Andrea Carlson Solo Exhibition Opens at MCA Chicago

The major solo exhibition, Chicago Works | Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons, is open at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Curated by MCA Curatorial Associate, Iris Colburn, it runs through February 2, 2025, in the Turner Gallery. 

Inclusive of works across painting, video and sculpture, the exhibition elucidates how Carlson’s works critique the historical and systemic violences within the landscape genre as they center her experiential relationship with lands and waters in imagining and realizing sovereignty. Colburn writes, “Her artworks imagine places that are ‘everywhere and nowhere,’ visualizing these shifting yet ever-present dynamics. Grounded in Anishinaabe understandings of space and time, the works in this exhibition reflect on how land carries memories of colonial expansion and violence, as well as Indigenous presence and resistance.”

Carlson’s solo exhibition is part of the Chicago Works series, featuring artists who are shaping contemporary art in the city and beyond. Carlson was based in Chicago for many years before recently relocating to her homelands on the North Shore of Lake Superior. While living in Chicago, she participated in the Chicago Architecture Biennale (2023), exhibited The Waves May Break Here Still, The Arts Club of Chicago (2023), created the multi-lingual RiverWalk mural Bodéwadmikik ėthë yéyék/You are on Potawatomi Land (2021), and co-founded the Center for Native Futures, among many other works.

For exhibition views and further insight into Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons, watch MCA’s artist-curator dialogue and a short documentary video featuring Carlson in and around her studio.