By CGN Staff

Gertie announced the return of the third annual Chicago Exhibition Weekend (CXW), set for September 19–21, 2025. 

Gertie and EarlyWork shared that they are thrilled to collaborate again, this time expanding the event through new partnerships with Independent Curators International, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the Chicago Art Book Fair. These new connections, alongside the organization's longtime relationship with EXPO Chicago and a strong network of galleries and institutions across the city, are shaping a weekend of ideas, routes, and reflections that aim to capture what it feels like to be in Chicago (and to care about art) right now.

This year, CXW is grounding the experience with a central hub at 400 N. Peoria, where you’ll find public programs, the Art Book Fair, and a new anchor exhibition commissioned by CXW:

Over My Head: Encounters with Conceptual Art in a Flyover City, 1984–2015, curated by Iris Colburn (MCA Chicago) and Gareth Thomas Kaye (independent curator).

Whereas past Exhibition Weekends invited visitors to choose their own adventure, CXW 2025 offers more structure for deeper engagement—a way to trace stories between spaces and artworks and to see how they build on the legacy of Chicago’s past while pointing toward its creative future.

Gertie says these changes are reflective of the fact that Chicago’s art ecosystem is evolving. More artists are staying. More collectors are looking here. More conversations are happening, and they want you in the room for them.

The full CXW site at chicagoexhibitionweekend.com will be launching soon with event details and information.