EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art, today announced program curators for the 2020 edition (September 24 – 27, 2020) returning to Navy Pier's Festival Hall. Showcasing large-scale sculpture, video, film and site-specific works throughout Festival Hall, the 2020 IN/SITU program will be curated by Marcella Beccaria, Chief Curator and Curator of Collections at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea in Rivoli-Torino, Italy. Humberto Moro, Deputy Director and Senior Curator at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City has been selected to curate the 2020 EXPOSURE section, which highlights solo and two-artist presentations from galleries ten years and younger. Moro will curate a presentation focused on heralding emerging artists and exhibition programs, with council from the Selection Committee and exposition Directors.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside Marcella Beccaria, whose vision has contributed to shape one of the strongest museums in Europe. Her interdisciplinary approach will lend a new perspective to our large-scale installation program, as well as Humberto Moro, whose highly-respected and rigorous approach with galleries in the US and Latin America will provide a unique understanding of what it means to exhibit within the expansive context of the Americas,” said EXPO CHICAGO Artistic Director Stephanie Cristello. “Both appointments follow these exceptional curators’ inclusion in the exposition’s Curatorial Initiatives program, which continues to support our participating galleries through the only institutionally program-driven exposition of this scale in the United States. Our 2020 Program Curators’ deep involvement will undoubtedly manifest an engaged program for our exhibitors and audience at the ninth edition of EXPO CHICAGO in September.”
Author of major publications, Beccaria developed and valorized the permanent collections at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea and has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions including Anri Sala. AS YOU GO (2019); Yuri Ancarani. The Roots of Violence (2019); Nalini Malani. The Rebellion of the Dead, in collaboration with Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018); and Gilberto Zorio (2017). Additional recent exhibitions include Marinella Senatore – The School of Narrative Dance, The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Johannesburg (2019); From Clay to Algorithms. Art and Technology, Intesa Sanpaolo-Gallerie d’Italia, Milan (2019); Heart of Darkness. Can art prevent mistakes?, OGR Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Torino (2019).
"My concept for the 2020 IN/SITU program is to explore artworks that can answer fundamental questions," said Beccaria. "Can you imagine a world in which you need to prove you are a human and not a robot? As we know, this has indeed become our world. To prove we are human at the dawn of the third millennium, we need art more than ever—I am so pleased to be invited as the IN/SITU Curator, and use this opportunity as an open platform that can showcase some of the most significant work by international artists being made today within the context of Chicago.”
Beccaria follows the appointment 2019 IN/SITU Curator Jacob Fabricius, Artistic Director of the Kunsthal Aarhaus in Denmark.
In addition to Moro's role at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, he is Adjunct Curator at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, where he has organized solo exhibitions by Glen Fogel, Mario Navarro, Oliver Laric, Liliana Porter, Cynthia Gutiérrez, Pia Camil, Mariana Castillo Deball, Tom Burr, Yang Fudong, FOS, AES+F, Mark Wallinger, Isaac Julien and Anna Maria Maiolino, among others.
"I'm thrilled to join EXPO CHICAGO as it is a global leading organization which has been a catalyst for the city at the same time that they have brought extraordinary art practices to the local community in a thoughtful way," said Moro. "For EXPOSURE 2020 I'm excited to highlight the work of a diversity of identities, particularly by Latin American women, that are shaping the artistic discourse around the globe."
Moro follows 2019 EXPOSURE Curator Naima J. Keith, Vice President of Education and Public Programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
About EXPO CHICAGO
Opening the fall art season each September, EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art features leading international galleries alongside one of the highest quality platforms for contemporary art and culture. Hosted within Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, EXPO CHICAGO’s ninth edition will take place September 24 – 27, 2020. EXPO CHICAGO presents a diverse program, including /Dialogues (presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and Exchange by Northern Trust, an unrivaled talks program for both public and VIP audiences; IN/SITU, dynamic on-site installations highlighting large-scale sculpture, film, and site-specific work; and major public art initiatives, including IN/SITU Outside, public art installed throughout Chicago Park District locations, and OVERRIDE, a curated selection of international artists throughout the city’s digital billboard network. The EXPO CHICAGO program also features an unprecedented commitment to host curatorial initiatives during the exposition, including the Curatorial Forum in partnership with Independent Curators International (ICI), and the Curatorial Exchange, which partners with foreign agencies and consulates to expand the exposition’s global reach. EXPO CHICAGO is the publisher of THE SEEN, Chicago’s only international journal of contemporary and modern art criticism, online and in print.
EXPO CHICAGO is presented by Art Expositions, LLC. Under the leadership of President and Director Tony Karman, EXPO CHICAGO draws upon the city’s rich history as a vibrant international cultural destination, while highlighting the region’s contemporary arts community and inspiring its collector base. For more information on EXPO CHICAGO and EXPO ART WEEK (September 21 – 27, 2020) visit expochicago.com.
About MARCELLA BECCARIA
Art historian, curator and author of several publications, Marcella Beccaria is Chief Curator and Curator of Collections at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea located in Rivoli-Torino, Italy. She has conceived and organized a number of solo and group exhibitions, collections’ displays, special programs and collateral events. Beccaria has previously held positions at The ICA-The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and in addition to her curation, she is a member of the Directing Committee of AMACI (Association of Italian Museums of Contemporary Art) and Visiting Professor at NABA-Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan. Beccaria has authored several scholarly catalogues, including the first monographs on the work of Roberto Cuoghi, Yang Fudong and Francesco Vezzoli. Recent catalogs (edited and co-edited) include Anri Sala (to be released in 2019), Nalini Malani (2018), Gilberto Zorio (2017), Wael Shawky (2016), Giovanni Anselmo (2016), Marinella Senatore (2014), Jan Dibbets (2014) and a monograph on Olafur Eliasson (published by Tate, London, 2013). Beccaria has published with major international institutions including Kode, Bergen; Centre Pompidou, Metz; Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg; La Biennale di Venezia, Venice; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museu Serralves, Porto; Biennale of Istanbul.
About HUMBERTO MORO
Humberto Moro (b. Guadalajara, Mexico, 1982) is the incoming Deputy Director and Senior Curator at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City. He is also an Adjunct Curator at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, where he has organized solo exhibitions by Glen Fogel, Mario Navarro, Oliver Laric, Liliana Porter, Cynthia Gutiérrez, Pia Camil, Mariana Castillo Deball, Tom Burr, Yang Fudong, FOS, AES+F, Mark Wallinger, Isaac Julien and Anna Maria Maiolino, among others. Moro was curator of New Proposals and SAMPLE, sections at ZONA Maco in Mexico City from 2016-2018. Moro has previously held positions at the Park Avenue Armory in New York and Museo Jumex in Mexico City. He was the recipient of the 2016 Estancia Tabacalera Research Award for Latin-American curators, Madrid, Spain, and was part of the 7th Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course, in Gwangju, South Korea.