Client: The Peninsula Chicago

Overview

The Peninsula Chicago approached us to conceive and produce an art project for their Chicago hotel to coincide with EXPO Chicago, Chicago's premier contemporary art fair.

Goals

The goals of this project were to draw attention to the hotel during EXPO Chicago, raise the profile of EXPO Chicago and The Peninsula Chicago and to celebrate Chicago's unique art history.

Process

We collaborated with world renown collector Beth Rudin DeWoody and curator Laura Dvorkin to produce an exciting exhibition of over 30 artworks from DeWoody's notable private collection at The Peninsula Chicago. Whoville is both an exclusive glimpse into the collecting world of Beth Rudin DeWoody, one of America’s most notable collectors, and a celebration of Chicago’s distinctive artistic history. A playful reference to the noted Chicago artist group, the Hairy Who, most of whom studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and exhibited together at the Hyde Park Art Center in the 1960s, Whoville highlights some of Chicago’s most prominent artists, past and present, along with an eclectic selection of works that explore travel, transformative environments or share the fantastical, surreal aesthetic of Dr. Seuss’ fictional land, Whoville.

Additional Information

Whoville is the latest project from Circa 1881’s ongoing partnership with The Peninsula Hotels to present rotating art exhibitions of world-class contemporary art for the hotels’ public spaces. The winner of the 2016 CODAaward in the Hospitality category, Circa 1881 produces art exhibitions and programming in collaboration with noted collectors or from artworks on loan from private collections it has under management.