Simone Leigh Curates “Critical Fabulation” at Art Institute

The Art Institute of Chicago has unveiled a new special collection rotation titled Critical Fabulation, curated by Simone Leigh in collaboration with the museum’s curators. The exhibition, on view until January 4, 2026, unites works from the museum’s African, American, and European art collections, reimagining how these pieces can converse across time and geography.

Leigh, an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist originally from Chicago, worked alongside Paulina Pobocha, the museum’s chair and curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, to organize the exhibition. Together, they sought to dismantle the traditional curatorial divisions that often separate works by period, region, or medium, instead encouraging visitors to discover shared narratives between objects that rarely appear together.

Pobocha noted that the project allowed for a fresh approach to storytelling within the museum: “It has been a privilege to work with Simone Leigh and together begin to consider the many ways we can complicate the stories we share with our audiences. Bringing together works from across the museum in one presentation enables new, unconventional, or overlooked narratives to surface. The conversations between these objects, in turn, may spark conversations among visitors, encouraging renewed engagement with familiar artworks and altogether novel discoveries.”

Featuring 34 works drawn from various departments, Critical Fabulation includes pieces by Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso, Eva Hesse, Betye Saar, and Steve McQueen, alongside Leigh’s own sculpture Martinique, made of stoneware and porcelain.

Through this innovative presentation, Leigh and Pobocha invite viewers to reconsider the boundaries of art history, fostering a dialogue that challenges linear categorization and encourages deeper reflection on the intersections of culture and history.