Chicago has a joyful new reason to slow down. Slow Dance, now on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago through March 14, 2027, is a performance-focused exhibition that turns slowness into something beautiful, playful and deeply human.
Presented in the Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries on the museum’s second floor, the show brings together six artists — Brendan Fernandes, Gordon Hall, Geumhyung Jeong, Carolyn Lazard, Melanie McLain and Cally Spooner — working across painting, sculpture, video and live performance. Through gestures of suspension, stillness, hesitation and gentle inaction, they explore how our bodies rest, wait, endure and care for one another in a world that always seems to be asking us to hurry.
What makes Slow Dance especially fun to visit is that it is alive. In-gallery performance activations take place throughout the run, so one visit might be quiet and contemplative and the next might surprise you with movement unfolding right beside the artworks. It is an exhibition that rewards lingering, looking twice and letting a moment breathe.
The exhibition is curated by Jadine Collingwood, Pamela Alper Associate Curator, with Korina Hernandez, Curatorial Assistant. The MCA, at 220 E. Chicago Avenue, is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., with free admission for Illinois residents on Tuesday evenings from 5 to 9 p.m. Admission is always free for visitors 18 and under.
If your autumn in Chicago needs a calmer, more creative pause, Slow Dance is a lovely place to find it — one unhurried step at a time.
Photo: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, via Wikimedia Commons
