The Ren
Art Center / Chicago
The Renaissance Society was founded in 1915 by a group of University of Chicago faculty, and our name refers to their intention to create a space in which to foster engagement with new ideas in arts and culture.
In the early 20th century the Renaissance Society played a key role in bringing European and other avant-garde practices to Chicago through presentations of Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Mies Van Der Rohe, Käthe Kollwitz, and Joseph Cornell, among others.
“The Ren” – as we are known by many – is an independent, non-collecting museum driven by an uncompromising commitment to artists and their ideas. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
We offer artists the time, space, resources, and freedom that are vital for ambitious experimentation and risk-taking. Our work with artists frequently results in newly commissioned art, and their presentations in our 3,000 square feet gallery spur further scholarly and creative reflections in our publications and public programs.
Visitors to the Ren find a uniquely intimate platform for encountering artistic expressions that give form to, challenge, and complicate currents in contemporary thought. Events – including artist talks, lectures, screenings, concerts, readings, and more – offer further opportunities for discovery and discussion. We maintain robust archives, which are frequently accessed by art historians, students, and other institutions.
R.H. Quaytman (Bio), Unthought Environments, Ben Rivers, David Maljković, Astrid Klein, Jennifer Packer, John Neff, Robert Grosvenor, Wadada Leo Smith
The Ren
Art Center / Chicago
The Renaissance Society was founded in 1915 by a group of University of Chicago faculty, and our name refers to their intention to create a space in which to foster engagement with new ideas in arts and culture.
In the early 20th century the Renaissance Society played a key role in bringing European and other avant-garde practices to Chicago through presentations of Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Mies Van Der Rohe, Käthe Kollwitz, and Joseph Cornell, among others.
“The Ren” – as we are known by many – is an independent, non-collecting museum driven by an uncompromising commitment to artists and their ideas. All exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.
We offer artists the time, space, resources, and freedom that are vital for ambitious experimentation and risk-taking. Our work with artists frequently results in newly commissioned art, and their presentations in our 3,000 square feet gallery spur further scholarly and creative reflections in our publications and public programs.
Visitors to the Ren find a uniquely intimate platform for encountering artistic expressions that give form to, challenge, and complicate currents in contemporary thought. Events – including artist talks, lectures, screenings, concerts, readings, and more – offer further opportunities for discovery and discussion. We maintain robust archives, which are frequently accessed by art historians, students, and other institutions.
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R.H. Quaytman (Bio), Unthought Environments, Ben Rivers, David Maljković, Astrid Klein, Jennifer Packer, John Neff, Robert Grosvenor, Wadada Leo Smith
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Gallery Weekend BerlinApril 28–30, 2023Every spring, we renew our art-filled appointment in our calendars as we invite collectors, artists, museum directors, curators, journalists, and art lovers from all over the world to a wide array of concurrent events and exhibitions opening in the city. (more…)
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Anne Marie Maes / Alchimia NovaFeb 17 – Apr 30, 2023For more than 15 years, the artist Anne Marie Maes has been taking a non-anthropocentric look at the world, focusing her research on the symbiotic relationship between all living micro-organisms, including plants, bacteria and fungi. (more…)
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Sacha TurchiArtistSacha Turchi currently lives and works in Italy and collaborates with various visual and sound artists. The interactions between individual and nature, body and psyche, constitutes the essential matrix of her research. (more…)
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Alec SothPhotographerAlec Soth’s work is rooted in the distinctly American tradition of ‘on-the-road photography’ developed by Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Stephen Shore. From Huckleberry Finn to Easy Rider there seems to be a uniquely American desire to travel and chronicle the adventures that consequently ensue. (more…)
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Good Morning, America / Vol. 1PublicationOver the past six years, photographer Mark Power has travelled across the US to create a complex visual narrative of a country in the midst of change. This new book, Good Morning, America (Volume One), represents a personal and timely exploration of both the American cultural and physical landscape (more…)
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Lu GuangPhotographerLu Guang was born in 1961, in Zhejiang Province, China. He has been passionate about photography since he held a camera for the first time, in 1980 when he was a factory worker in his hometown in Yongkang County. (more…)
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Fred SandbackLong-term viewUsing subtle methods and an economy of materials, Fred Sandback’s work creates striking perceptual effects in response to the surrounding architecture. (more…)
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ImageNation Paris 2023May 19–21, 2023ImageNation is back in Paris, the city that saw the birth of photography almost two centuries ago. The French capital is, more than ever, the crossroads of the new trends and an ideal stage for the photographic works (more…)
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Rafael Domenech: The Medium Is the MassageSep 9, 2022 – Jun 18, 2023The Medium is the Massage is a new commission by the Cuban American artist Rafael Domenech for a year-long pavilion for self-publishing, collective reading, and programs at the ICA. (more…)
