Curating and the Commons

From April 11–12, 2024, EXPO CHICAGO and Independent Curators International (ICI) presented Curating and the Commons, the organizations’ first-ever free, public curatorial conference on-site at the 11th edition of EXPO CHICAGO. Over the course of two days, the curatorial conference brought together over 200 attendees to explore both the civic nature and possibilities of art and curatorial practice, and was kicked off with a keynote from Miguel A. López, co-curator for the 2024 edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art. 
 
Following the lecture there were three panel discussions entitled Common Knowledge, Common Space, and Common Future, each conceived around key questions and organized on a loose temporal framework. Common Knowledge reached into the past, and explored how archives, collections, and libraries can shape a collective memory. Common Space was invested in how communities physically shape the present. And lastly, Common Future examined the civic role that the arts can play in not only imagining, but actively creating a better future.

Keynote by Miguel A. López

Keynote by writer, curator and co-curator of the 2024 edition of the Toronto Biennial of Art, Miguel A. López. His practice focuses on the role of art in politics and public life, collective work and collaborative dynamics, and queer and feminist rewritings of history.

Common Knowledge 

Panelists: Felipe Mujica, Artist; Savannah Wood, Executive Director, Afro Charities
Moderator: Sampada Aranke, Associate Professor of Art History and Comparative Studies, Ohio State University

Common Knowledge reaches into our collective past to explore the power that archives and collections have to shape our collective memory, history, and the lessons that we derive from them. The conversation ranges from the personal, thinking about artists and artist spaces as archives unto themselves and the importance of writing your own history, all the way to the communal, looking at the archive as a public service. 

Common Space

Panelists: Ange Loft, Artist; Jay Pather, Professor / Director, Institute for Creative Arts at University Cape Town
Moderator: Risa Puleo, Independent Curator, Co-Curator COUNTERPUBLIC Triennial 2023

Common Space is invested in how we physically shape our present. How can curatorial work reframe how we think about public space in an increasingly privatized environment? Against the backdrop of a growing number of biennials, triennials, public art commissions, and the like, panelists discuss how artists and curators navigate their relationship with shared space and the public, and dissect the sociopolitical complexities of who we even mean by that term.

Common Future 

Panelists: Joseph Cuillier, Co-Director/Creative Director, The Black School; Michele Horrigan, Founder and Director, Askeaton Contemporary Arts; Shani Peters, Co-Director/Managing Director, The Black School.
Moderator: Megha Ralapati, Program Director Fellowships, CEC ArtsLink

Common Future examines what may lie ahead, and the civic role that the arts can play in not only imagining but actively creating a better future. It is evident all around us that the world is at a critical juncture point. We all need to decide what values we want to pass on to future generations, and how to encode those into the work that we do and the spaces we create. Drawing on their own projects, panelists discuss notions of value-based organizations, the role of education, and what it takes to build community.

The 2024 Curatorial Forum was co-produced by EXPO CHICAGO and ICI, and made possible, in part, by the generous support of 21c Museum Hotel Chicago, and the Joyce Foundation, Teiger Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Hartfield Foundation; with additional support by UAP | Urban Art Projects; Terry Dowd, Inc; and Gallagher. It is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.