Collection in Conversation with Pablo Helguera

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago has invited artist and educator Pablo Helguera to create an exhibition focused on its permanent collection. This exhibition, Collection in Conversation with Pablo Helguera, is informed by a series of conversations Helguera had with a group of Chicago artists, writers, activists, and educators in the fall of 2024 and winter of 2025 around the role of art in moments of uncertainty.

Curated by Helguera and representatives from the MCA’s curatorial and learning teams, the exhibition spans all three floors of the museum’s iconic stairwell galleries and explores themes that emerged during Helguera’s conversations with participants. Accompanied by the voices of the individuals whose unique perspectives on the present informed the selection of works, Collection in Conversation with Pablo Helguera presents well-known works from the collection in an entirely new context—a conversation between Chicagoans reckoning with the present.

Chicago participants included Olivia Gude, Tempestt Hazel, Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, Ankit Khadgi, Maira Khwaja, S. Y. Lim, Stephanie Manriquez, Magdalena Moskalewicz, Nissa Rhee, Monica Rickert-Bolter, Mérida M. Rúa, Pia Singh, Carlos Salazar-Lermont, Sufyan Sohel, and several others who wish to remain anonymous.

Collection in Conversation with Pablo Helguera is organized by guest curator Pablo Helguera with Miguel Aguilar, Manager of Learning, School Partnerships and Curriculum, and Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate.