cultivate our own life practice?
Books
Chicago Social Practice History series
Published by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Distributed by the University of Chicago Press
This series of four 225-page illustrated books examines for the first time Chicago’s thinkers and makers who have defined the intellectual and creative life of this city.
About the Sullivan Galleries
SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries are located in Louis Sullivan’s historic masterpiece, the Carson Pirie Scott & Co. building. Exhibitions and public programs feature the work of both acclaimed artists and those new on the scene who work collaboratively with the SAIC community to explore how art functions within society today. As the public arm of SAIC’s Department of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies, Sullivan Galleries seek to generate new research around issues, ideas, and professional practices in art and design, while stimulating dialogue among the wider Chicago arts community. In addition to commissioning international artists to create new work, Sullivan Galleries runs an ambitious practicum program in curatorial training for SAIC students.
“A Lived Practice” follows on two citywide exhibition programs initiated by the SAIC Department of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies: Studio Chicago (2010–11), which led to the publication The Studio Reader: On the Space of Artists (University of Chicago Press, 2010), and Living Modern Chicago, a new look at Modernism with the Mies van der Rohe Society at IIT (2008–10) retraced in Chicago Makes Modern: How Creative Minds Changed Society (University of Chicago Press, 2012).
Public hours for the Sullivan Galleries are Tuesday–Saturday 11am–6pm. Free admission.
About The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
A leader in educating artists, designers, and scholars since 1866, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) offers nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees and post-baccalaureate programs to more than 3,200 students from around the globe. For more information, please visit saic.edu.
