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Dialogue | Rick Lowe

October 22, 202212:00 pm

PLEASE NOTE: This event is located at Northwestern University’s Norris Student Center in the Louis Room, 1999 Campus Dr, Evanston, IL 60208.

About the Event

This event is a collaboration between the MCA, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and Northwestern University.

Join us for a conversation with Rick Lowe, one of the foremost thinkers on reimagining public art. 

For artist and MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe, art doesn’t only hang on walls in museums—art is all around us. Art is street murals celebrating Black-owned businesses. Art is the Project Row Houses in Houston’s historic Third Ward. Art is the way we act as members of our communities. In this special event with the MCA, CHF, and Northwestern University, Lowe reflects on community-based creative practices and the power of art to remake our public lives. 

This program is held at Northwestern University’s Norris Student Center in the Louis Room. 

This Dialogue presentation is organized by Daniel Atkinson, Manager of Learning, Adult Interpretive Programs, and Otez Gary, Curatorial Assistant, in collaboration with the Chicago Humanities Festival. 

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About the Speaker

Portrait of Rick Lowe. Photo: Brent Reaney.

Rick Lowe was born in 1961 in rural Russell County, AL, and lives and works in Houston, TX. His work is included in the collections at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS; Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; and the UBS Art Collection. Solo exhibitions include Art League Houston, TX (2020–21). He also participated in Documenta 14, Athens, Greece (2017). Among Lowe’s numerous community art projects are Project Row Houses, Houston, TX (1993–2018); Watts House Project, Los Angeles, CA (1996–2012); Borough Project (with Suzanne Lacy and Mary Jane Jacob), Charleston, SC (2003); Small Business/Big Change, Anyang Public Art Program, Korea (2010); Trans.lation, Dallas, TX (2013); Victoria Square Project, Athens, Greece (2017–18); Greenwood Art Project, Tulsa, OK (2018–21); and Black Wall Street Journey, Chicago, IL (2021–). In 2013 President Barack Obama appointed Lowe to the National Council on the Arts, and in 2014 he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Lowe is currently a professor of interdisciplinary practice at the University of Houston.

Funding

Major support is provided by Julie and Larry Bernstein, the Zell Family Foundation, and Carol Prins and John Hart/The Jessica Fund.

Generous support is provided by Lois and Steve Eisen and The Eisen Family Foundation, Caryn and King Harris, and D. Elizabeth Price.

The Festival’s Social Justice & Equity Series is generously underwritten by The Allstate Insurance Company. 

This program is generously sponsored by The Dolores Kohl Education Foundation as part of Morris & Dolores Kohl Kaplan Northwestern Day. The Richard Gray Program recognizes the significant contributions of CHF founding board member Richard Gray.