2019 Curatorial Forum

Sep 18 – 21, 2019

Chicago, IL, USA

EXPO CHICAGO

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

The 2019 Curatorial Forum offered a group of mid-career and established curators, working independently or with an institutional affiliation, the opportunity to engage with their peers and explore significant issues relating to curating, programming, institution-building and audience engagement. It opened with a keynote presentation by Zoe Butt, Artistic Director at The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, for Forum participants, Chicago professionals and other visiting curators, and featured a series of peer-led, closed-door sessions focused on critical questions relevant to contemporary practice and context. The session topics included “Race, Gender, Representation,” “Architecture,” “Placefulness,” “Accessibility,” and “University Galleries in the Era of Globalized Knowledge.”

Keynote

Zoe Butt is a curator, writer, and founder and director of in-tangible institute. She nurtures critical thinking and historically conscious artistic communities, fostering dialogue among cultures of the globalizing souths.

Session Leaders and Collaborators

C. Ondine Chavoya

C. Ondine Chavoya is a writer and curator who holds the John D. Murchison Regents Professorship in Art at the University of Texas at Austin.

José Esparza Chong Cuy

José Esparza Chong Cuy is the Executive Director and Chief Curator at Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Sara Raza

Sara Raza is an award-winning curator and writer specializing in global art and visual cultures from a postcolonial and post-Soviet perspective.

Cara Starke

Cara Starke is Director of the Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis.

Dominic Willsdon

Dominic Willsdon is an educator and curator. He is the Director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he is also associate professor in art education.

EXPO CHICAGO

EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art, features leading international galleries alongside one of the highest quality platforms for contemporary art and culture.

Participating Curators

Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Brandon Alvendia, Giovanna Borasi, Maite Borjabad, Anthony Carfello, Claire D'Alba, Dina Deitsch, Don Desmett, Grace Deveney, Catherine Futter, Kimberli Gant, Jia Gu, Mary Heathcott, Carmen Hermo, Kaytie Johnson, Ross Jordan, Leslie Laird Luebbers,

Barbara London, Diana Nawi, Heather Pesanti, Monica Obniski, Meg Onli, Marina-Teresa Otero Verzier, Claudia Schmuckli, Allison Quinn, Anne-Claire Schmitz, Wil Ruggiero, Lorelei Stewart, Irene Sunwoo, Valentine Umansky, Max Weintraub, Abigail Winograd, Tanya Zimbardo

About EXPO CHICAGO

EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art features leading international galleries alongside one of the highest quality platforms for contemporary art and culture. Hosted within historic Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, EXPO CHICAGO presents a diverse program, including /Dialogues (presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and Exchange by Northern Trust, an unrivaled talks program for both public and VIP audiences; IN/SITU, dynamic on-site installations highlighting large-scale sculpture, film, and site-specific work; and major public art initiatives, including IN/SITU Outside, public art installed throughout Chicago Park District locations, and OVERRIDE | A Billboard Project, a curated selection of international artists throughout the city’s digital billboard network. The EXPO CHICAGO program also features an unprecedented commitment to host curatorial initiatives during the exposition, including the Curatorial Forum in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI), and the Curatorial Exchange, which partners with foreign agencies and consulates to expand the exposition’s global reach.

Credits

This Curatorial Forum was a collaboration and ongoing partnership with The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and participation by alumni of the prestigious Marjorie Susman Curatorial Fellowship at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in honor of the Fellowship's 20th anniversary. Support for the 2019 Curatorial Forum was provided by Heritage Auctions; Marjorie and Ambassador Louis Susman/the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Art; the Tremaine Foundation; Willis Towers Watson; and Terry Dowd Incorporated.