Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart Opening Reception
Open reception for Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart on March 28, 2:00pm-5:00pm.
Opening on March 29, 2026, Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart foregrounds the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s.
In February 1999, Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Chinese Art History at the university, opened his first exhibition at the Smart Museum of Art. Entitled Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century (1999), the exhibition – and many more Wu curated in the ensuing years – was field-defining and forged new avenues for situating Chinese art within a broader global contemporary framework. Taking these earlier exhibitions as points of departure, Beyond Boundaries reflects on the enduring adaptability of contemporary art from China as it continues to grow within and beyond cultural and academic institutions.