Expo Chicago Talks Series to Address ‘Post-Truth’ Era, Race and Representation, Other Issues

For its sixth edition at Chicago’s Navy Pier this September, the art fair Expo Chicago will be taking on timely topics as part of its talks program, among them the so-called “post-truth” era and matters relating to race.

The “post-truth” era will be the subject of a conversation on art criticism, and “Race and Representation” is the title of a curatorial session led by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Senior Curator Valerie Cassel Oliver.

Expo Chicago has two talks programs: a “/Dialogues” series that takes place in a large auditorium on the main floor of the convention center adjacent to the gallery booths, and another—comprised of smaller, more private sessions—in a room on the second floor. This year, Expo has moved the Art Critics Forum to the main stage for a September 14 discussion of “Criticism in the Post-Truth Era” featuring Afterall Editor Ana Bilbao, artnet News writer Kenny Schachter, freelance critic Kevin McGarry, and ARTnews Editor-in-Chief Sarah Douglas, along with moderator Christian Viveros-Faune.

For the first time at Expo, the Curatorial Forum, organized with Independent Curators International, will consist of a series of sessions held upstairs, followed by a wrap-up panel discussion on the “/Dialogues” stage. In addition to the session on race and representation, others will include “Contemporary Literacy,” led by Queens Museum of Art curator Larissa Harris; “Presenting Performance In and Outside the Gallery,” led by independent curator Fionn Meade; “Socially Engaged Practice,” led by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s curator of education and public programs, Dominic Willsdon; and “Regional Collaborations,” led by Miranda Lash, a curator at the Speed Art Museum. The wrap-up conversation on September 14 will feature Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s senior curator Valerie Cassel Oliver and MCA Chicago curator Naomi Beckwith.