From Cobb Hall’s top floor to your home: "The Ren" adapts contemporary art to virtual space

Learn more about The Renaissance Society, a century-old portal for the avant-garde

The Renaissance Society’s name is a bit of a misnomer—UChicago faculty founded it on the Hyde Park campus in 1915 to display contemporary, avant-garde art—but the independent, non-collecting gallery has had no shortage of works by big names within its vaulted walls in Cobb Hall.

“We’re in some ways hidden away on the top floor of Cobb Hall,” said Karsten Lund, a Renaissance Society curator and UChicago alumnus. “And then, there’s always this wonderful moment when people walk in and enter this large, majestic room with 30-foot vaulted ceilings, which can spark a feeling of awe.”

"The Ren"', as it is sometimes called, has had the privilege of introducing twentieth-century Chicagoans to artists like Henri Matisse, Mies Van Der Rohe, and Alexander Calder, to name a few. Since then, it’s continued to focus on fostering the works of artists who typically challenge contemporary thought, using its unique exhibition space to install new, transformative shows, including more recently with artists like LaToya Ruby Frazier and Prof. William Pope.L of the Department of Visual Arts. It holds four exhibitions a year, with one of them typically a group show.

Of course, with its latest exhibition—featuring the work of Japanese solo artist Miho Dohi—the Renaissance Society, like most other museums in this time of social distancing, had to get creative with how to share its content with visitors. The show officially opened April 18 with an online photo gallery of Dohi’s work: small, hand-created sculptures made of modest materials such as yarn, wire, fabric, sheet metal, paint, and tape.

Lund noted that the work reflects some of the feelings of being in a small space, at a time when much of the world stays home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“Of all the possible shows to be happening at this moment, this is an interesting one to be thinking about,” Lund said. “All of these sculptures use different materials on a small scale, they’re very intimate. It’s a show where you can imagine the artist in a space of her own, creating each piece one at a time with various humble materials, seeing where each work leads her.”

“The art world has been edging toward more spectacular things in recent years. An artist like Miho Dohi reminds us of how art can be just as powerful when it’s intimate and modest in scale. Especially at a time when all of us are sitting in our homes wondering what to do with ourselves, there’s something there that feels in tune with this moment.”

The Ren has also adapted other programming related to the show to the virtual space. This Thursday, it will release an audio tour of the work, followed by a reading by poet Hoa Nguyen that will release May 7. Finally, writer and curator Shannon Stratton will deliver an online lecture on May 17 with insights to Dohi’s work.

“We’ve really been thinking about how to give all of these different programs their own texture and life and how we can really engage our audience,” Lund said.

Separate from the exhibition, the Ren is also planning a livestream concert night to correspond with its ongoing music program throughout the year. It will partner with the organization Experimental Sound Studio for this event and plans to feature various musicians performing from their homes.

All of the Renaissance Society’s programming is free and open to the public.