ARTnews
By Annie Armstrong 

The Expo Chicago art fair is expanding its programming for 2018, with an off-site edition of its “/Dialogues” discussion program at the Venice Architecture Biennale in May and, at the hometown fair in September, more talks in addition to a first-time Professionals Forum to convene specialists in mind of “managing, selling, and acquiring a contemporary collection,” according to an announcement.

On May 27, the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy will host /Dialogues talks with Chicago-based artists and architects including Shani Crowe, Amanda Williams, and Andres L. Hernandez, with moderation by Stephanie Cristello.

Later in the fall, at the Expo fair scheduled for September 27-30 in Chicago, the /Dialogues program will be held in conjunction with Art Design Chicago (a citywide initiative led by the Terra Foundation for American Art) and will feature performance, panel discussion, and screening events involving Brendan Fernandes, Sarah Thornton, Gerald Williams (on “AfriCOBRA: Chicago in the Age of Black Power”), Torkwase Dyson and Kay Rosen (on “Alterity and the Exhibition Environment: Feminist History of Alternative Spaces in Chicago”), Theaster Gates, and more. 

The inaugural Professionals Forum at the fair will assemble arts professionals including attorneys and advisors—as well as a former FBI art crime analyst—around the subject of “growing legal issues of fraudulent activity in art and strategies to subside it.” The daylong program will be presented in partnership with Northern Trust and Art Vérité.

In a statement, Stephanie Cristello, Expo’s director of programming, said the fair’s new programming “allows us to examine the integration of different histories that have contributed to our contemporary moment.”