The Renaissance Society, an independent, non-collecting contemporary art venue founded in 1915 at the University of Chicago, commissions new work, produces early scholarship on artists, and pilots new exhibition formats that bridge live performance, moving image, and installation. Led by Myriam Ben Salah, The Ren supports artists through exhibitions, publications, and performances while extending its programming to new community partnerships on Chicago’s South Side. Developed together with Karsten Lund, Ben Salah’s curatorial program showcases practices that are underrepresented in Chicago, offering a platform for artistic exchange that both enriches the local cultural fabric and positions Chicago as a critical node in the global art ecosystem.
Dorota Gawęda and Eglė Kulbokaitė, -lalia, 2023 (performance view). Featuring Giulia Terminio. Commissioned for Intermissions by The Renaissance Society, Chicago, May 3–4, 2025. Courtesy The Renaissance Society. Photo: Ry Thiel
Krapfen, a film by Diego Marcon (b.1985, Busto Arsizio, Italy), will première at The Ren in fall 2025. A co-commission with
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo,
Lafayette Anticipations, the
New Museum, and the
Vega Foundation, the film will blend Italian opera and American animation. In late 2025, Moriah Evans (b.1980, Springfield, OH) will debut a new choreographic installation that explores embodiment and the possibilities of dance in durational form. Spring 2026 will bring a solo exhibition of new work by Chicago-based artist Leah Ke Yi Zheng (b.1988, Wuyishan, China), whose painting practice intertwines Chinese traditions and Western abstraction. Later in the season, a two-part group exhibition titled Palomar takes observation of the sky, in both its scientific and everyday guises, as a jumping-off point. In fall 2026, British-born Nigerian artist Karimah Ashadu (b.1985, London) will present
MUSCLE, an intimate video portrait of bodybuilders in the heart of Lagos’s slums. The film is a co-commission of The Ren with
Fondazione In Between Art Film and
Camden Art Centre.
Wakaliga Uganda, Ejjini Lye Ntwetwe, 2015. Installation view in Wakaliga Uganda: If Uganda Was America at The Renaissance Society, Chicago, March 1–April 27, 2025. Courtesy The Renaissance Society. Photo: Bob
Over the next three years, Ben Salah and Lund will continue their commitment to artist-driven moving-image works through Renaissance TV, The Ren’s digital programming platform for experimental cinema and media. Upcoming projects include the online premièree of a new film by Valentin Noujaïm (b.1991, Angers, France), a co-production with
Kunsthalle Basel.
Myriam Ben Salah is Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Renaissance Society. Since joining in 2020, she has curated solo exhibitions by Wakaliga Uganda, Neïl Beloufa, Aria Dean, Dala Nasser, and Meriem Bennani, among others. Previously, she co-curated Made in L.A. 2020: a version (2021) at the Hammer Museum at UCLA, served as Editor-in-Chief of Kaleidoscope (2016–20), and was the curator of special projects and public programs at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2009–16). Her independent curatorial projects have been presented at institutions including the Kamel Lazaar Foundation (Tunis), the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), Beirut Art Center, Kunsthall Stavanger, Kadist Foundation (Paris and San Francisco), Pejman Foundation (Tehran), and the DESTE Foundation (Athens). She sits on the scientific committee of the Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (MUDAM) (Luxembourg) and the commissioning committee of Hartwig Art Production/Collection Fund (Amsterdam). In 2026, she will curate the French Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, presenting the work of Yto Barrada.
Karsten Lund is Senior Curator at The Renaissance Society. In this role, he organizes exhibitions and performances, works closely with artists on new commissions, edits publications, and oversees public programs. In recent years, he has curated exhibitions by LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ximena Garrido-Lecca, Ghislaine Leung, Jill Magid, Isabelle Frances McGuire, and Matthew Metzger, among others. He has also organized a number of group exhibitions, including Fear of Property (2022), Nine Lives (2020), and Unthought Environments (2018). In 2017, he launched Intermissions, an ongoing performance series staged twice a year in the gallery space between exhibitions, featuring new or site-responsive projects. In addition to contributing to numerous publications at The Ren, he has also served as editor for other books, including Spells by Irena Haiduk (Sternberg Press, 2011) and deposition by Marissa Lee Benedict, Daniel de Paula, and David Rueter (Mousse Publishing, 2023). Lund previously worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College.