The Art Institute of Chicago hosts its second annual Block Party, including a full day of performances, talks, storytelling, and art making in and around the entire museum. The theme will center on how the meaning of an artwork or an object changes over time. 

Events will take place at different locations throughout the museum, including the main museum, modern wing, and Ryan Learning Center. Please check the website for exact times and locations. 

Schedule:

TALKS AND TOURS

The Secret Life of Lurie Garden
Drop in between 10:30 and 3:00 (20 minutes each) 
Lurie Garden, across the street from the Modern Wing entrance 
Explore Millennium Park’s well-kept secret, Lurie Garden, and discover life in the garden through tours and activities.

Iconic: Photographs from the Robin and Sandy Stuart Collection 
11:00–11:30
Gallery 188
Join curator of photography Liz Siegel on a tour of this exhibition of renowned photographs and explore the history of photography as fine art.

El Camino en America Tour Familiar
11:30–12:00 
Reuniremos en Griffin Court 
Explorar como arte y objetos nos hablan sobre nosotros, nuestas familias, cultura pop, genero, inmigración y el “sueno Americano.”

Hands-on Touch Tour
11:30 and 12:30 (30 minutes each) 
Access Station in Griffin Court 
Hunt and scavenge through the museum on this interactive, hands-on tour emphasizing close observation and description through touch using machine-etched and 3D-printed replicas of works in the collection.

Everyone’s Art Gallery: Posters of the London Underground
11:30 and 1:00 (30 minutes each) 
Gallery 124–127
Curator Teri Edelstein shares some of her favorite works in this exhibition of vibrant and colorful London Underground posters.

Public Sculpture around the Block 
11:30 (North); 12:30 (South); 2:00 (East); 3:00 (West) (30 minutes each) 
Outdoors (Meeting at four sides of the block at four different times) 
Join educator Annie Morse for an around-the-block tour of public sculpture.

Ivan Albright’s Door
12:00 and 1:30 (20 minutes each) 
Gallery 262
Sojourner scholar alumnus Marquis Blaylock leads a brief conversation about Ivan Albright’s That Which I Should Have Done I Did Not Do (The Door).

Here and Now: Guided Meditation and Art
12:00 and 1:30 (30 minutes each) 
Gallery 296
Join educator Becky Manuel for guided meditation and looking closely at art.

Accessing Photographic Histories
12:30, 12:50, and1:10 (three 20-minute sessions) 
Photography Study Room 
Sarita Hernandez and Ximena Mora from the National Museum of Mexican Art join Liz Siegel, curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, for a behind-the-scenes look at modern photographs of Mexico and the museum stories that accompany them.

American Sign Language Tour
1:00 and 2:30 (30 minutes each)
Meet in Griffin Court 
Join a lively conversation in American Sign Language about works of art in the museum’s collection.

Headphones Off
1:00, 1:30, and 2:00 (two 30-minute tours meeting at both locations)
Meet in Griffin Court or in Gallery 100 
Join teen interns for an interactive museum tour featuring the Teen Audio Guide. 

The People Shall Govern! Medu Art Ensemble and the Anti-Apartheid Poster 
2:00 and 3:30 (30 minutes each) 
Gallery 1 
Learn about this exhibition featuring original posters created by the Medu art collective, which formed in the late 1970s in opposition to South Africa’s apartheid policy of racial segregation and violent injustice.

Inside the Suitcases She Carries: Three Voices from the Asian Diaspora
2:30–4:00
Gallery 178
Ada Cheng, Chris Aldana, and Punisa Pov, performers who moved to the United States from Asia, will present personal stories based on objects that are significant to their identities, including immigration documentation, family treasures, and personal belongings.

The Brewseum Presents
3:00 and 4:00 (30 minutes each) 
Gallery 241 
Join pub historian Liz Garibay in front of Vincent Van Gogh’s The Drinkers to discuss the history and culture of drinking and drinking establishments in Chicago and beyond. 

PERFORMANCES 

Imperfect
11:00–11:10
Griffin Court
Watch a physically integrated dance duet based on the Wallace Stevens poem, “The Imperfect is Our Paradise.” The performance is choreographed by dancer Ginger Lane and performed with Susan Ojala Myers. 

EveryThing Has a Story Workshop
11:00 and 11:30 (20 minutes each) 
Ryan Learning Center, Studio A 
Join Tekki Lomnicki from Tellin’ Tales Theater in an interactive workshop that invites participants to explore how everyday objects can evoke memories and spark personal storytelling.

Physically Integrated Dance Workshop
11:30–12:00
Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room
Choreographer and dancer Ginger Lane, who has used a wheelchair since 1984, and dancer Susan Ojala Myers, lead a movement workshop focused on physically integrated dance.

Sones de Mexico, Beyond the Music: A Musical Geography of Mexico
12:30–1:00
Pritzker Garden
Experience a guided tour through Mexico’s folk music regions with a lively and informative performance by Sones de Mexico. Beyond the Music is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Expressing Art Through Music Workshop
1:00 and 3:00 (30 minutes each) 
Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room 
Join pianist and composer Michael Oldham to create music that expresses the inner life of artworks in the museum’s collection. 

With Nothing But Her and the Stars
2:00–2:30
Griffin Court 
Poet, songwriter, and performer Avery R. Young responds to Alma Thomas’s painting Starry Night and the Astronauts through a performance that explores the African American hymn tradition.

Is it cool that we are here?
2:00 and 4:00 (20 minutes each)
Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room
Andy Slater and Tommy Carroll present a live sound art performance using a wide variety of assistive technology devices developed for the blind over the last 60 years.

Amnesty 2.0
3:00–3:30
Gallery 140
Movement artists Jasmine Mendoza, Cristal Sabbagh, and Anna Martine Whitehead, and sound explorers Damon Locks and Ben LaMar Gay present a performance inspired by Octavia Butler’s short story “Amnesty.”

Mucca Pazza
4:30 (30 minutes) 
Starts in Griffin Court and ends outdoors 
Combining marching band traditions, street theater experience, and rock and roll sensibilities, Mucca Pazza will end the day with an eccentric and frenetic performance that combines genre-bending compositions, improvised choreography, and clowning.

DROP-IN ART MAKING 

Remixed Representations
10:30–3:00
Ryan Learning Center, Classroom 5
Unlock the secret life of objects and icons through design and drawing challenges. Guided by Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art’s IntuiTeens, participants trace, collage, and remix images into reimagined creations. 

Frankentoymobile
10:30–3:00
Outside of the Modern Wing entrance
Repurpose toys as raw materials for original creations that express identity and personality.

Sticks and Stones
10:30–4:30
Ryan Learning Center, Classroom 4
Join the Forest Preserves of Cook County to create ephemeral works of art using natural materials. Participants are invited to manipulate, explore, and arrange leaves, twigs, stones, and other natural objects and leave their creations behind for the next person to enjoy.

The Little Studio
10:30–4:30
Ryan Learning Center, Classroom 3 
Tiny hands explore big ideas in this sensory-rich space for children under five.

Poster Mania
10:30–4:30
Ryan Learning Center, Studio B
Experiment with lettering, image, and design to create your own poster. Find inspiration in two exhibitions featuring posters: Everyone’s Art Gallery: Posters of the London Underground and The People Shall Govern! Medu Art Ensemble and the Anti-Apartheid Poster.

Sculpt and Shape
10:30–4:30
Chicago Gallery and Gallery 100
Study models of sculptures from around Chicago and be inspired to create your own mini public art by bending, twisting, and shaping a variety of materials.

Art Station: Pattern Drawing
10:30–4:30 
Gallery 136
Visit the Arts of the Americas Gallery to sketch designs and patterns you find on baskets and ceramic vessels.

Drawing from Life
10:30–5:00
Ryan Learning Center, Family Room
Explore interesting objects and create a drawing from your observations.

Pop-Up Cards
11:00, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, and 4:00 (30 minutes each) 
Ryerson and Burnham Libraries
Look at a variety of movable books from the Ryerson collection and then make your own pop-up card.

Drawing from Life
12:30–4:30
Ryan Learning Center, Studio A 
Explore interesting objects and create a drawing from your observations.

DROP-IN EXPERIENCES 

Plonk!
10:30–12:30
Pritzker Garden 
Aaron Guice leads an interactive musical workshop with modular synthesizer keyboards.

Rhythm and Color for Neoclassical Myths 
10:30–5:00 
Sculpture Court
Sasha Tycko and Alex Palma enliven the American sculpture court and its artworks—white marble statues, women frozen in time—through color, sound, and movement. 

Room to Move
10:30–5:00
Ryan Learning Center, Interactive Gallery
Step into an immersive stage-like space and move to the sounds you hear.

Peering into the Archives
11:00–12:00
Gallery 165
Join Sarita Hernandez and Ximena Mora from the National Museum of Mexican Art for an interactive exploration of colonial-era ceramics from Talavera, Mexico in museum collections.

More Precious than Gold: An Embroidered Masterpiece Revealed
11:00–12:00
Galleries 235 and 237
Look closely at the materials and techniques used to make embroidery and learn about a rare embroidered altarpiece on view in the medieval galleries. 

Registry of Aesthetic Impressions
12:30–4:00
Griffin Court
Create a certificate to express your love of art using official language; then have it typed, signed, stamped, and certified. The Registry of Aesthetic Impressions is a special production of Documents Bureau, a participatory event that exploits our familiarity with bureaucracy and turns it into an opportunity for creativity and play. 

Gender and Iconography in Indian Sculpture
1:30, 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30 (30 minutes) 
Galleries 140–142
The classical dances of India have become as iconic as the sculptured walls of a Hindu temple. Through dance and storytelling, learn about the integral, disenfranchised artists behind these traditions with choreographer Ashwaty Chennat. 

Peering into the Archives
2:30–3:30
Gallery 211
Join Sarita Hernandez and Ximena Mora from the National Museum of Mexican Art for an interactive exploration of colonial-era ceramics from Talavera, Mexico in museum collections.