AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

The University of Chicago is home to several world class museums that are on the forefront of conservation. In this "open House” style tour you will have the opportunity to visit 2 or 3 institutions and tour the conservation labs, storage, and collections.The Oriental Institute is a world-class research institute at the University of Chicago specializing in the archaeology, history and art of the ancient Middle East. The museum, which opened its doors in 1931, contains a renowned collection of antiquities from ancient Egypt, Nubia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia and the ancient site of Megiddo. Take this rare opportunity to go behind the scenes, visit the Conservation Laboratory and learn about past and ongoing preservation projects. Be sure to make time on your visit to view the galleries which showcase spectacular finds, the majority of which were excavated during Oriental Institute expeditions to the Middle East in the early 20th century. In addition to the collections, architecture enthusiasts will enjoy the building's exquisite Art Deco details including the symbolic imagery of the tympanum over the building entrance and the superbly decorated museum ceiling. The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, in the heart of the University of Chicago campus, features a soaring elliptical glass dome capping a 180-seat Grand Reading Room, state-of-the-art conservation and digitization laboratories, and an underground high-density automated storage and retrieval system for 3.5 million volumes. The Mansueto Library, opened in 2011, speeds scholarly productivity by allowing for the retrieval of materials within an average time of 3 minutes through use of robotic cranes. The University of Chicago Library, committed to providing support for research, teaching, and learning, consists of six libraries containing renowned world class collections. Robie House – Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece located on the grounds of the University of Chicago isan icon of modern architecture. Trained interpreters offer insights into amazing contemporary spaces designed by Wright over a hundred years ago. Our tour will include the: children's playroom, entry hall, living room, dining room, guest room, master bedroom, butler's pantry and kitchen. The University of Chicago tour will end with a reception at the University's Smart Museum of Art. The Smart collects Asian art, European art, contemporary art, and modern art & design, and is well known for collecting clusters of works that introduce important, though lesser known areas of art history. In addition to the permanent galleries, on exhibit during the visit will be Classicisms, which will trace the shifting parameters of classicism from antiquity to the early 20th century. Additionally, Vostell Concrete, 1969-1973 will explore the ways in which leading Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell used concrete as an actual material and artistic motif. This exhibition was inspired by the re-discovery, conservation, and 2016 reinstallation of the University's Vostell sculpture Concrete Traffic, located just inside a parking garage near the museum. Cost - $69 without Robie House and $80 with Robie House