By Ginny Van Alyea

Last week EXPO CHICAGO announced the first details of its 2026 edition, scheduled for April 9–12, 2026 at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, with Northern Trust returning as Presenting Sponsor. Under the leadership of newly appointed Director Kate Sierzputowski and Curator Essence Harden, the fair enters a new chapter with what leadership says is a more focused, intentionally scaled format.

The 2026 edition will present more than 130 galleries from around the world in a refined floorplan designed to prioritize clarity, discovery, and sustained engagement. The updated approach emphasizes curatorial coherence and accessibility while reinforcing EXPO CHICAGO’s role as a central convening point for the Midwest and international art communities.

Sections of the fair also have new names - in addition to the 'galleries' list, there is also Focus, Profile, Embodiment, and Evolution. Curatorial programming plays an expanded role in the fair’s reimagined structure. A new partnership with the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center introduces two initiatives curated by Dr. Louise Bernard, Director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum. Embodiment draws inspiration from the Center’s architecture and commissioned artists, while Evolution presents archival materials connected to the Center’s art commissions. Together, the projects foreground themes of history, identity, and cultural memory rooted in Chicago and shaped by global contexts.

Additional curated sections continue this emphasis on depth and intentionality. Focus (formerly Exposure), curated by Kate A. Pfohl of the Detroit Institute of Arts, highlights emerging galleries and artistic practices, offering an accessible entry point into the fair. Profile, curated by Essence Harden, features solo booths and tightly conceived presentations by established international galleries, encouraging sustained engagement with individual artists and projects.

Kate Sierzputowski and Essence Harden. Photo by Kevin Serna.

“As we build toward EXPO CHICAGO 2026, our priority has been to refocus the fair on what has always defined it: rigorous curation, civic collaboration, and a deep commitment to artists,” said Sierzputowski. Harden added that the fair is uniquely positioned to connect artists with museums and collections, noting that the 2026 presentations reflect “focused, conceptually rigorous practices that resonate with institutional priorities.”

The fair continues several key initiatives, including its collaboration with the Galleries Association of Korea, which will bring 12 Korean galleries to the 2026 edition, building on relationships established between Kiaf SEOUL and Frieze Seoul.

Thursday is noted at the invitation-only VIP Preview for the fair, but a representative shared that there will be opportunities to purchase tickets for Opening Night on that day. Continuing from last year, the invitation-only early hours will be a collaborative "Vernissage Champagne Brunch” earlier in the day that is a celebration of EXPO CHICAGO hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Women’s Board.

Long-time fair goers will notice that the popular Editions and Books is no longer a section at EXPO CHICAGO. This may be in part due to the IFPDA Print Fair running simultaneously in New York this year, with Midwestern spaces like Manneken Press, F.L. Braswell Fine Art, Tandem Press and Dublin's Stoney Road Press participating. However, EXPO leadership noted that the MCA Chicago Store will return to the main entrance of the fair this year.

In March details surrounding the highlights of the fair will be announced.

VIP Preview

Thursday, April 9, 2026 (by invitation only)

General Admission

Friday, April 10, 11:00am–7:00pm

Saturday, April 11, 11:00am–7:00pm

Sunday, April 12, 11:00am–6:00pm

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2026 EXHIBITORS

*GAoK exhibitor

GALLERIES

021 Gallery* – Daegu

Gallery 41* – Seoul

Aicon Contemporary – New York

A Lighthouse called Kanata – Tokyo

Allouche Gallery – New York

Arcadia Contemporary – New York

Galería Artizar – Tenerife, Madrid

Avant Gallery – Miami

Richard Beavers Gallery – Brooklyn

Bockley Gallery – Minneapolis

BOGENA GALERIE – Saint Paul De Vence, Phoenix

Casterline|Goodman Gallery – Aspen, Santa Fe

Ethan Cohen Gallery – New York, Beacon

Oliver Cole Gallery – Miami

Cynthia Corbett Gallery – London

Gallery Dasun* – Gwacheon-si

DOCUMENT – Chicago, Lisbon

Ebony/Curated – Cape Town, Franschhoek

Les Enluminures – Chicago, New York, Paris

Gallery Fine* – Busan

Friedrichs Pontone – New York

GBS Fine Art – London, Somerset

Gefen Gallery – San Francisco

GPG Gallery – New York

GalleryGrimson* – Seoul

Richard Heller Gallery – Los Angeles

Hexton Gallery – Aspen

Nancy Hoffman Gallery – New York

Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery – London, Miami, Singapore

Karma – New York, Los Angeles

Keumsan Gallery* – Seoul, Gyeongju

LEE & BAE* – Busan

David Lusk Gallery – Memphis, Nashville

McCormick Gallery – Chicago

Miles McEnery Gallery – New York

moniquemeloche – Chicago

Galerie Myrtis – Baltimore

Opa Projects – Miami

Night Gallery – Los Angeles

PATRON – Chicago

Galerie Pici* – Seoul, New York

Pontone Gallery – London

Nara Roesler – São Paulo, New York, Rio De Janeiro

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery – New York

Secrist | Beach – Chicago

Marc Straus Gallery – New York

Sun Gallery* – Seoul

Suppoment Gallery* – Seoul

Sundaram Tagore Gallery – New York, London, Singapore

TAI Modern – Santa Fe

Ting Ting Art Space – Taipei

Upsilon Gallery – New York, London, Milan

EMBODIMENT

GRAY – Chicago, New York

Sean Kelly – New York

Anton Kern – New York

Gallery Wendi Norris – San Francisco

Regen Projects – Los Angeles

PROFILE

47 Canal – New York

Adegbola Gallery – Lagos

Affinity Gallery – Lagos

Babst Gallery – Los Angeles

Corbett vs. Dempsey – Chicago

Duru Artspace* – Seoul

Fort Gansevoort – New York

Geary Contemporary – Salisbury

half gallery – New York, Los Angeles

ILY2 – Portland, New York

Charlie James Gallery – Los Angeles

Kevin Kavanagh – Dublin

Vielmetter Los Angeles – Los Angeles

Tanya Weddemire Gallery – Brooklyn

Weinstein Hammons Gallery – Minneapolis

Wizard Gallery – Milan

Paik Hae Young Gallery* – Seoul

Zemack Contemporary Art – Tel Aviv

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery – Luxembourg, Dubai, Paris

Matéria – Detroit

ANDREW RAFACZ – Chicago

Jessica Silverman – San Francisco

Gary Snyder Fine Art MT – Whitehall

Mindy Solomon Gallery – Miami

Soto Gallery – Lagos

THIRD BORN – Mexico City

Yenwa Gallery – Lagos

FOCUS

56 HENRY – New York

april april – Pittsburgh

Artemin Gallery – Taipei

Bertrand Productions – Philadelphia

Bienvenu Steinberg & C – New York

Bianca Boeckel – São Paulo, Salvador

Brandt Gallery – Amsterdam

Buffalo Prescott – Detroit

Jonathan Carver Moore – San Francisco

Circle Art Gallery – Nairobi

Contour Art Gallery – Vilnius

COTT – Buenos Aires

DM Incubator – New York

Don't Look Projects – Los Angeles

EMBAJADA – San Juan

Enari – Amsterdam

Good Weather – Chicago

GOCA by Garde – New York, Japan

Hesse Flatow – New York, Amagansett

High Noon – New York

Gillian Jason – Gallery London

K:art Studio – London

Latinou – Mexico City

Lobster Club – Los Angeles

M. LeBlanc – Chicago

MAĀT Gallery – Paris

Magenta Plains – New York

Marinaro – New York

Megan Mulrooney – Los Angeles

THE MISSION PROJECTS – Chicago

Mitochondria Gallery – Houston

Mitre Galeria – Belo Horizonte, São Paulo

Nature of Things – Dallas

OSMOS – New York

Patel Brown – Toronto, Montréal

Public – London

Red Arrow – Nashville

re.riddle – San Francisco

Rivalry Projects – Buffalo

SARAI Gallery – Los Angeles, Dubai

Chris Sharp Gallery – Los Angeles

Sibyl Gallery – New Orleans

Situations – New York

SPACE 776 GALLERY – New York, Seoul

Superposition Gallery – Los Angeles

TERN Gallery – Nassau

TIAN Contemporain – Montréal

VERVE – São Paulo

What Pipeline – Detroit

Yehudi Hollander Pappi – São Paulo

Details at expochicago.com