Photo: ©2026 courtesy of The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago
Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart is now open at the Smart Museum of Art, foregrounding the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s. The exhibition reflects on the enduring adaptability of contemporary art from China as it continues to grow within and beyond cultural and academic institutions. Bringing together artworks acquired by the Museum over the last three decades, archival materials, ephemera, as well as new work, Beyond Boundaries explores how artists navigate and challenge physical limitations across cultural, environmental, and political terrains. Through strategies of fluidity, they confront dominant social expectations and political hegemonies – not only within a rapidly transforming China, but also amid broader global uncertainties. Ai Weiwei's Black, White, and Grey Cover Books (1994–1997) and Zhan Wang's Ornamental Rock (1996) are on display in the exhibition.
Learn more at smartmuseum.uchicago.edu.
