The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago presents contemporary art exhibitions, events, and publications. “The Ren”—as we are known by many—is an independent, non-collecting museum driven by an uncompromising commitment to artists and their ideas.
For artists, we offer an unfettered platform for bold experimentation.
Our work with artists frequently results in newly commissioned art, and these presentations in our gallery at the University of Chicago spur further scholarly and creative reflections in our publications and public programs. Events—including artist talks, lectures, screenings, concerts, readings, and more—offer further opportunities for discovery and discussion.
All exhibitions and events are free to attend.
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The Renaissance Society is a registered 501(c)(3). We are a member of Mod/Co, Common Field, and UChicago Arts, and we are an independent affiliate of the University of Chicago.
Image: Diego Marcon, Krapfen, 2025, installation view, the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. Photo by Bob.
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In their performance -lalia, Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė conjure a legendary figure from Slavic folklore, the demonic Południca. Posing a metaphor for contemporary anxieties related to ecological and social unease, this work is a dynamic hybrid combination of physical presence, text, and video. As a lone performer haunts the Renaissance Society’s gallery space, she is simultaneously livestreamed in a cinema screening room, one floor below. This structure requires audience members to choose where to be at any moment. One can only grasp fragments of the live act and its virtual double, and never the performance as a whole.
Continually evolving as it is staged in new surroundings, Gawęda and Kulbokaitė’s -lalia takes a new form at the Renaissance Society, following past performances at the Lithuanian National Drama Theater in Vilnius, a cultural center in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and a traditional Stube at the Museo Civico in Bolzano, Italy featured in Pasolini’s 1971 Decameron, and most recently at the iconic Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich, birthplace of the Dada Movement.
Curated by Karsten Lund.
Launched in 2017, Intermissions is an ongoing programming series devoted to performance and other inventive time-based works, staged in the Renaissance Society’s empty gallery in between exhibitions. This recurring platform features two artists every year, supporting a wide variety of live projects.
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