EXPO CHICAGO has long been a favorite among curators and museum directors, who come to the Windy City not only for the exhibition’s annual curatorial forum and directors’ summit but also for the exhibition’s ambitious, research-driven presentations and robust institutional programming that coincide with its opening. Making this institutional and curatorial focus central to the art gallery’s identity has been a defining priority for its new director, Kate Sierzputowski, who succeeded founder Tony Kerman after he stepped down last May.
“My vision for the fair really focuses on high-quality presentations — ones that feel cohesive and anchored by strong programming,” Serzbutowski told the Observer ahead of the fair, which opens April 9 in the Navy Pier Festival Hall. “EXPO has always had this strong curatorial stance. As we move into the future, I really want to make sure it’s integrated into what the art fairs bring and how they’re organized into sections to enhance that reputation.” She joined the team in 2020 – long before entering the Frieze brand galaxy – where she most recently served as its Artistic Director, contributing to the fair’s curatorial and public programmes, bringing senior curators and institutional leaders to the fair while also creating meaningful moments for the local community.
For Serzbutovsky, the obvious next step is to bring more regulatory rigor to the show floor. “Seeing how these programs can be integrated more deeply into presentations is really how I envision the Expo to evolve,” she said, pointing to the 2026 edition as a clear example of this trend. “EXPO CHICAGO wants to be the exhibition where curators and directors come first. This is the priority.”
This year, the exhibition’s sections reflect many long-standing relationships with curators across the country. Kate A. Pfohl of the Detroit Institute of Arts, who is curating “Exposure,” is a former participant of the curatorial forum and has an established relationship with EXPO and its programming partner ICI. Louise Bernard, founding director of the soon-to-open Obama Presidential Center and curator of Embodiment, was part of the inaugural Directors’ Summit group and delivered a keynote address in 2024. “It shows how EXPO CHICAGO is an exhibition that evolves through these curatorial and director-led relationships,” Sierzbutowski added, emphasizing how such ongoing exchanges form a more objective and cohesive community. Gallery identity – where institutional thinking and gallery displays increasingly work in dialogue.
Serzbutowski also pointed to Essence Harden, a curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, who leads the “Profile” section, which for the first time is a curator-led section. “It’s really thinking about who’s coming, where there are institutional gaps in the collections, and who we can invite based on the presentations in that department, which makes some of the matchmaking happen on site.”
The gallery’s first curatorial approach is also connected to the Chicago art scene, through its strong institutional programs. “The way I see the future of the gallery is actually through storytelling with the institutions that we partner with,” Sierzputowski said. For the 2026 edition, this novel inevitably focuses on the long-awaited opening of the Obama Presidential Center, a project more than a decade in the making that is now scheduled to open on June 19. “Telling that story about cultural production in Chicago, but also in relation to Obama’s broader vision, is something that feels uniquely Chicago-led. It allows us to shape a very specific narrative for the 2026 Expo that feels fresh, timely and in-the-moment.”
The gallery will have a direct curatorial link to the project through Barnard’s “Embodiment” department, which will present a selection of galleries inspired by the centre’s architecture and commissioned artists in what looks like a sneak preview. According to Sierzputowski, “It’s really about expressing what’s happening now, rather than relying on more standard programming – programming that is actively unfolding in the present and grounded in the reality of the place where the exhibition is being held.”
Even before her appointment as director, she was working to strengthen EXPO CHICAGO’s regional collector base, making the fair a central meeting point for the Midwest first. “We are the largest gallery in the Midwest, and we are in this unique position of having access to and support from institutions, artists, collectors and galleries throughout the region,” she explained. “It was very important for me to be in those cities and make it clear that we are the hometown fair of the Midwest.”
With events in Louisville, St. Louis, Detroit and Chicago’s North Shore, EXPO CHICAGO has built relationships with collectors, artists and institutions to better understand local ecosystems while developing a year-round presence that builds toward the event itself. “For me, it’s really important to show our regional base in Chicago,” Sierzbutowski said. “Of course, we will have international collectors, and collectors from both coasts and across the United States, but what matters most is that the galleries meet collectors from places like Minneapolis, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Detroit — cities that dealers may not travel to as often, but can still meet in Chicago.”
However, it is also continuing to expand the fair’s international scope, particularly through ongoing collaboration with the Exhibition Association of Korea (GaoK), which will bring 12 Korean galleries to Chicago this year across major divisions, building on last year’s strong collector response. This partnership positions EXPO as a platform for broader global exchange between participating and highly distinguished art scenes and markets, enhancing U.S. visibility for emerging and established Korean galleries including LEE & BAE, PAIK HAE YOUNG, 021 Gallery, and Keumsan Gallery.
The full list of the edition will see the participation of 130 exhibitors, which is down from the 170 exhibitors who participated in 2024, but they will be placed within a more organized framework in all its sections. Sierzputowski sees the 2026 edition as being based on a new structure and approach to the exhibition’s comprehensive presentation that will help visitors navigate its displays through focused thematic capsules. In “Exposure,” Pfohl develops a specific thematic framework, “Water Gathering,” which explores migration and landscapes across the Mississippi River Basin and diasporic history. The section focuses on the connections between Detroit, New Orleans, and the broader Midwest, with notable presentations of African diaspora, Latin American, and Caribbean work. Highlights include Laquila Brown’s still-life botanical sculptures by 56 Henry, while São Paulo-based Miter Galeria presents new oil paintings by Diego Moro inspired by African diaspora origins and intertwined gestures, memory and spirituality. Also noteworthy are the April show of simple sculptures by Faye Heavy Shield from the Blackfoot Confederacy of the Kainai (Blood) First Nation, the intricately layered collage and carved brass crown of Helena Mitfaria presented by Subposition Gallery, and Diamond Melancon’s hand-stitched glass beads presented by Jonathan Carver-Moore, rooted in New Orleans’ centuries-old black mask culture.
In Profile, Harden will introduce a more institutional structure focused on solo shows, with a notable international scope that includes four galleries from Lagos. Highlights include a three-person booth at 47 Channel showcasing works by Janeva Ellis, Lewis Hammond, and J. Peter Jamison, a cross-generational presentation of “Cosmic Kinship” by Bay Area gallery owner Jessica Silverman and featuring David Hoffman, Lava Thomas, Kwak, and Sadie Barnett, and Third Born’s solo presentation of Sidonie O’Neill’s concise formalism balanced with charged intuition and material. sensitive.
Other highlights include Alisa Nissenbaum’s paintings and watercolors associated with a large mural commission for the Obama Presidential Center, which was presented in “materialization” in a joint show by Anton Kern Gallery and Regen Projects. In the same section, Gray’s review of works by Candida Alvarez, MacArthur Binion, Turquoise Dyson, Thester Gates, Richard Hunt, and Rashid Johnson explores how abstraction becomes a means of transformation, embodiment, and liberation. San Francisco gallery owner Wendy Norris presents a curated dialogue between the spiritually attuned practices of artists such as Ambreen Batt, María Magdalena Campos Ponce, and Chitra Ganesh, exploring migration, memory, and transformation from a diasporic perspective.
Across departments, Serzbutowski’s vision for EXPO CHICAGO is coherent: equitably grounded in institutional dialogue, balanced between regional depth and global reach and increasingly rooted in the city itself. Beyond Navy Pier, citywide programming remains a defining part of that identity — from OVERRIDE, which activates digital billboards throughout Chicago with works by participating and local artists, to after-hours programming installed in individual neighborhoods, museum benefits and late-night gallery openings.
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