On October 24 and October 25, 1991, the CIAU brought together scholars, curators, and design practitioners to discuss two Chicago World’s Fairs, which would have taken place a century apart, had they both been realized.
October 24–25, 1991
Charnley House
1365 N. Astor St., Chicago, IL 60610
World's Fair, 1893, Chicago, IL, United States. C.C. Hyland | Library of Congress.
The CIAU brought together scholars, curators, and design practitioners to discuss two Chicago World’s Fairs, which would have taken place a century apart, had they both been realized. Speakers on the first day sought to move beyond the more familiar formal considerations of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and examined it from different vantages—in terms of literary and visual representation, ethnography, historiography—in an effort to expand the meaning of the Fair and consider Chicago’s urban history in a new light.
On the second day, presentations focused on the plans for the Chicago’s 1992 World’s Fair, proposed but later abandoned during the 1980s. The unrealized 1992 Fair thus provided a starting point for debate on the apparent polarity between architects’ and business leaders’ conceptions of the 1992 Fair as a major civic opportunity, and those of community groups that opposed such a singular expenditure of city and state funds; and on the social and environmental issues facing Chicago today, especially in urban projects that were (in 1992) currently under consideration—such as the expansion of McCormick Place, and the proposed Lake Calumet Airport—which may be seen as the legacy of efforts to plan the 1992 Fair.
Group at lunch in Charnley House, including (from left to right) Donald L. Miller, Ross Miller, Henry Henderson, Erika Wolf, Victor Margolin, and Carl Smith. Courtesy of Janet Abrams.
Ross Miller, CIAU Fellow in Residence, Professor of English, University of Connecticut, Storrs
“The Fair and Chicago’s Myth of Rebirth”
James Gilbert, Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
“Coming to the Fair: Metaphors of Urban Arrival”
Donald Miller, Professor of History, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
“Commerce and Culture in Chicago, 1893”
Carl Smith, Associated Professor of English and American Culture, University of Chicago
“The Idea of Contested Space in the City”
Peter Hales, Professor, History of Art and Architecture, University of Illinois, Chicago
“Mediating the Fair’s Image: The Photography of Charles Dudley Arnold and William Henry Jackson”
Erika Wolf, PhD Candidate, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
“Unofficial Photography at the Fair”
Zeynep Çelik, Associate Professor of Architectural History, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ
“Displaying the Orient: The Egyptian and Ottoman Villages on the Midway”
Christine Boyer, Professor of Urban Planning, School of Architecture, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
“The World’s Columbian Exposition and the Birth of American City Planning”
George Gurney, Associate Curator, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
“Observations on the Architectural Sculpture at the Columbian Exposition”
Wim de Wit, Curator, Charles F. Murphy Architectural Study Center, Chicago Historical Society
“An Outline of ‘Beyond the White City: Looking at the World’s Columbian Exposition’”
Jacky Grimshaw (foreground) and Janet Abrams (background). Courtesy of Janet Abrams.
Stanley Tigerman, Partner, Tigerman McCurry Architects, Chicago; Board Member, Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism
“A Reappraisal of the Design Strategies of the 1992 World’s Fair Charettes”
Jacky Grimshaw, Host, Equal Time, WBEZ 91.5 FM, Chicago
“A viewpoint from within Mayor Washington’s Administration”
Kim Goluska, Partner, SOM, Chicago
“The 1992 Fair Plan and its Anticipated Residuals”
Miriam Gusevich, Planning and Development Manager, Chicago Park District
“What Chicago Has Gained from Planning the Fair”
Henry Henderson, Senior Supervising Attorney, Environmental Unit, City of Chicago
“Changing Environmental and Legislative Attitudes to Lakefront Landfill”
John MacManus, Planning Supervisor, Chicago Park District
“A Review of the Museum Campus”
Robert Somol, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, University of Illinois, Chicago
“A Ghost World’s Fair at Lake Calumet: A Studio Project at University of Illinois, Chicago”
Charles Thurow, Acting Commissioner of Planning, City of Chicago
“Planning Issues in Chicago Now”
Henry Henderson. Courtesy of Janet Abrams.
Respondents (both days):
Janet Abrams, Director, Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism
Robert Bruegmann, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture, University of Illinois, Chicago
Diane Kirkpatrick, Professor and Chair, History of Art, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Judith McBrien, Perspectives Film and Video, Wilmette, IL
Mark Rakatansky, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Design, School of Architecture, University of Illinois, Chicago
David van Zanten, Professor of Architectural History, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Mary Woolever, Director, Ryerson and Burnham Library, Art Institute of Chicago
Ross Miller and Robert A. M. Stern. Courtesy of Janet Abrams.
From left to right: Mickey Friedman, Robert Somol, Barbara Jakobson, Ross Miller, Diane Kirkpatrick, Robert A.M. Stern, and Michael Freedberg. Courtesy of Janet Abrams.
