Boeing Galleries

Located on both the north and south ends of Millennium Park, the Boeing Galleries house temporary modern and contemporary art exhibitions where visitors can directly experience the work and expressions of current artists.

The Boeing Galleries provide a high-quality setting for socially contextualized art and architecture. In the years since the Park’s opening, the Boeing Galleries have developed an international reputation for its quality of modern and contemporary art. The cost of exhibition curation and management is underwritten by Millennium Park Foundation using funds from private donors.

Augmented Chicago: Inaugural Realities & Franz West at Millennium Park

Stonehenge (2011) 
Dorit (2002) 
© Archiv Franz West, © Estate Franz West Courtesy Archiv Franz West, Estate Franz West, and David Zwirner

Presented as part of Franz West: Millennium Park, this public art exhibition features two monumental installations by the acclaimed Austrian artist Franz West (1947–2012). Set against the iconic backdrop of Millennium Park, the largescale aluminum works Stonehenge (2011), and Dorit (2002) underscore the artist’s ability to challenge traditional perceptions by emphasizing the importance of viewer interaction and the integration of art into daily experience. 

Blending humor and a sense of the surreal with profound artistic statements exemplifies West’s unique approach to sculpture. Through playful abstract forms that mimic a post and lintel construction, standing more than eleven feet tall, Stonehenge is inspired by the ancient monument after which it is named. Dorit, one of the artist’s best-known works, characterized by its organic shapes and vibrant shade of pink.

Emerging in the early 1970s in Vienna, Franz West (1947– 2012) developed a unique aesthetic that drew on high and low cultural references to make sculpture that courted public engagement. While he was known primarily as a sculptor, his body of work incorporated drawing, collage, video, and installation, using papier-mâché, furniture, cardboard, plaster, found imagery, and other diverse materials. West studied at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna from 1977 to 1982. 

Exhibition support to the Millennium Park Foundation is made possible by the Boeing Endowment with additional support from the Richard Driehaus Endowment and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

For more archival photos of the Boeing Galleries and its past exhibitions, please visit the Chicago Public Library.