Produced by the Chicago Humanities Festival, Creative Chicago: An Interview Marathon with Hans Ulrich Obrist was a five-hour series of conversations with artists, authors, architects, and others representing Chicago’s diverse creative community on Saturday, September 29, 2018. The event took place on a stage designed by renowned artist Barbara Kasten in the Aon Grand Ballroom at Chicago’s Navy Pier as part of the city’s annual international art exposition, EXPO CHICAGO. It was presented free and open to the public.

The interviews were conducted by Hans Ulrich Obrist—artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London and an influential international curator and critic known for his long-form dynamic interview practice. Creative Chicago was Obrist’s first interview marathon in the United States and took a multidimensional, multidisciplinary look at creativity in the city, past, present, and future. Through this wide-ranging series of dialogues, Creative Chicago explored the many artistic and institutional forces that have made and continue to make Chicago a creative powerhouse.

As one of Art Design Chicago’s centerpiece programs, Creative Chicago also bridged Chicago’s historical role as an art and design center with the contemporary work of artists and other creatives in the city today. Studs Terkel, the celebrated oral historian and iconic Chicagoan author, was a major influence and inspiration for Obrist’s creative practice—making Chicago a fitting destination for the curator’s first US marathon. Creative Chicago featured audio from the Studs Terkel Radio Archive, along with Obrist’s own Chicago-based archive.

Participants included:

• Amanda Williams, Artist
• Art Green, Artist
• Barbara Kasten, Artist
• Brandon Breaux, Artist
• Cauleen Smith, Artist
• Dawoud Bey, Photographer
• Eddie Bocanegra, Organizer/Activist
• Edra Soto, Artist
• Eula Biss, Writer
• Eve L. Ewing, Writer/Visual Artist
• Fatimah Asghar, Poet
• Gerald Williams, Artist
• Jeanne Gang, Architect
• Joseph Grigely, Artist/Art Historian
• Louise Bernard, Museum Director, Obama Presidential Center Museum
• Richard Hunt, Sculptor
• Shani Crowe, Artist/Performer
• Stanley Tigerman, Architect
• Suellen Rocca, Artist and Curator
• Theaster Gates, Artist
• Tim Samuelson, City Historian
• With a special performance by Ricky Murray 

Watch the full marathon here.