Chicago Comics

An exhibition design of intimate rooms framed by partitions for the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago with Norman Kelley, completed in 2021

The Chicago Comics: 1960s to now exhibition design reduces the museum’s existing, large vaulted galleries into a series of intimate rooms that reflect the personal act of reading a comic book. Frames that unfold a comic’s narrative translate into thin partition walls, which expand and contract to organize different periods of work and monographs. Color clads the interior of niches to expose the gaps in between, producing a superficial reading that relates to the exhibited artwork, which is largely on loose sheets of paper. Views throughout the galleries are framed by a consistent language of large square portals. Modular vitrines reimagine desks as display devices to engage viewers closely.

Image Credit: Nathan Keay, Abigail Chang

Contributors: Chief Curator Michael Darling, Exhibition Curator Dan Nadel, Thomas Kelley, Carrie Norman, Abigail Chang, Zhao Sheng