Upcoming Events - Ford Foundation

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Past Events

A bustling street scene with a man pushing a cart of large baskets filled with ice. Vehicles and more baskets are seen in the busy and industrious background.

20 February 2026 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Visita Guiada en español junto al curador – Humid Traces / Curator-Led Tour in Spanish- Humid Traces

A 3-D topographical model showcasing a mountainous terrain with a red path, illuminated against a dark background, and a desk with several documents and tools.

20 February 2026 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Curator-led Tour in English – Humid Traces

A photo of a short-haired older-woman swimming with white text overlaid "women here are raised to be mothers"

19 February 2026 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Humid Traces

A Black woman shaping a vertical, clay vase in front of an audience.

1 December 2025 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.

Ladi Kwali Teaching in Chicago: A Visual Lecture by ebere agwuncha

A square grid of 4 headshots featuring Jareh Das, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Lauren Tate Baeza, and Anina Major

15 September 2025 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Clay as Living Archive

An installation view of a gallery exhibition featuring various ceramic sculptures and clay pots that differ in size, texture and color.

12 September 2025 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Curatorial Walkthrough – Body Vessel Clay

An entrance with doors propped open into a gallery exhibition. The left wall has geometric designs and text that reads “Body Vessel Clay”

10 September 2025 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Body Vessel Clay: Black Women, Ceramics & Contemporary Art

A green gallery interior with artworks of various mediums including canvas, photography, sculpture and mixed media.

30 July 2025 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Curatorial Walkthrough – THIS IS NOT A RETREAT!

15 July 2025 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Sonic Performance by Artist Africanus Okokon

A painted rainbow artwork next to the entrance of the Ford Foundation Gallery.

5 June 2025 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: THIS IS NOT A RETREAT! NXTHVN Through the Years

Two people smiling in front of a garden background. Both people are wearing necklaces; one is wearing a black blazer and the other a red sweater.

29 April 2025 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Reverberations in Dialogue: Collaboration and Community in Design

A collage of maps, posters, and images with various colors, scripts and fonts.

25 March 2025 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Reverberations in Dialogue: Lineages of Design and Design History

An exhibition wall displays colorful posters, framed artworks, and smaller items and publications on a shelf. The centerpiece is a vibrant, text-heavy poster. To the right, posters on wooden sticks say “Water is Life”.

4 March 2025 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Reverberations: Lineages in Design History

Installation of a grand piano with framed photos on the lid and on the wall behind it.

20 November 2024 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Visita Guiada en español de la exposición Cantando Bajito: Chorus junto a la curadora / Spanish Curator-Led Tour – Cantando Bajito: Chorus

A white gallery interior with cement floors. There are multiple artworks in the gallery including a living room-inspired installation with a vintage television and floral wallpaper; a row of four photographs of women braiding their hair; a gold mannequin in a black dress, a pink curtain installation, a colorful canvas with paint.

15 November 2024 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Curatorial Walkthrough – Cantando Bajito: Chorus

Close-up of two people holding hands in a circle, with others in the background, outdoors in a wooded area. The people are wearing pale earthy-tone t-shirts and leafy head pieces.

10 October 2024 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Cantando Bajito: Convening in Chorus

Gallery interior with white walls and a gray cement floor. A white desk is next to the entry doors. And to the right are three red tapestries featuring silhouettes of women protesters.

8 October 2024 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Cantando Bajito: Chorus

Gallery interior with terracotta red walls. There are multiple sculptural artworks, multiple tv monitors playing videos, and some historical photographs.

16 July 2024 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Visita Guiada en español de la exposición Cantando Bajito: Encantamientos junto a la curadora / Spanish Curator-Led Tour – Cantando Bajito: Incantations

Dr. Akiko Mizoguchu with short dark hair is wearing a black outfit, standing against a dark, textured background, looking slightly to her right.

24 June 2024 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

The Power of Boys’ Love, a Talk by Dr. Akiko Mizoguchi

Gallery interior with terracotta red walls featuring exhibition text to the left and mixed media installation resembling a shrine with soft sculpture, pillows, fabric chains, and wax molds to the right.

17 June 2024 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

「輕聲歌唱：咒語」策展人普通話導賞 / Mandarin Curator-Led Tour – Cantando Bajito: Incantations

Hui Serene’s artwork, Gossip, is a white paper, accordion-folded, with English black text and Nüshu letter-pressed.

7 June 2024 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Curatorial Walkthrough – Cantando Bajito: Incantations

A sculptural artwork before the entrance of the Ford Foundation Gallery that stands before a blue painted wall and on top of a wood floor. The sculpture is made up of piled gourds and straw, and stands 8 feet tall.

5 June 2024 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Cantando Bajito: Incantations

Gallery interior with light lavender walls and a gray floor. There are several artworks hung on the wall such as three printed photographs, a red monitor, and an arrangement of fifteen framed black-and-white photographs. A three by three steel-tray installation sits in the middle of the floor and a long-ribbon papered installation hangs to the left corner of the photo. In the background above a white desk, the wall has text with header “Cantando Bajito: Testimonies”.

2 May 2024 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Visita Guiada en Español de la Exposición Cantando Bajito: Testimonios Junto a la Curadora / Spanish Curator-Led Tour – Cantando Bajito: Testimonies

A black and white photograph of a woman standing in a field of dirt and a body of water in the far background. She is walking towards the opposite direction of the camera, in a long floral-like patterned dress with long sleeves. A piece of cloth is tied diagonally across her shoulder, and she is balancing what appears to be a bundle of branches on top of her head.

30 April 2024 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Eshina lyo ku topa topa / Typewriter, a performance by Tuli Mekondjo

Glass vessel with prongs resting in a basin filled with dirt. Some dirt has been swept aside, revealing the metal bottom of the basin.

8 March 2024 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Curatorial Walkthrough – Cantando Bajito: Testimonies

7 March 2024 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

In Conversation: Gabrielle Goliath and Tina Campt

An installation of a brick-lady sculpture on a gray pedestal in front of a dark purple wall with text “Cantando Bajito: Testimonies”. To the right of the wall is a gold-metallic door frame; and a white wall with some text, titled with the header “Ford Foundation Gallery”.

5 March 2024 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Cantando Bajito: Testimonies

A pair of photographs, one of speaker Ruha Benjamin and the other of moderator Paul Holdengräber. They are speaking and listening respectively, Benjamin with hands raised in gesture, and Holdengräber with an expression of intent listening, from left to right against black backgrounds.

20 November 2023 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

In Conversation: Ruha Benjamin and Paul Holdengräber

31 October 2023 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

In Conversation: Stephanie Dinkins and Mimi Ọnụọha Moderated by Salome Asega

A hand reaches for a dark-gray file from a white-steel filing cabinet. This cabinet is crammed with numerous files, which are all tabbed of different “missing data sets.” The chosen file is tabbed “Global web user measurements that include VPNs.”

8 September 2023 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI

An installation on two walls, a large window, and a section of floor at the end of a hallway. There are wallpapered elements in geometric patterns on all surfaces. A rug hangs vertically on the back wall and there are two sculpted pillars on the floor at waist height.

7 September 2023 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: What Models Make Worlds: Critical Imaginaries of AI

A collage of black and white pages from a book

26 June 2023 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

In Conversation: For Freedoms x The Writing on the Wall

A graphic with photographs of artists Jared Owens and Sherrill Roland.

1 June 2023 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

In Conversation: Jared Owens & Sherrill Roland

Interior of the Ford Foundation Gallery showcasing the "No Justice Without Love" exhibition. A white partition displays a vibrant painting of two women, while the back wall is covered in a floor-to-ceiling document-style mural.

4 April 2023 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: No Justice Without Love

Smiling figure in fuschia satin shirt and head wrap, holding a microphone.

5 December 2022 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Clown Moods

Several people sit in a circle with backstrap looms connecting them together.

9 November 2022 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Weaving Care: A Panel on Disability and Craft

A person is standing in a jungle surrounded by palm trees with a blue plastic tarp over their head.

30 September 2022 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition Opening: Indisposable: Tactics for Care and Mourning

Stylized and shaped text reads WE DO NOT BREAK, BECAUSE WE CAN BEND

4 August 2022 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

We do not break, because we can bend: How we organize in the face of anti Asian, anti femme violence

A photograph of the exhibition everything slackens in a wreck

23 July 2022 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

everything slackens in a wreck – Curator led tour July 23

A painting by Kelly Sinnapah Mary of a woman with black hair and white puffy sleeves emerging from a field of snake plants.

21 July 2022 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Artist Talk: Kelly Sinnapah Mary

A blue-child figure with white wings and a painted gold headband holding a rainbow

13 June 2022 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Andil Gosine and Rajiv Mohabir: A Pride Love-Up Moderated by Tzarina Prater

everything slackens in a wreck Ford Foundation gallery exhibition photo 1

1 June 2022 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Exhibition opening: everything slackens in a wreck

Image of a digital textile using multiple images and text into a woven grid-like pattern.

24 February 2022 12:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 8

Silhouette of artist Allison Leigh Holt looking over water-filled glass spheres and objects that are casting shapes and shadows of refracted light onto the wall.

10 November 2021 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 7

A triptych of images zoomed in to soil, grass, and orange fungus.

23 September 2021 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 6

An outline of a black rectangle on top of a light gray background. On either side of the black rectangle are slightly blurry vertical hot pink and dark gray lines.

9 June 2021 6:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 5

People in colorful clothing and face masks weave multicolored yarn onto a geometric structure outside at a spacious green park

30 April 2021 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 4

Three actors in colorful flowing garments sit next to one another and lean against one other

3 March 2021 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 3

Sami Schalk wearing a bright colored sparkling bodysuit, eyeglasses, and an iridescent sequin face mask leaning over a supermarket shopping cart

18 November 2020 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 2

Artist Vanessa German wearing a white dress with black spots stands in a garden path under a landscaped arch, surrounded by orange, purple, red, and yellow flowers

1 September-5 November 2020 3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Listening as an Act of Love / Dispatches from the Future with vanessa german – Sessions #1-3

Person lying on the grass looking at a mountain range.

17 September 2020 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Indisposable: Structures of Support After the ADA, Chapter 1

Spirit McIntyre singing and playing the cello

30 April 2020 4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

PerSister in Song – Virtual Concert

The Graduates, founded in 2012, is a performance ensemble composed of four formerly incarcerated women from Louisiana.

4 March 2020 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Life, a performance by The Graduates

Epaul Julien, 13th, 2018 Mixed media photo collage, encaustic wax, acrylic, gesso and resin on wood 28 x 24 inches

3 March 2020 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: March 3

PerSister portraits by Allison Beondé

2 March 2020 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition opening: PerSister

Lola Flash, Syzygy, 2019

16 November 2019 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: November 16

Interior view of the Ford Foundation Gallery featuring the "Utopian Imagination" exhibition. The wide-angle shot shows a patterned astronaut mannequin, a futuristic aircraft sculpture, and white pedestals with small artworks against light blue walls.

23 October 2019 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Utopian Imagination | Artists in Conversation

Farxiyo Jaamac, IFTIN, 2017, Private Collection

5 October 2019 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Curator-led tour: October 5

Sue Austin | Creating the Spectacle! Part 1: Finding Freedom, 2012 | Video

17 August 2019 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: August 17

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt | The Preying Hands: In a Little Corner Chapel to Mammon in the Cathedral of Moloch, Greed Makes Human Sacrifice Expedient Upon the Altar of Racism, Displacement and Gentrification, 1985 | Mixed-media installation

13 July 2019 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: July 13

Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry | Evidence of Things Not Seen, 2008 | Oil on linen, toner on silk

10 July 2019 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: July 10

Maria Berrio | Nativity, 2014 | Collage with Japanese paper, acrylic and watercolor paint, pencil, and rhinestones

15 June 2019 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: June 15

Interior view of the Ford Foundation Gallery exhibition, "Radical Love." Vibrant red walls feature lush botanical installations, contemporary photography, and a large-scale beaded tapestry. The space showcases social justice art and multimedia works exploring themes of love and liberation.

11 June 2019 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition opening: Radical Love

9 works from the Perilous Bodies Installation on exhibit in the Ford Foundation Gallery.

10 May 2019 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: May

12 works from the Perilous Bodies Installation on exhibit in the Ford Foundation Gallery.

12 April 2019 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Perilous Bodies: Artists in Conversation

6 works from the Perilous Bodies Installation on exhibit in the Ford Foundation Gallery.

16 March 2019 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Curator-led tour: March

Vanessa German performing in Aetna Theater, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 2016. Photo Allen Phillips

5 March 2019 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Exhibition opening: Perilous Bodies

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Ford Foundation Gallery