Current Exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago as Part of Design Chicago
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The Art Institute of Chicago is set to host a series of notable exhibitions during DesignChicago 2025, providing a sharp counterpoint to the trade show floor. These exhibitions serve as sites of influence, reflection, and production, offering diverse themes and artists.
One of the major highlights is the retrospective exhibition of Charles Gaines, titled Charles Gaines: Night/Crimes, which explores themes of identity, politics, and social justice through Gaines's conceptual art practices. The exhibition runs from August 16, 2025, to February 1, 2026.
Another significant exhibition is Tuan Andrew Nguyen: We Were Lost in Our Country, which delves into memory, loss, and the diaspora experience. This installation work will be on display from September 5, 2025, to March 9, 2026.
On Loss and Absence: Textiles of Mourning and Survival is another exhibition that focuses on textiles as mediums expressing themes of grief, memory, and cultural survival.
The symbolist art exhibition, Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination, engages with surreal and dreamlike imagery that questions reality. This exhibition runs from October 4, 2025, to January 5, 2026.
Besides these, the Art Institute is also hosting retrospectives and works by Elizabeth Catlett, Diane Simpson, Jane Alexander, and Bruce Goff, each emphasizing different art movements and cultural narratives.
The DesignChicago event takes place on October 8, 2025. Other exhibitions at the Art Institute during this time include H. C. Westermann's retrospective exhibition, H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker, showcasing his obsessive sculptural practice. This exhibition is on view at Gallery 227 of the Art Institute from October 8, 2025, to May 17, 2026.
The Dawn of Modernity: Japanese Prints, 1850-1900, an exhibition of Meiji-era printmaking and visual modernization, is another must-see exhibition. It presents a nuanced portrait of a culture negotiating its own modernity while retaining a distinctly Japanese aesthetic language. This exhibition is on view at Gallery 107 of the Art Institute from October 8, 2025, to October 13, 2025.
Pixy Liao's photography exhibition, Relationship Material, explores themes of intimacy, authorship, and gender roles. Raqib Shaw's 21-panel, 100-foot-wide painting, Paradise Lost, which incorporates a mix of fantastical imagery and self-portraiture, is another noteworthy exhibition.
The exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago during DesignChicago complicate and expand upon themes of contemporary design, raising questions about structure, identity, and ambition, themes that interior designers face every day inside their businesses. Each exhibition is precise in its curatorial vision and formally rigorous in its execution.
H. C. Westermann: Anchor Clanker is the most comprehensive presentation of H. C. Westermann's sculptures in Chicago in over two decades. The exhibition is anchored by a major gift from the Estate of Alan and Dorothy Press.
The prints in the exhibition The Dawn of Modernity: Japanese Prints, 1850-1900 reflect Japan's evolving national identity, technological advancement, and engagement with Western visual conventions.
These exhibitions, along with the broader DesignChicago 2025 event, which features diverse art and design expressions across the city, promise to make DesignChicago 2025 a memorable and enriching experience for all art and design enthusiasts.
- Amidst the varied exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago during DesignChicago 2025, a traveler might also find an interest in the news of contemporary design, as these exhibitions delve into themes that interior designers face in their lifestyle, such as structure, identity, and ambition.
- Beyond the intriguing world of interior design, theArt Institute of Chicago's DesignChicago 2025 exhibitions, like Pixy Liao's photography, Relationship Material, and the symbolist art exhibition, Strange Realities: The Symbolist Imagination, offer a glimpse into the wider realms of lifestyle and travel, inviting viewers to explore universal themes of intimacy, identity, and surrealism.
