COURTESY EXPO CHICAGO
Expo Chicago has detailed its 2018 “/Dialogues” talks program, which will be held throughout the fair’s run, from September 27 to 30. Headlining the series this year is “Present Histories: Art & Design in Chicago,” a day-long symposium that will coincide with the Terra Foundation for American Art’s ongoing Art Design Chicago initiative and which will address 50 years of art and design history in the Windy City.
Additionally, the fair will present its first-ever Professionals Forum, a series of presentations by art-market experts. Among the topics addressed will be stolen Jasper Johns work, the destruction of the New York graffiti park 5 Pointz, and intellectual property cases.
Other talks to be staged as part of “/Dialogues” include a conversation about the Underground Railroad that will feature photographer Dawoud Bey and University of California, Los Angeles professor Steven Nelson; “Criticism and the Image,” which focuses on the role that pictures play in writing about art; and a talk about the U.S. pavilion at the current Venice Architecture Biennale. (As part of 2018’s expanded “/Dialogues” program, talks were also held at the U.S. pavilion earlier this year.)
Stephanie Cristello, Expo Chicago’s director of programming, said of this year’s talks program, “Providing a platform for rigorous criticism and discourse is at the core of Expo Chicago’s programming, and we are thrilled to be working with leading international artists, professionals and scholars on presenting curated discussions that will range from themes of citizenship, representation, history and immersion through the lens of contemporary art.”