The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, concluded its fifth edition on Sunday, September 25, with record attendance of more than 38,000 visitors, exceptional presentations from exhibiting galleries, and strong sales. On opening night alone, the exposition welcomed 8,250 guests while raising money to benefit the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago during Vernissage. Mounted annually at the historic Navy Pier in Chicago, the international exposition featured 145 of the world’s leading galleries from 22 countries and 53 cities and presented work from more than 3,000 artists by galleries and through programming including /Dialogues, IN/SITU, IN/SITU Outside, EXPO Projects, EXPO VIDEO and Special Exhibitions. Exhibitors voiced strong support from the greater Midwest collector base in addition to a high volume of museum curators and institutions from around the country and abroad.
“I am extremely grateful to the exhibiting dealers who participated in the landmark fifth edition of EXPO CHICAGO,” said EXPO CHICAGO President | Director Tony Karman. “Milestones like this can only be achieved with the unprecedented support of Chicago’s cultural and civic community, along with the numerous global partnerships and collaborations that we have developed with international collectors, curators, artists and gallerists,” he added. “I feel strongly, and without question, that we have established our place on the annual art fair calendar and we look forward to continuing to welcome the world each September to the great city of Chicago in support of our exhibitors.” “We were very happy to be back in Chicago for this year’s fair. It was an active and knowledgeable audience and sales exceeded our expectations. The organizers of the fair and the arts community in Chicago did an excellent job of facilitating meaningful conversations between gallerists and collectors and institutions. We’re looking forward to returning in 2017.” Nicholas Olney | Paul Kasmin Gallery
“We saw a lot familiar faces and met several new collectors, had fruitful conversations with curators and museum directors from all over the country, and received plenty of positive feedback on the works in our booth, some of which resulted in sales.” Claire Bergeal | Bortolami Gallery .“We had a wonderful time in Chicago. We were thrilled with how involved the local institutions were with the fair as well as how many curators from around the world attended. It was also fantastic to connect with the established Chicago collections.” Peggy Leboeuf | Galerie Perrotin“Remarkable improvement for König Galerie this year. EXPO CHICAGO was an excellent experience for us as sales were strong and we could equally strengthen and built valuable long term relationships.” Sarah Miltenberger | König Galerie
Expo Chicago’s robust programming allowed visitors the opportunity to extend discussion and discourse beyond the booths of the fair. Dialogues, presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, once again offered panel discussions, conversations and provocative artistic discourse between today’s most respected art professionals including Kerry James Marshall in conversation with Sarah Thornton, giving one of the most intimate looks into the artists method while drawing the largest, standing room-only crowd in the fair’s five year history. Other featured conversations included an inaugural symposium featuring founding members of ART & LANGUAGE, artists Mel Ramsden and Michael Baldwin, as well as Philippe Méaille, Jill Silverman Coenegrachts and Guillaume Désanges; Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Joseph Grigely; Beatrix Ruf and Jack Pierson with Linda Yablonsky; a roundtable on the economy of contemporary African art with Bomi Odufunade, Yesomi Umolu, Mary Sibande and Kenneth Montague; and Pablo León de la Barra in conversation with Iván Navarro; among others.
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