Arts Section Roundtable Discussion: ART DESIGN CHICAGO

WDCB's Gary Zidek sat down with representatives from Intuit: the Center For Intuitive & Outsider Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the National Museum of Mexican Art.

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WDCB's Gary Zidek sits down with Intuit: the Center For Intuitive and Outsider Art's Debra Kerr, the MCA's Lynn Warren, and the National Museum of Mexican Art's Cesareo Moreno to talk about their institutions' respective Art Design Chicago exhibits.

"We had been discussing for a few years, doing an exhibition like this. But of course to do the research, to borrow pieces from as far away as Mexico City, it takes a lot of assistance. And when you have an institution, a foundation like the Terra, really helping out, encouraging, and bringing people together from different institutions ... it makes it very possible." - Cesareo Moreno, director of Visual Arts and Chief Curator at the National Museum of Mexican Art talking about the impact of ART DESIGN CHICAGO. 

From L to R: Lynne Warren, curator at MCA, Debra Kerr, executive director of Intuit: the Center For Intuitive and Outsider Art and Cesareo Moreno, director of Visual Arts and Chief Curator at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Intuit's Debra Kerr, the National Museum of Mexican Art's Cesareo Moreno and the MCA's Lynne Warren joined Gary to talk about their institutions' respective ART DESIGN CHICAGO exhibitions currently on display.

Twenty-eighteen is the year of ART DESIGN CHICAGO.  The Terra Foundation initiative is exploring Chicago’s role as a world-class center for creativity and innovation. The Chicago-based non-profit collaborated with over 75 cultural organizations to work on a full year of programming, including 30 new exhibitions. 

MCA curator Lynne Warren talking to WDCB's Gary Zidek

Through ART DESIGN CHICAGO, the MCA was able to put a brighter spotlight on influential photographer Kenneth Josephson. 

Walking through PICTURE FICTION: KENNETH JOSEPHSON AND CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY

Matthew, Kenneth Josephson. 1965

Works by Barbara Kasten and Walead Beshty

Neil Young, Melanie Schiff. 1977

PICTURE FICTION: KENNETH JOSEPHSON AND CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through December 30.

A few miles away, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is presenting CHICAGO CALLING: ART AGAINST THE FLOW.

Pieces by Wesley Willis

The exhibit features works by late singer-songwriter and artist, Wesley Willis.

Henry Darger, Lee Godie, Mr. Imagination and Aldo Piacenza are some of the other artists featured in CHICAGO CALLING.

Untitled, Henry Darger.

Painting by Lee Godie

Pieces by Mr. Imagination

CHICAGO CALLING: ART AGAINST THE FLOW will be on display at Intuit through January 6, 2019. Then it heads to Europe.

Birdhouses by Aldo Piacenza

And the National Museum of Mexican Art is looking back at Mexican art in Chicago from 1893 to the Civil Rights era.

ARTE DESENO XICAGO will be on display through August 19.

All three of these exhibits are amplifying Chicago art and design stories that for various reasons never received the attention they deserved.  

The exhibitions are just a small sample of all the things going on under the ART DESIGN CHICAGO umbrella.  For more info and a complete schedule of programming click here.