EXPO CHICAGO Announces 2020 Alignments
Press Release

CHICAGO – EXPO CHICAGO, the International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art (September 24–27, 2020), is pleased to announce its year-round alignments with several globally recognized creative partners surrounding the ninth annual edition. In 2020, EXPO CHICAGO will partner with Nick Cave and Navy Pier to present the artist’s dance-based town hall The Let Go in April; ART WORLD CONFERENCE to present an annual convening of artists and arts professionals off-site during the exposition; and the Malmö Art Museum, Danish Arts Foundation and ART 2030 for an Off-Site Pavilion Exhibition with a Nordic focus opening in September in alignment with the exposition before traveling to Scandinavia.

“As EXPO CHICAGO looks to its ninth edition in 2020, we continue to solidify our place as a year-round platform for creative endeavors on both a local and global scale,” said EXPO CHICAGO President | Director Tony Karman. “Opening with Nick Cave’s interactive performance The Let Go at Navy Pier in April 2020, the ninth edition of the exposition will feature numerous alignments, including Art World Conference and a pavilion exhibition featuring Scandinavian artists,” he added. “These initiatives and soon to be announced programs will add vital cultural experiences to the City of Chicago, ensuring that next year’s exposition is as engaging and critically acclaimed as our past editions.”

The Let Go by Nick Cave | April 3 12, 2020

Interdisciplinary artist Nick Cave will transform Navy Pier’s Festival Hall into a dance-based town hall—part installation, part performance—to which the Chicago community will be invited to “let go” and speak their minds through movement, work out frustrations and celebrate independence as well as community. The reimagined Festival Hall A at Navy Pier will allow for social gatherings and be activated by “chase,” a multi-colored, 40-foot high, 100-foot-long mylar sculpture that glides across the dance floor. The multi-disciplinary experience is presented by Navy Pier in partnership with EXPO CHICAGO and the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

“The most important part of my practice as an artist is when the work intersects directly with the moment in time we are all sharing and with each other,” said artist Nick Cave. “The Let Go is exactly what we need going into the 2020 election season, where all our energies will be on high and what we really need is to be clear headed. I am thrilled to share this work at this time with my hometown community of Chicago.”
“Nick Cave is one of the most imaginative, innovative and inclusive artists in the world, and we are fortunate to have him in Chicago as an active member of our cultural community,” said Navy Pier Chief Programming and Civic Engagement Officer Michelle T. Boone. “Navy Pier is thrilled to partner with Nick Cave, the Park Avenue Armory, EXPO CHICAGO and the many local artists, performers and citizens that will be a part of this dynamic experience.”

ART WORLD CONFERENCE | September, 2020

Art World Conference will take place in Chicago in alignment with the ninth edition of EXPO CHICAGO in September, 2020. The conference is an annual convening of artists and arts professionals focused on career development, empowerment and the sharing of practical, actionable information on business and financial literacy to build and sustain careers in the arts. Art World Conference brings together innovators, thought leaders, arts professionals and visual artists at all stages of their careers. Through panel discussions, conversations and workshops led by dozens of experts in the field, Art World Conference addresses many of the opportunities and challenges faced by visual artists and arts professionals who are transforming the creative sector and culture-at-large. Topics range from financial planning, contracts, negotiation, taxes, managing debt, real estate and investing to new technologies, public projects, social media and growing audience.

“Artists are creative professionals and entrepreneurs,” said Art World Conference organizers,Dexter Wimberly and Heather Bhandari. “Whether small or large, they are running businesses. Therefore, they need to be aware of the day-to-day operations of a business: taxes, contracts and expectations when working with other businesses. The conference is about providing information, ideas, and resources so that artists can chart their own paths toward their individual goals, which may involve upward mobility, economic sustainability, reaching new audiences, saving for retirement, creating a stable digital archive, or a complex mix of these many things.”

Off-Site Exhibition Pavilion | September, 2020

Following the Palais de Tokyo collaboration in 2017 and a continuation of the exposition’s core Curatorial Initiatives program, the Nordic Pavilion exhibition, co-organized by EXPO CHICAGO and the Malmö Art Museum, will present works by Scandinavian artists in dialogue with artists from Chicago and the region, in alignment with the ninth annual exposition. The presentation and program will be supported by Danish Arts Foundation and aligned with ART 2030, a mission-driven organization that works with internationally renowned artists to achieve the UN Global Goals. The thematic of the Nordic Pavilion exhibition aligns with the UN’s Goal 11: to make cities and human settlements inclusive, resilient and sustainable. The exhibition will originate in Chicago during EXPO CHICAGO 2020 at a location to be announced and travel to Scandinavian institutions, beginning with the Malmö Art Museum in 2021.

“With the launch of the Nordic Pavilion in 2020, EXPO CHICAGO continues to be one of the only art fairs in the world organizing major institutional exhibitions with international partners,”said EXPO CHICAGO Artistic Director Stephanie Cristello. “I am confident that Kirse’s keen curatorial eye and unique culturally, socially and politically engaged approach will be the perfect complement to the work being forged by artists in Chicago and the region, and look forward to introducing the different contexts the artists and partners from the United States and Scandinavia will bring to both platforms for the exhibition.”

“Countries in Scandinavia see themselves as sustainability pioneers, even though the statistics say we are among some of the most CO2 producing countries, due to the high level of living and equality,” said Malmö Art Museum Director and 2018 Curatorial Exchange Participant Kirse Junge-Stevnsborg. “I look forward to considering how art can put focus on how we can share our experiences and learn from each other across countries and on a global scale.”