Temporary Projects & Commissions

A rainbow colored pyrotechnic artwork explodes form the roof of the Regenstein Library

A person's left hand holds up a mobile phone that's displaying a picture of a building with text on it

Ghostly images of ancient artifacts look down in a glass-roofed reading room

A printer that has been made into a sculpture sits in a cubicle near a stack of books

Art in dialogue.

Through enriching collaborations with partners at the University of Chicago and beyond, the Smart Museum of Art organizes temporary public art installations and fosters new forms of engagement through campus-wide commissions.

Browse past projects

Two people stroll across a low s-shaped platform sculpture

Featured project

Jessica Stockholder: For Events

Featuring PLATFORM
a series of programs
April 1–May 5, 2024

Hutchinson Courtyard, The University of Chicago, 1131 E. 57th Street

This exhibition honors artist Jessica Stockholder (b. 1959) on the occasion of her retirement from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. The installation is anchored by a single sculpture, For Events (2015), which encapsulates the artist’s decades-long consideration of how objects encounter one another: how they support themselves and are in turn supported.

Past Projects

The University of Chicago is home to ambitious public art installations and ephemeral projects that are distinguished by their high quality, site-specificity, and responsiveness to contemporary issues and events.

The following projects were presented between 2016 and 2023.