Getting a chance to encounter even one of Westermann’s works is always cause for celebration, so it is a true windfall to see a show of this magnitude.

Following rumors of rampant extortion and suspicious hiring practices in the preceding administration under Governor George Ryan, Blagojevich’s message of reform played well with an exasperated electorate.

No other candidate presented a program that went into as much detail as Obama’s, and if he manages to implement some of his campaign promises the outcome could be very encouraging for both art education programs and working artists.

Curated by Wu Hung, Displacement is not a didactic rail against the Chinese government, but a rather evenhanded, well-executed examination of this modernization project and the ability of the visual arts to respond to and critique political realities.

The show’s only stop in North America is wonderfully executed, highly informative, and sensitively curated.

The grand uncle of conceptual art and institutional critique, Hans Haacke, visited Chicago in April and presented the Dog and Pony Show at the University of Chicago.