Shifting Grounds: The MCA Chicago

After the MCA acquired the armory site, the museum used the armory building itself to herald its presence.

Associate curator of exhibitions, Beryl J. Wright, organized the exhibition that presented the work of eighteen artists and collaborators who responded to the interior armory space in a myriad of ways.

The artists:
Dara Birnbaum
Arnold Crane
Diller + Scofidio (Elizabeth Diller & Ricardo Scofidio)
Vernon Fisher
Haha (Richard House, Wendy Jacob, Laurie Palmer, John Ploof)
Doug Hall
Lynn Hershmann
Gary Hill
Toi Hoang
Jin Soo Kim
Eve Andree Laramee
Lazaretto Collaborative (an anonymous group)
Tatsuo Miyajima
Elizabeth Newman
Michael Shaughnessy
TODT (four anonymous collaborators)
Francesc Torres
Bill Viola

The catalogue features essays by Robert Bruegmann, "The Chicago Avenue Armory"; Anne Rorimer, "Context as Content/Subject as Object"; and Beryl J. Wright, "Artifact and Art: The Armory as Exhibition Site."

Assistant Curators Staci Boris and Nadine Wasserman contributed essays about the artists' works.

The exhibition was sponsored by the Sara Lee Corporation, whose CEO, John H. Bryan, wrote in the catalogue:
"With Art at the Armory: Occupied Territory," Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art is breaking new ground as it prepares to break new ground: the largest exhibition of installation art ever to be presented in Chicago precedes the construction of the new MCA building and sculpture garden to be completed in 1995."

Director's Introduction Inside the Armory Exhibition Jim Prinz: Inside the Armory
After the MCA acquired the armory site, the museum used the armory building itself to herald its presence. Associate curator of exhibitions, Beryl J. Wright, organized the exhibition that presented the work of eighteen artists and collaborators who responded to the interior armory space in a myriad of ways. The artists: Dara Birnbaum Arnold Crane Diller + Scofidio (Elizabeth Diller & Ricardo Scofidio) Vernon Fisher Haha (Richard House, Wendy Jacob, Laurie Palmer, John Ploof) Doug Hall Lynn Hershmann Gary Hill Toi Hoang Jin Soo Kim Eve Andree Laramee Lazaretto Collaborative (an anonymous group) Tatsuo Miyajima Elizabeth Newman Michael Shaughnessy TODT (four anonymous collaborators) Francesc Torres Bill Viola The catalogue features essays by Robert Bruegmann, "The Chicago Avenue Armory"; Anne Rorimer, "Context as Content/Subject as Object"; and Beryl J. Wright, "Artifact and Art: The Armory as Exhibition Site." Assistant Curators Staci Boris and Nadine Wasserman contributed essays about the artists' works. The exhibition was sponsored by the Sara Lee Corporation, whose CEO, John H. Bryan, wrote in the catalogue: "With Art at the Armory: Occupied Territory," Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art is breaking new ground as it prepares to break new ground: the largest exhibition of installation art ever to be presented in Chicago precedes the construction of the new MCA building and sculpture garden to be completed in 1995."	Catalogue for the Art at the Armory: Occupied Territory exhibition. It ran from September 13, 1992 through January 23, 1993.