Enter the Mirror calls us to acknowledge truths that are difficult or unpleasant to see. In artworks spanning the late 1970s to the mid–2010s, artists grapple with violence, trauma, corruption, historical distortion, and the abuse of power, bearing witness to the unmistakable ways that these forces have shaped our contemporary world. In a moment when the willful refusal to confront facts and history is dangerously common, Enter the Mirror asks us to do the opposite: to “enter the mirror” and see our complicity in the world around us reflected in the powerful work of 20 artists. Drawn primarily from the MCA Collection and including photography, painting, sculpture, video, and installation, many of the works presented in Enter the Mirror will be on view for the first time since the museum acquired them or for the first time in many years.
The exhibition is organized by Jamillah James, Manilow Senior Curator, with Jack Schneider, Curatorial Associate.
Artists
- Dennis Adams
- Edgar Arceneaux
- Chris Burden
- Anne Collier
- Thomas Demand
- Willie Doherty
- Stan Douglas
- Sam Durant
- Melvin Edwards
- Beatriz González
- Shilpa Gupta
- Candida Höfer
- Jason Lazarus
- Glenn Ligon
- Cady Noland
- Hirsch Perlman
- Adrian Piper
- Erika Rothenberg
- Doris Salcedo
- David Wojnarowicz
Image: Erika Rothenberg, America’s Joyous Future, 1990–91. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Bergman by exchange, 1991.75. © 1990-91 Erika Rothenberg. Photo © MCA Chicago.
