Gallery 400 is a not-for-profit arts exhibition space within the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was founded in 1983 to exhibit and support art, design and architecture. Over its history Gallery 400 has presented many exhibitions, lectures, and artist commissions. The exhibitions and programs present a broad range of recent developments and aesthetic concerns and have included more than 1,000 artists to date. It's located in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood.
Mission
The Gallery's program of exhibitions, lectures, film and video screenings, and performances features interdisciplinary and experimental practices. Operating within the College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago —the largest and most diverse university in Chicago—Gallery 400 endeavors to make the arts and its practitioners accessible to a broad spectrum of the public and to cultivate a variety of cultural and intellectual perspectives. Gallery 400 is recognized for its support of the creation of new work, the diversity of its programs and participants, and the development of experimental models for multi-disciplinary exhibition.
Exhibitions
Gallery 400 annually presents six to nine exhibitions in an exhibition space of 2,900 square feet. Group exhibitions feature local, national, and international artists together in dialogue on critical themes, and often premiering new works. Gallery 400 has in recent years prioritized major solo exhibitions of women, artists of color, and mid-career artists in the Chicago region. Large commissions of new works focus on artists working across disciplines. Exhibitions in 2013 have included: It's the Political Economy, Stupid, The Program, Whisper Down the Lane, and I THINK WE'RE READY TO GO TO THE NEXT SEQUENCE: THE LEGACY OF HALFLIFERS. Exhibitions from years past have included: Focus Pull: Onion CityOff Screen, Frau Fiber: Knock Off Enterprises - the labor behind the label, Justin Cooper: Thread, , Carla Arocha: Orchid, Andy Roche: Black Iron Vatican, Leif Elggren and Carl Michael von Hausswolff: Inauguration of the Consulate General of the Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland, , I Am Eyebeam, Carol Jackson, Feel Tank Chicago: Pathogeographies, Amanda Browder and Stuart Keeler: Urban Warp / Weft sculptural research project, Captive Audience, John Arndt : Empire, Jeanne Dunning: Tomato Fight, Carter: Drawings and Polaroids. In 2018 Gallery 400 in partnership with VGA gallery exhibited the Chicago New Media 1973-1992. The exhibition focused on Chicago’s important relationship with New Media looking at the history through time. The exhibition was curated by jonCates.
Voices Lecture Series
Gallery 400's Voices lecture series is a forum in Chicago for discourse in the field of art and design practice. Significant artists, critics, designers and art historians discuss timely ideas and working methods. Voices extends the educational programs of the Gallery and UIC to provide the public at large direct contact with a diverse range of artistic practices and positions. The speakers in 2014 have included: Dieter Roelstraete, Clifford Owens, Kendell Geers, Pamela Karimi, Nina Katchadourian, and Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa.
Commissions
Throughout its history Gallery 400 has commissioned large-scale new works through residencies, comprising varied combinations of workshops for students, public lectures, the creation of large-scale new works, and collaborations between the artist, students, and partner community groups.
In Fall 2002 Gallery 400 initiated an annual four-month exhibition series of commissioned works from local artists called At the Edge: Innovative Art in Chicago. The Goal of At the Edge was to promote experimentation, support excellence and nurture innovation in local artistic talent. Some ATE shows have traveled after their commission at Gallery 400. Artists from the series have gone on to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, one-person gallery shows in NYC and in the PS 1 exhibition Greater New York 2005. The series was brought to a close in 2008. Commissions by Illinois artists continue at Gallery 400 but no longer are listed as an independent series within the gallery's exhibition schedule. A full-color catalog of the entire ATE series is currently in production.
