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September 23, 2025-February 22, 2026
Exhibition Announcement - Theaster Gates: Unto Thee
The Smart Museum of Art will present “Theaster Gates: Unto Thee,” the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in his hometown of Chicago. Learn more »
This exhibition is made possible by Northern Trust and the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Theaster Gates: Assembly Hall, September 5, 2019 through January 12, 2020, Target Gallery. Photo by Bobby Rogers for Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
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Part I: September 23, 2025-February 22, 2026
Exhibition Announcement - Smart to the Core: Wise to Power
Why and how do people form political communities? How does political society organize our economic lives - and vice versa? And how as individuals do we navigate society? Smart to the Core: Wise to Power examines these questions by integrating visual art with foundational texts of modern social and political thought spanning nearly four centuries. Learn more »
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July 14 - September 22
Closed for Installation
The Smart Museum of Art will be closed from Monday, July 14th, through September 22nd. Please join us for Theaster Gates: Unto Thee this fall.
Smart Museum of Art Exhibition Archive
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Lilly Endowment Grant Announced
The University of Chicago has received a $2.45 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. The grant will support the four-year project, Afterlives: Engaging Objects of Religious Origin in Museum Collections, a collaboration between the Smart Museum of Art and the University of Chicago Divinity School’s Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. Read the Press Release »
(top to bottom) The Smart photo by Michael Tropea; Divinity School photo by Darren Leow.
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Upcoming Events
The Smart Museum Calendar
Join us at the Smart for our free programs in conversation with the current exhibition. All events are free and open to all. Visit the Calendar »