EXPO Chicago 2026. Courtesy of Monique Meloche Gallery 
EXPO Chicago returned earlier this month with a renewed focus around what the fair can offer both locally, as well as internationally. Held from April 9-12, the 2026 edition brought together more than 130 galleries and welcomed tens of thousands of visitors across four days. Collectors, curators, artists, and enthusiasts packed the city’s Navy Pier, and responded favorably to a format designed to prioritize depth over scale.
Leadership played a visible role in how this year came together. Director Kate Sierzputowski stepped into her position with a broad view of how each part of EXPO connected. “There are so many different moving parts with this, that it’s such a special position to be able to work at every single level.” she said. Her perspective informed a program built to highlight Chicago while also bringing in voices from, and beyond, the United States.
Curator Essence Harden approached her involvement with a similar emphasis on connection, drawing from her background in African diaspora studies and her experience working within the artistic circuit. “Art creates an atmosphere and a reality that makes people and places come together in a really quick timeframe to experience each other,” she said. “It’s like a microcosm of the world.” Her section, Profile, featured tightly considered presentations from galleries across cities including Lagos, Seoul, Mexico City, and Detroit. The result created a dialogue between artists working in various contexts but engaging similar questions.
EXPO’s structure supported the exchange of culture through curated sections designed to offer entry points for different audiences. Focus, organized by Katie A. Pfohl, centered emerging galleries and practices, giving visitors a chance to spend time with artists through solo and dual presentations. “It’s really a chance to be able to learn more about practices that might be unfamiliar to you,” Sierzputowski said. “Having that intimacy with just a few artists allows you to understand a little bit more about what you’re seeing.”
Institutional partnerships also played a central role, as the collaboration with the Obama Presidential Center offered an early look at works connected to the museum’s upcoming opening, placing the fair within a larger cultural timeline for the city. EXPO Projects expanded this engagement by working with local organizations, including initiatives focused on public education and community-based practice. “We wanted to highlight institutions and nonprofits in the city that are doing great work that intersects with visual art,” Sierzputowski noted.
“The centerpiece would be the relationship with the OPC,” she added. “We are working with them for a curated section with Dr. Louise Bernard, as well as this exhibition evolution that charts what you’re going to see for the opening this summer.” Bernard, the Founding Director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum, explained how the presentation took shape, saying: “When I received the invitation to curate this section, I wanted to think about the central design principle of the Center, particularly the idea of four hands coming together,” she said.
“It has this sense of the collective, of embodiment, of people,” Bernard continued. “Buildings are activated by human bodies moving through them, engaging with them. I wanted to think about embodiment within our commissioned artists’ practices, beyond portraiture, beyond the figure, and consider how artists engage ideas of memory, place, and connection in different ways.”
By the end of the week, EXPO had delivered a version of the fair that seeks to stand above the rest.. Visitors were able to experience established names and new discoveries, with time to engage more closely with both. The structure continued to reinforce the fair’s role as a site for exchange, and “a sense of real discovery,” Sierzputowski said.
“It’s definitely a fair that you can see,” she added. “It’s an artist that you recognize from institutions and from major collections, but it’s also fair to meet new artists as well. Throughout the fair, there’s also group presentations, so having that intimacy with just a few artists allows you to understand a little bit more about what you’re seeing and creates a deeper relationship between the collector and the artist and the gallery.”
TOPICS: Art black art black artists chicago Chicago EXPO
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Author: Okla Jones
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