Art Chicago director Staci Boris discusses plans for the fair

"Art Chicago seemed posed for change," Staci Boris responded when asked why she wanted to be the art fair's new director. Boris spoke with me by phone July 5, her first day at Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., which runs Art Chicago, NEXT and the Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair under the Artropolis umbrella. (See TOC's photos of Artropolis 2011 in our slide show, above.)

MMPI itself is undergoing significant changes. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that MMPI president Christopher Kennedy is leaving this month. (His successor is Mark Falanga, a senior vice-president at MMPI.) On September 30, the company launches an art fair in Los Angeles. And in 2012, MMPI faces its first real competition in Chicago: Former Art Chicago director Tony Karman is starting his own fair, exposition CHICAGO, at Navy Pier.

MMPI's decision to hire Boris, a curator who worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art for 12 years and the Spertus Museum for five, suggests the company realizes it must bolster Art Chicago's credibility among exhibitors and visitors. MMPI excels at running NeoCon, the office furniture trade show, but never seemed to know how to handle Art Chicago, which it took over in 2006, or NEXT, which local dealer Kavi Gupta cofounded in 2008. The energy level at the fairs this past May felt particularly low, as the number of exhibitors shrank, and prominent Chicago galleries such as Rhona Hoffman stayed away.  

Boris has attended Art Chicago since it was held at Navy Pier in the 1990s. The Milwaukee native moved here after graduate school in 1992, when she joined the MCA. Since falling victim to one of the Spertus's rounds of layoffs in 2009, she's been "developing some independent curatorial projects and being a stay-at-home mom," she tells me; she learned about the opportunity to shape Art Chicago when Paul Morris, MMPI's vice-president for art shows and events, called her to discuss the job.

Boris says she has "a lot of proposals" for taking the fair in new directions, but—on her first day—wasn't sure which ideas MMPI will pursue. During our conversation, she emphasized Art Chicago's need to showcase "quality" exhibitors and artwork. She also signaled her intention to continue NEXT's Talk Shop and the Converge curatorial forum, which she describes as "an outstanding educational program series." When asked about one obvious challenge—the ascendance of Art Basel Miami Beach—the director replied, "I think that each fair has to roll with the times and craft a unique character for itself." She wants to determine how MMPI can use Chicago's strengths, such as its architecture, perhaps, "to define the themes or the types of galleries or types of work that we present in the fair.… Do we try to attract galleries that have architectural drawings? Do we look to artists who are influenced by architecture? Do we collaborate and have partnerships with different architectural organizations? Something like that."

Chicago's smaller galleries and institutions have sometimes felt disenfranchised from Art Chicago and NEXT, but Boris hopes they'll have a role in the 2012 fairs, scheduled for April 27–30. "Throughout my whole career, I’ve really prioritized Chicago-based artists and institutions," she says. "I feel like it’s very important to be aware of what’s happening in your own community, and I want the community to be part of the fair."