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The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago features works of art from 1945 to the present. It hosts excellent exhibitions throughout the year.
History of the Museum of Contemporary Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 1964 by 30 art critics and collectors. It officially opened to the public in 1967. Since then, it has grown to become one of the largest museums of its kind in the world. It has a collection of about 2,700 objects as well as 3,000 artist’s books, and has hosted exhibitions by artists such as Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Claes Oldenburg (1929-2002), Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).
Museum of Contemporary Art Building
The Museum of Contemporary Art moved to its current location in 1996. The building was designed by German architect Josef Paul Kleihues (1933-2004) and was renovated in 2017. It sits on the site of a former National Guard armory built in 1907 and demolished in 1993.
Visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art
The museum is open daily except Mondays and suggested adult admission for non-Chicago residents is US$22 (as of September 2023). It’s located in Streeterville on the Near North Side, a block from Michigan Avenue east of the old Water Tower. The museum features a gift shop and a café, Marisol.
Exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art
When I last visited the museum in December 2021, there were a handful of exhibitions scattered throughout the galleries.
Caroline Kent Exhibition
First, I visited the Ed and Jackie Rabin Gallery on the second floor, where there was an exhibition by Chicago-based artist Caroline Kent. Kent works with abstract shapes and cutouts. The exhibition ran from August 3, 2021, to June 12, 2022. Another gallery on the north corner of the second floor also included works by Kent.
The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared
Across the hall in the Bergman Family Gallery was Bani Abidi: The Man Who Talked Until He Disappeared. This exhibition by Pakistani artist Bani Abidi featured lots of video, photography, and sound installations, with humor and absurdism mixed into the art. It ran from September 4, 2021, to June 5, 2022.
Sulfur Cycle 2.0
Continuing up to the fourth floor, the Turner Gallery contained Dan Peterman: Sulfur Cycle 2.0. Chicago-based artist Dan Peterman actually dismantled part of the gallery walls to reveal the museum was partially built with materials made from fossil fuels. The idea is to make people think about “how capitalism reorganizes nature—and how fossil fuels are so ingrained in our production and consumption cycles, they disappear into the environment we occupy”. This exhibition ran from December 19, 2020, to March 1, 2022.
Andrea Bowers Exhibition
My favorite exhibition in the Museum of Contemporary Art was on the fourth floor Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art. This exhibition by American artist and social activist Andrea Bowers ran from November 20, 2021, to March 27, 2022. It featured several different works of art exploring a variety of important national and international issues, creating a retrospective of 20 years of Bowers’ activism through art.
The first hall included works relating to women’s rights, touching on subjects such as abortion, bodily integrity, forced marriage, and the burden wives often carry. There were some impressive pieces made of acrylic marker on cardboard, letters, and a video installation.
The next hall featured more amazing cardboard works on activism and protesting, with equal rights, equal pay, LGBTQ rights, and justice for migrants.
The third hall focused on immigration and sanctuary cities. On the rear wall was the image of a barbed wire fence with the names of immigrants who lost their lives trying to cross the border.
Another hall included many works on environmental activism. On display were more cardboard works, a neon sculpture, and even a pirate ship.
The Black Girlhood Altar
A small gallery within the Andrea Bowers exhibition displayed the somber Black Girlhood Altar. It pays homage to young Black girls and women who have gone missing or been murdered. Bowers invited A Long Walk Home to use the space to bring awareness to the issue. A Long Walk Home is “a Chicago-based art organization that advocates for racial and gender equity and an end to violence against all women and girls”.
The Structure of Images
On the north side of the fourth floor is the Carol & Douglas Cohen Gallery. It featured Alfredo Jaar: The Structure of Images from August 28, 2021, to July 3, 2022. In this exhibition, Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar invites visitors to take a critical approach and look deeper into images to address political and social injustice.
The most important piece is a photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s (1929-1968) funeral from Life Magazine. Jaar uses a triptych to show racial disparity during the Civil Rights movement. The first photo is unaltered, the second photo pinpoints Black mourners, and the third photo pinpoints white mourners.
Atrium Project
Finally, before exiting through the gift shop, we admired a large mural in the Kovler Atrium. Peach House’s 5 Bucks Morning Special (2020), by Iranian artist Orkideh Torabi, was made of paint dye on cotton fabric transferred to vinyl. It’s a comical piece depicting the scenes of a traditional bathhouse, and was inspired by traditional Persian miniature paintings. The characters depicted in the work are based on men Torabi encountered during her childhood and on visits to Iran. The work was on display from January 16, 2021, to March 13, 2022.
