SAIC MacArthur Fellows to Participate in a 2021 Chicago Exhibition

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the MacArthur Fellows program, 28 artists who have been awarded the "Genius" grant will participate in a single exhibition called Toward Common Cause in Chicago. Using the concept of “the commons” to explore our current moment, the exhibition will open in summer 2021 and be spread across 19 venues—one of which will be the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).

The event is organized by the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago and is curated by Abigail Winograd. In an interview with Artnet, Winograd says, "We started three years ago out of a sense of social urgency... talking about a set of issues that remain relevant and in some ways have become even more painfully relevant."

There are several SAIC alums and faculty who will be featured in the exhibition, including: 

Ida Applebroog (SAIC 1965), a multimedia artist who has spent five decades exposing gender politics and violence.

Mel Chin (HON 2020), a conceptual artist who has conducted several large-scale public installations.

Associate Professor LaToya Ruby Frazier, a photographer of racial justice and urban decay.

Jeffrey Gibson (BFA 1995), a painter and sculptor on the erasure of Indigenous traditions.

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (MFA 1989), a conceptual artist whose sculptural and video installations explore modern visions of utopia.

Trevor Paglen (MFA 2002), a conceptual artist and geographer best known for projects addressing government mass surveillance.