Spring Colloquium 2026: Dark Matter(s)

Spring Colloquium 2026: Dark Matter(s)

Other
-
Art Institute of Chicago
Rembrandt van Rijin and workshop of Rembrandt van Rijin. "Young Woman at an Open Half-Door" (detail), 1645. Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Museums and the stories that they tell are shaped not only by what is displayed, but by what remains unseen. Collections reside in storage, in the archive, in footnotes, in historiographic obscurity; they endure materially beyond their makers, and accrue and shed meanings over time. Darkness can signal neglect or erasure, but it can also suggest incubation, preservation, resistance, and potential. Focusing on Dark Matter(s), Spring Colloquium 2026 considers the physical, intellectual, and institutional conditions that determine how and whether works of art, archival materials, and the histories they carry come into view.

Organized around three intersecting themes, Collections, Materiality, and Historiography, this year’s presentations examine classification and hierarchy. “Darkness,” in this context, is approached both as a material condition and as a metaphor: a space of storage, containment, and preservation, but also a framework for thinking about representation, value, and the uneven construction of art historical narratives. Rather than positioning darkness as absence, these projects approach it as a generative condition that reveals the layered lives of objects and the evolving responsibilities of the museum. Through close looking, archival inquiry, and material analysis, we invite you to consider what it means to care for, interpret, and bring to light the works and narratives that shape our collections from within and beyond view.

 

10:00 - 10:15: Welcome

Panel 1: Collections

  • 10:15 - 10:30 Kaeun Park | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Photography and Media
  • 10:30 - 10:45 Schetauna Powell | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Architecture and Design
  • 10:45 - 11:00 Kris Anderson | Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhism Public Scholar in Arts of Asia
  • 11:00 - 12:00 - Response and Discussion: Andres L. Hernandez | Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

 

12:00 - 1:15: Break

 

Panel 2: Materiality

  • 1:15 - 1:30 Annie Correll | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Painting and Sculpture of Europe
  • 1:30 -1:45 Eugenia Geddes da Filicaia | Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Scientific Research
  • 1:45 - 2:00 Yan Jin | COSI Rhoades Curatorial Intern in Arts of Asia
  • 2:00 - 2:15 Elio Canale-Parola | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Archives
  • 2:15 - 3:15 - Response and Discussion: Sarah Mead Leonard | Associate Director of Fellowships and Academic Programs at the Newberry Library

 

3:15 - 3:30: Break

 

Panel 3: Historiography 

  • 3:30 - 3:45 Lois Taylor Biggs | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Arts of the Americas

Sofia Ortega-Guerro | Luce Curatorial Fellow in Arts of the Americas

  • 3:45 - 4:00 Stephanie Strother | COSI Curatorial Fellow in Textiles
  • 4:00- 4:15 Tamar Kharatishvili | Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Curatorial Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Art & Provenance Research
  • 4:15 - 5:15 - Response and Closing Discussion: Chloé Glass | Research Associate in Prints and Drawings, Art Institute of Chicago