The Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago Humanities Festival, EXPO CHICAGO, and Navy Pier are partnering to produce and present “Creative Chicago: An Interview Marathon,” featuring one of the world’s leading curators, critics, and art historians, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of London’s Serpentine Galleries. The four-hour interview marathon will be presented in partnership with Navy Pier, Chicago’s mission-driven cultural district, in the Aon Grand Ballroom on Saturday, September 29, 2018, during EXPO CHICAGO 2018 (September 26–30), as part of the Terra Foundation for American Art’s Art Design Chicago initiative.
The “Creative Chicago” Marathon builds on a concept initiated by Obrist in Stuttgart in 2005 and developed at the Serpentine Galleries in which interviews are conducted in a closely knit series that extends over several hours, creating an energetic engagement with presenters and their ideas. This will be Obrist’s first such program in the U.S. and will take a multi-dimensional, multidisciplinary, and multicultural look at creativity in the city—past, present, and future. Bringing together artists, designers, authors, activists, architects, historians, musicians, philosophers, and scientists, the marathon will examine the numerous sparks that make the city an engine of creativity and innovation. Among the notable figures participating in the “Creative Chicago” Marathon are social practice installation artist Theaster Gates and architect Jeanne Gang, among others to be announced.
“I’ve always been very fascinated by Chicago and its many different artistic and cultural influences,” said Obrist. “Through this interview marathon, by speaking with many different people who have a range of knowledge and experiences, we will share who and what Chicago is in 2018, challenging a pre-determined kind of image or idea. That’s the journey.”
