The Happening: Celebrating Bob Thompson
Date and time
A day of live music, art activities, talks, and so much more
About this event
Join the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art as we mark the end of the exhibition Bob Thompson: This House is Mine with a day-long series of live experiences created by artists, students, community partners, and educators.
Share in the artmaking, enjoy live music, talks, and so much more happening throughout the day, inside the galleries and outdoors in the sculpture garden.
Full schedule now available, including:
Live music and performances
- Ari Brown
- Avreeayl Ra
- Ben Lamar Gay
- David Boykin
- Fifth House Ensemble
- Lionel “Brother El” Freeman
- Marvin Tate
- Nick Mazzarella & Dana Hall
- Richardson Middle School
Participatory experiences
- Alberto Aguilar & Alex Bradley Cohen
- Tin-type photobooth with Max Li
- Tattoos by Aidan Frierson, Baby, and Nani Nathan
- Caricatures by Lothar Speer
- Build-a-bird family art activities
- Figure drawing
- Free Life for Bob Thompson, by Arnold J. Kemp
Tours, talks, and readings
- Storytime with Elizabeth Hereford
- Poetry with Metropolitan Tenants Organization
- History of Happenings talk by Professor Nicole Woods
- Tours by Smart Museum Educators
- Virtual appearance by Sonny Rollins
Campus creativity
- Catcher in the Rhyme
- Choreographing the Smart: Enter the House
- Dirt Red Brass Band
- Groove Theory
- Lullaby Project
- Sarah Brailey
- Underground Collective
FREE, open to all. Events and activities will happen throughout the day. Please let us know if you plan to attend by registering in advance.
Bob Thompson: This House Is Mine is the first museum exhibition dedicated to this visionary painter in more than twenty years. Featuring more than 85 paintings and works on paper, it centers Bob Thompson’s brief but prolific transatlantic career within expansive art historical narratives and ongoing dialogues about the politics of representation, charting his enduring influence.
On view at the Smart Museum of Art through May 15, 2022.