EXPO CHICAGO Presents South Side Night

• 22 April 2025
• 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Addresses

Locations across Hyde Park & Bronzeville

5701 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, 60637

5020 S Cornell Ave, Chicago, 60615

6400 S Kimbark Ave, Chicago, 60637

5811 S Ellis Ave, Chicago, 60637

740 E 56th Pl, Chicago, 60637

6760 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago, 60649

4445 S Martin Luther King Dr, Chicago, 60653

5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago, 60637

3831 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, 60653

South Side Night, in collaboration with UChicago Arts, promotes special programs and late opening hours in Hyde Park, Bronzeville and surrounding areas to kick off EXPO ART WEEK. 

Join EXPO CHICAGO for a Toast to the South Side at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago from 6:00-7:00 PM prior to a special performance by artists Margaret Crowley and Eli Greene in the church's indoor basketball court.

Use our South Side Night shuttle between locations, provided by UChicago Arts. The shuttle will operate hourly from 5:00–9:00pm, starting from Hyde Park Art Center and ending at Blanc Gallery, using the following route.

Presented in collaboration with UChicago Arts and Block Club Chicago.

Participating venues and programs include: 

Rebuild Foundation at 305 E. Garfield

After hours with DJ Sean Alvarez 4:00–9:00pm

Theaster Gates and Rebuild Foundation are pleased to announce the opening of A Listening Space, the latest activation of the former currency exchange at 305 E. Garfield. This experimental endeavor is another example of Rebuild’s investment in creating iterative projects that demonstrate the value, dynamism and cultural possibility in Black space on Chicago’s South Side. A Listening Space invites the public to engage with the Dinh Nguyen Collection, an archive of music which holds over 14,000 records, CDs, cassettes and other audio ephemera, including examples of blues, jazz, reggae, dub and disco, along with African pop and Vietnamese funk, classical, world folk and other experimental and obscure sounds.

Smart Museum of Art

Extended Hours 4:30–6:30pm

Visit Expanding the 50th: Shared Stories, an updated presentation of the institution’s anniversary exhibition to explore the histories that have made up the Smart Museum over the last five decades. Drawn entirely from the permanent collection—which has grown from nearly 2,500 works in 1974, when the Smart opened its doors, to over 17,000 objects today—the exhibition is organized loosely chronologically to illuminate how the institution, its mission, and collection, have continued to change.

Hyde Park Art Center

Artist-Led Exhibition Tour by Yasmin Spiro and Farah Salem 5:30–6:30pm

Join Yasmin Spiro for an artist-led exhibition tour of her solo exhibition Cornerstone. This immersive installation draws deeply from the geographic and architectural forms of her homeland, Jamaica, weaving together elements of cultural hybridity that resonate throughout Spiro’s practice. The exhibition features newly-cast sculptures of varying scales, soundscapes, scent work, and large natural fiber weavings that create a multi-sensory experience. 

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center

Extended Hours 5:00–7:00pm

Enjoy extended hours at the museum and the opportunity to visit The Art of Our Storytellers: Selections from the Johnson Publishing Company collection, which celebrated African American life not just through its publications but also through its stunning art collection. Many pieces reflected African-centered viewpoints and the African American experience, creating a vibrant cultural tapestry that filled the building’s halls and offices.

South Side Community Art Center

Extended Hours for Beyond Frames 5:00–8:00pm

As the country’s oldest Black arts institution, the South Side Community Art Center is proud to present Beyond Frames, an exhibition honoring the visionary role Black women collectors have played in preserving and shaping Black cultural history. The exhibition features works from over fifteen local collections, including pieces by Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, Eldzier Cortor, Annie Lee, and more.

This showing is anchored by SSCAC’s historical archives and community partnerships and coincides with our 85th anniversary and ongoing $15M expansion campaign.

Neubauer Collegium for Culture & Society

Extended Hours for Let's Get It On: The Wearable Art of Betye Saar 5:00–9:00pm

This exhibition offers the first sustained look at a pivotal moment in Betye Saar’s career, when a visit to Chicago’s Field Museum in 1974 transformed the way she conceived of herself as an artist. A display of over 60 objects—including a ceremonial robe from Cameroon, costumes and jewelry designed by Saar, drawings, photos, and more—casts new light on the way Saar’s early career in costume design informed her pioneering work in assemblage and installation. The show is presented as part of a series of exhibitions and events linked to the multi-year Panafrica research project at the Neubauer Collegium.

The Renaissance Society

Extended Hours 6:00–8:00pm

Visit If Uganda Was America after hours during South Side Night. Wakaliga Uganda presents their first wide-ranging exhibition in the US, including a new film alongside other recent films, all within a customized installation.

First Presbyterian Church of Chicago

Toast to the South Side Reception 6:00–7:15pm

Join EXPO CHICAGO and UChicago Arts for a Toast to the South Side at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago. This reception is the official kick-off for EXPO ART WEEK and celebrates the creative community in this neighborhood of Chicago. Remarks at 7:00 PM. RSVP here

First Presbyterian Church of Chicago

Midnight: Performance in Two Parts 7:30–9:00pm

On the occasion of the exhibition, Midnight, two performances will take place during South Side Night at the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago's indoor basketball court. The program will begin with Milking it, a group performance about basketball and physical therapy by Margaret Crowley and end with On Falling, Part V, the fifth iteration of an ongoing performance about time, loss and memory by Eli Greene. 

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.

Blanc Gallery and South Side Community Art Center

Extended Hours 6:00–9:00pm

Visit this two part exhibition Futurescapes: Ecowomanist Worldbuilding, at both South Side Community Art Center and a more extensive exhibit of the same group show at Blanc Gallery. With sculptural work as well as film and soundscapes, the artists will more fully develop their themes in the Community that they consider their artistic home.

Arts + Public Life

Extended Hours 6:00–9:00pm

Arts + Public Life presents the undercommons, the first solo exhibition by painter Brandon Carlton. Through his distinctive approach to stylized figuration, Carlton explores the complexities of contemporary Black life, using portraiture and spatial composition to evoke intimacy, distance, and presence.

DETAILS

Image: Courtesy Margaret Crowley and Eli Greene.