Mission: The Art Institute of Chicago collects, preserves, and interprets works of art of the highest quality, representing the world's diverse artistic traditions, for the inspiration and education of the public and in accordance with our profession's highest ethical standards and practices.
One of the nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago offers exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art created since 1945. MCA Chicago documents contemporary visual culture through painting, sculpture, photography, video and film, and performance. Located in the heart of downtown Chicago, the MCA boasts a gift store, bookstore, restaurant, 300-seat theater, and a terraced sculpture garden with a great view of Lake Michigan.
Museum Campus is a 57acre park in Chicago that sits alongside Lake Michigan and encompasses five of the city's most notable attractions: the Adler Planetarium, America's first planetarium; the Shedd Aquarium; the Field Museum of Natural History; Soldier Field, home of the NFL Chicago Bears football team; and the Lakeside Center of McCormick Place. Museum Campus sits adjacent to Northerly Island along the waterfront.HistoryThe Museum Campus was created to transform the vicinity of three of the city's most notable museums – the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum of Natural History – along with Soldier Field stadium, into a scenic pedestrian-friendly area. The area is landscaped with greenery and flora as well as jogging paths and walkways. A picturesque promenade along Solidarity Drive, an isthmus, links Northerly Island to the mainland. The drive itself is lined with a number of grand bronze monuments commemorating Kościuszko, Havliček, and Nicholas Copernicus, the last of which is a replica of a famous 19th-century work in Warsaw by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
The Museum of Contemporary Photography was founded in 1984 by Columbia College Chicago. It is well known for an active program and curating which discovers many emerging and mid-career artists. The museum houses a permanent collection as well as the Midwest Photographers Project, which contains portfolios of photographers and artists' work who reside in the midwestern United States.Permanent collectionThe MoCP’s permanent collection focuses on American and International photography of the 20th century and today. The collection features work by Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Julia Margaret Cameron, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Irving Penn, Aaron Siskind, and Victor Skrebneski among the 10,000-plus photographs and photographically related objects, including gelatin-silver prints, color work, digital pieces, photograms, and various alternative processes.Selected exhibitionsOf the Museum's exhibitions since 2001, notable ones have included:Paul Shambroom: Evidence of Democracy, October 3 - December 5, 2003Michael Wolf: The Transparent City and Work/Place, November 14, 2008 - January 31, 2009Guy Tillim: Avenue Patrice Lumumba, January 10 - March 6, 2011
Founded in 1976 as the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, the museum collaborates with artists, photographers, communities, and institutions locally, nationally, and internationally. As the leading photography museum in the Midwest, presenting projects and exhibitions and acquiring works that embrace a wide range of contemporary aesthetics and technologies, the museum offers students, educators, research specialists, and general audiences an intimate and comprehensive visual study center. The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) is a stimulating and innovative forum for the collection, creation, and examination of contemporary imagemaking in its camera tradition and in its expanded vocabulary of digital processes. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the museum considers all elements of our mission to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the artistic, cultural and political implication of the image in our world today, within the context of public service and responsibility to the community and museum profession. The Museum is committed to broadening the visual arts by constantly searching for new national and international talent to exhibit rather than simply following suit established by larger institutions. To this end, the museum’s programming guides the public to a greater understanding of thought-provoking contemporary photography as well as an appreciation for traditional work that has not yet received critical acclaim. Admission is always free for visitors.
The DaVinci Machines Exhibition The Davinci Machines Exhibition contains highlights of DaVinci and Michelangelo's greatest work. Hand-crafted inventions built from Leonardo's 500 year old designsbrought to life the creations and concepts devised by the brilliant scientist, inventor and artist Leonardo DaVinci. DaVinci Magnificent Machines on display, many of which are interactive, the collection features replicas of the major and most striking inventions of the original Renaissance Man. The main features on display include the "bicycle", "spring powered car", "hang glider" and the "air screw", a precursor to the helicopter and for the first time ever, the secrets behind Leonardo's legendary robotic lion. This exhibition presents over sixty models grouped in themes: War machines, Flying machines, Nautical & Hydraulic machines as well as devices illustrating the Principles of Mechanics. The interactive machines are a popular aspect of each exhibition as visitors can touch and handle these models to gain a first-hand appreciation of how they work. Explanatory notes and illustrative panels with Leonardo's drawings accompany each model.
The Loyola University Museum of Art, which opened in the fall of 2005, is unique among Chicago's many museums for mounting exhibits that explore the spiritual in art from all cultures, faiths, and eras. LUMA is located on Loyola University Chicago's Water Tower Campus in downtown Chicago, at 820 North Michigan Ave.LUMA's permanent collection comprises the Martin D'Arcy Collection of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art and objects ranging in date from 1150 to 1800. Established in 1969 by Donald Rowe, S.J., the collection contains over 300 pieces. It was named after British humanist and Jesuit theologian Martin D'Arcy, S.J., who amassed an art collection at Campion Hall, Oxford University, in England. The collection was formerly located in the E.M. Cudahy Memorial Library on Loyola's Lake Shore Campus, in Rogers Park, Chicago.
DaVinci Machines Exhibition The Davinci Machines Exhibition contains highlights of DaVinci greatest work. Hand-crafted inventions built from Leonardo's 500 year old designs. Interact with DaVinci's Magnificent Machines many of which are interactive, the collection features replicas of the major and most striking inventions of the original Renaissance Man. The main features on display include the "bicycle", "spring powered car", "hang glider" and the "air screw", a precursor to the helicopter and for the first time ever, the secrets behind Leonardo's legendary robotic lion. This exhibition presents models grouped in themes: War machines, Flying machines, Nautical & Hydraulic machines as well as devices illustrating the Principles of Mechanics. The interactive machines are a popular aspect of each exhibition as visitors can touch and handle these models to gain a first-hand appreciation of how they work. Explanatory notes and illustrative panels with Leonardo's drawings accompany each model. Additionally on display is DaVinci's greats masterpieces recreated to the the exact size and perspectives as DaVinci had intended.
Catherine Edelman Gallery opened in 1987 quickly establishing itself as one of the leading galleries in the Midwest devoted exclusively to the art of photography. From its inception, the goal of the gallery was to exhibit prominent contemporary photographers alongside new & young talent, showcasing a broad range of subject matter and photographic techniques. Debuting with the Ballad of Sexual Dependency by Nan Goldin, CEG has shown everything from street photography (Susan Meiselas, Sebastiao Salgado, James Nachtwey) to fashion photography (Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, Matthew Rolston) to traditional landscape images (Michael Kenna, Lynn Geesaman) to social-conscious work (Richard Misrach, Jeffrey Wolin, Terry Evans, Allen Ginsberg) to images created as a springboard for story-telling (Joel-Peter Witkin, Elizabeth Ernst, Dan Estabrook) etc.
Lurie Garden is a 2.5acre garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park in the Loop area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel, it opened on July 16, 2004. The garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees. It is the featured nature component of the world's largest green roof. The garden cost $13.2 million and has a $10 million endowment for maintenance and upkeep. It was named after Ann Lurie, who donated the $10 million endowment. For visitors, the garden features guided walks, lectures, interactive demonstrations, family festivals and picnics.The Garden is composed of two "plates" protected on two sides by large hedges. The dark plate depicts Chicago's history by presenting shade-loving plant material. The dark plate has a combination of trees that will provide a shade canopy for these plants when they fill in. The light plate, which includes no trees, represents the city's future with sun-loving perennials that thrive in the heat and the sun.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design. It is located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. The school is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either entity. Providing degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels, SAIC has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top two graduate art programs in the nation, as well as by Columbia University's National Arts Journalism survey as the most influential art school in the United States.Tracing its history to an art students cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and school, SAIC has been accredited since 1936 by the Higher Learning Commission, by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design since 1944, and by the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design since its founding in 1991. Additionally it is accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board.Its downtown Chicago campus consists of seven buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the AIC building. SAIC is in an equal partnership with the AIC and share many administrative resources such as design, construction, and human resources. The campus, located in the Loop, comprises chiefly three buildings: the Michigan, the Sharp, and the Columbus . SAIC also owns additional buildings throughout Chicago that are used as student galleries or investments.