All eyes will be on the Windy City this month as more than 130 galleries convene for the 15th edition of Expo Chicago at Navy Pier (April 9–12), its third outing as part of the international Frieze brand, which purchased the fair (along with New York’s Armory Show) in 2023.
More than 35,000 art lovers attended the 2025 edition, and this year’s visitors will take advantage of the city’s rich art scene, with longstanding commercial galleries as well as scrappy artist-run spaces and institutions large and small, from the encyclopedic Art Institute of Chicago to the avant-garde–focused Museum of Contemporary Art and academically linked institutions such as the Smart Museum of Art and the Renaissance Society, both at the University of Chicago, and (until it closes, anyway) the DePaul Art Museum at the eponymous university.
Here are six shows you shouldn’t miss after touching down at O’Hare.
