Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph
Art Institute of Chicago
December 13, 2011-March 11, 2012
There is a general consensus that new art of the 1960s and 1970s was heavily invested in photography. Not since the promotion in the 1920s of photomontage, photograms, and the “new vision” had so many painters and sculptors turned to photography for a renewal of artistic practice. Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964-1977 is the first major museum exhibition to examine that vanguard involvement in its full scope.

Tom Pritzker, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago, announced that Douglas Druick has been selected as the new President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago .

Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention
Art Institute of Chicago
September 17, 2011, through January 15, 2012
The Art Institute of Chicago has organized a landmark exhibition exploring the work of Bertrand Goldberg (1913-1997), one of the most innovative modern American architects.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks
Art Institute of Chicago
July 2 – September 25, 2011
Highly original and deeply emotional, photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard‘s use of staged scenes foreshadows the work of many contemporary artists, such as Francesca Woodman, Cindy Sherman, Sally Mann, and Justine Kurland. His unorthodox, surrealistic, yet eerily beautiful images are now showcased in a new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks–on view July 2 through September 25, 2011, in Allerton Gallery 1 –presents more than 50 black-and-white works by one of the most enigmatic photographers of our time.

The Art Institute of Chicago announces a major acquisition by the museum’s Department of Contemporary Art: Robert Rauschenberg‘s Combine of 1955, Short Circuit.