Curators at Art Fairs: EXPO CHICAGO’s Unique Approach

By Tammy Yu-Ting Hsieh

"Isn’t an art fair just a place where transactions for artwork take place? What is its relationship with curators?" At the end of 2022, when I saw the Curatorial Exchange program from EXPO CHICAGO, I couldn't help but wonder. As a curator of a public art museum in Taiwan, art fairs are not places where I have been deeply involved in. However, in early April this year, after participating in the Curatorial Exchange Program jointly organized by EXPO CHICAGO and Independent Curators International (ICI), I came away with many new ideas and thought about the possibilities that lie between curators and art fairs.

EXPO CHICAGO celebrated its 10th year in 2023, and its predecessor, Art Chicago, was established in the 1980s. This art fair ceased operations in 2011 due to poor management, and made a comeback in 2012 under a new name. After having operated successfully for ten years, it was officially acquired by the Frieze Group in July this year. Although the art market in Chicago is not as active as the two coasts of the United States, it is home to world-class museums and academic institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the University of Chicago, all fueling Chicago with an abundance of academic and curatorial energy.

A talk organized by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for EXPO CHICAGO, where Grammy winner, Chicago native and an art enthusiast, Chance the Rapper, was invited to chat with artist Hank Willis Thomas, and the event received overwhelming responses from the public.

Since 2016, EXPO CHICAGO has collaborated with ICI, holding Curator Exchange events inviting U.S. and international curators to participate (note). In 2023, a total of 40 U.S. curators and 23 international curators were invited to come together. We all joked that we had never been to an occasion with such a high density of curators in our lives.

The Curatorial Exchange Program,organized by EXPO CHICAGO in collaboration with embassies of various states, invited countries to sponsor suitable curators to participate in the program. This exchange involved keynote speeches, exhibition previews, institutional visits, closed door discussions, and artist studio visits, not to mention lectures, screenings, parties and activities of various sizes during the EXPO. It was easy to feel the thoughtfulness and flexibility given to the organization of the program. Group activities typically took place in the morning and before two or three o'clock in the afternoon. This left the late afternoons and evenings for the curators to use as they saw fit. A few weeks before leaving for the exchange, the program coordinator of the program even contacted each curator one by one to explain the content of the event, and proactively recommended institutions and artist studios for the curator's reference based on the curator's background and issues they showed interest in.

The curators visiting the Smart Museum at the University of Chicago.

Curator Tammy Yu-Ting Hsieh and curators from various countries visiting the studio of the Chicago art collective, Floating Museum.

As a curator from Taiwan, my participation in EXPO CHICAGO’s Curatorial Exchange Program expanded my understanding of curatorial practice and provided opportunities to interact with my peers. It also helped me quickly grasp the basic outline of Chicago's art ecology, including its institutions, foundations, art galleries, and artists. This experience may even open doors to curate exhibitions abroad to promote Taiwanese artists. . Many of the international curators who participated in the previous years have returned to Chicago to curate exhibitions. For example, Jeanette Bisschops, a Dutch curator who participated in 2022, curated a group exhibition of Dutch video artists this year, which featured the performance artwork HIGHER xtn by the Italian artist Michele Rizzo, who had settled in the Netherlands. This project was also sponsored by the Dutch Culture USA program and the Mondriaan Fund, significantly enhanced the visibility of Dutch artists.

On the other side of the spectrum, the importance of curators to fairs was also demonstrated in every aspect at EXPO CHICAGO. From the curation of the themes for various public art and large-scale installations, to the speakers at the forum, the active presence of the curators could be seen and felt. In this aspect, ART TAIPEI has also hosted numerous remarkable exhibitions, such as "GAGA & TABU" x Nobuo Takamori, and the "Artificial, Evolution and Sustainable Future” Special Exhibition. But what amazed me the most about EXPO CHICAGO was that the conference thoughtfully provided the participating curators with a list of one hundred local Chicago artists, and actively matched the international curators and curators from other U.S. cities with Chicago-based artists so that they can visit the artists’ studios. The list was composed of artists recommended by the galleries attending the EXPO, and the organizers also selected artists who have participated in the fair in the past. Through such references from curators, local artists were given the opportunity to be studied, reported on, and even be able to be exhibited at overseas institutions and biennials Their works might be collected by institutions and foundations so as to further their presence in global markets.

The Artificial, Evolution and Sustainable Future Special Exhibition curated by Bo-cheng Shen at ART TAIPEI 2022

By sharing my experience of EXPO CHICAGO, I hope that it can inspire readers to think about more ways to connect the art community. Whether they are in an art institution, a foundation, a gallery, a creator, a collector or an art and culture worker, all coexist within a shared art ecosystem. As occasions where people come together, art fairs can connect the various members of the art sector, to allow them to understand each other’s needs and respective, and perhaps reveal the possibilities that exist in each connection. ART TAIPEI, an iconic art fair in Asia with a rich history, is also connected to curator communities active across Taiwan, and I believe that as it enters its 30th anniversary, it can build on the experience of EXPO CHICAGO to reveal more possibilities in its collaboration with curators.

Note: Independent Curators International is a non-profit organization founded in 1975, headquartered in New York, USA. In 2022, ICI established its Chicago office. The organization is primarily engaged in producing exhibitions, organizing related events and education programs, publishing reports and research, and more. It is committed to promoting contemporary art through curating touring exhibitions. In recent years, Independent Curators International has held Curatorial Initiatives in Asian cities, such as Bangkok, Thailand, and Jakarta, Indonesia. Taiwanese curators who have collaborated with them include: Manray Hsu, Amy Cheng, and others.