ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
“Human_3.0 Reading List”
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: CAULEEN SMITH/THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, PROMISED GIFTS OF HELEN AND SAM ZELL (3); THOMAS DUVAL/MUSÉE DU QUAI BRANLY-JACQUES CHIRAC; ZACHARY JAMES JOHNSTON/THE FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (2)
Musing on our current obsession with “listicles” (10 top restaurants, 100 best films) filmmaker Cauleen Smith offers her own list: an alternative literary canon exploring race relations, institutional power structures, and social change. The series of 57 drawings of book covers are each produced in graphite and watercolor on 8½-by-12-inch graph paper. Reflecting idiosyncratic interests, Harriet Tubman and bell hooks find their place alongside a book of drawings by Yoko Ono and a scientific treatise on sea urchins. 111 South Michigan Avenue; 312-443-3600. 10:30AM–5:00PM daily; Thursday until 8:00PM.
FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
“Tattoo”
Alternatively regarded as sacred or rebellious, a sign of belonging or an expression of individuality, art, or stigma, tattoos come with cultural charge. This exhibition from Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac charts the tattoo’s global story, from Maori moko facial examples and a 17th-century stamp for Christian pilgrims to contemporary works. There are 125 objects, including ancient artifacts and designs imprinted onto silicone models of the human body. On select dates, visitors can watch live tattooing demonstrations at the museum’s pop-up parlor. 1400 South Lake Shore Drive; 312-922-9410. 9AM–5PM daily. Clockwise from opposite top left: Dan Kiley’s Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St Louis. Cauleen Smith’s Grapefruit (2016), The Fire Next Time (2015), and Wild Seed (2015) in watercolor and graphite. A silicone torso tattooed by Leo Zulueta. The Field Museum of Natural History's pop-up parlor. Mainbocher’s 1965 dress, tweed suit from 1954, and 1951 ball gown.