Taking Risks at the Armory Show

1990s Building Chicago Avenue Exhibitions

The ideas that were generated by the successful Armory show—the last before it was demolished for the Chicago Avenue building—set the stage for some of the presentations at the new site.

Other people figured out how to have an exhibition in the armory just before we tore it down. And it was wonderful. We said to ourselves, maybe we should keep the armory and not build a new building, because it was a perfect space to show so many things. And it was edgy. I mean, there was a show by a collective group on abortion. Well, we had some conversation about that. You know, there were a lot of just other very edgy things. But it was very popular. People came. And we'd like to think those ideas and our positioning was a precursor for what would happen in a new museum when it was finally built.

Related Stories