| 1979 January - March: The Record as Artwork: audiovisual presentation of more than 150 phonograph records and album covers created by 20th century artists from Kurt Schwitters to Jim Dine. It will share the east and west galleries with a design show of Bang-Olufsen stereo components: Bang and Olufsen: Design for Sound January 15: Komar and Melamid discuss their work March - May: Recent Photographic Works from the Morton Neumann Family Collection New Dimensions: Volume and Space, wall paintings and sculptures from the permanent collection March 23: grand opening – new permanent collection gallery - & - promenade gallery May - August: Contemporary American Photographic Works June - July: Selected sculpture from the permanent collection June - August: Michael Asher installation Color in Sticks Sol LeWitt August - September: Jonas Dovydenas: Inside Our Homes, Outside Our Windows, 118 photographs of Chicago’s ethnic communities August - October: Ancient Roots / New Visions, first major survey of Hispanic-American art. October - November: Everson Video Review, survey of contemporary art trends Spots, 4 television commercial producers November - January 1980: Barnett Newman: The Complete Drawings: 1944 – 1969 Evidence, 79 photographs from the files of government agencies, educational institutions, and corporations – how context alters our perception Juried works video exhibition November - December: Options 1: Elyn Zimmerman, installation 5th Ithaca Video Festival December - January 1980: selections from the permanent collection and the Robert B. Mayer loan December - February 1980: Arshille Gorky: 1936 mural Outsider Art in Chicago 1980 January - March: Ma, Space/Time in Japan February - March: Options II: Martin Puryear March - May: Vito Acconci: a retrospective, 1969 - 1980 Balthus in Chicago Collections Options III: Lawrence Weiner May - July: A restaging of the Tribune’s 1922 architectural competition Options IV: Helen and Newton Harrison/Talking Water July - August: Options V: Steve Keister August - October: New Dimensions: Susan Michod, pattern paintings Nancy Davidson, installation August – November: Three-dimensional painting September - November: The Portrait Extended October - December: pieces from the permanent collection November – February 1981: Options 6: Hyong Nam Ahn December - February 1981: “conceptual works involving time” 1981 January - February: Karl Wirsum: Hare Toddy Kong Tamari Philip Guston January - March: German Realism of the 1920s California Performance Now and Then, lecture & performance series Options 7: Jane Wenger February - April: Roger Brown Chuck Close portraits April - May: Artists’ books from the permanent collection April - June: Robert Smithson Options 8: Ritzi and Peter Jacobi April 24: Artists’ Gardens and Parks July: Kick Out the Jams: Detroit Cass Corridor exhibit July - August: Options 9: Shigako Kubota August: 7 artists: A look at the work of some graduates of Chicago art schools September - November: Margaret Wharton Selections from the permanent collection November - January 1982: Charles Simonds December 13 - 14: Options 10: Disband at the Dustbowl 1982 January - March: Dennis Adrian collection Sophie Taeuber-Arp Museum of Modern Art Paintings and Sculptures March - June: Contemporary Dutch Art April - May: Options 11: Although Marco Polo Never Heard of Chicago, Its Story Really Begins with Him May - August: Options 12: Melvin Charney May 19 - 20: Options 13: Laurie Anderson June - August: Yves Klein July - August: Options 14: Selected Works by John Cage and Other Composers August - October: Gordon Matta-Clark October 3 -24: Nam June Paik, video works Works from the permanent collection November - January 1983: Magdalena Abakanowicz November 13-14: Options: Disband, an all-woman ensemble of visual artists 1983 January - March: Art of the Avant-Garde in Russia: Selections from the George Costakis Collection Options 15: Alice Aycock sculptural project Selections from the Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection March - May: Kenneth Josephson Naïve and Outsider Painting from Germany June - August: Awards in the Visual Arts 2 June - July: Options 16: Dogs! Group exhibition September - October: Louise Bourgeois September - October: The Frozen Image: Scandinavian Photography October - January 1984: Options 17: Peter Joseph November: Options 18: Whitney Biennial film exhibition and selections form the Video Data Bank November - January 1984: Malcolm Morley 1984 January - April: Options 19: Dieter Roth February - April: Options 20: Rebecca Horn Expressions: New Art from Germany: Georg Baselitz, Jorg Immendorf, Anselm Kieffer, Markus Lupertz, A.R. Penck April - June – extended through August 12: Options 21: Giuseppe Penone 150 pieces from the permanent collection June - August: Alternative Spaces: A History in Chicago September - November: Hockney Paints the Stage December - January 1985: Dada and Surrealism in Chicago Collections 1985 February - April: Options 22: Paul Rosin Options 23: Ken Warneke Options 24: Jin Soo Kim Options 25: Jo Anne Carson Leon Golub: Work 1952-1984 April 1 - 2: Options 26: Man and Trout: The Manners Project April - June: Selections from the William J. Hokin Collection May - August: Gordon Matta-Clark June - August: The Electronic Language: New Video and Performance September - November: Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz: Human Scale September - December: Artists’ Books and Recordings: Selections from the Permanent Collection September - February 1986: Nouveau Realisme and Pop Art: Selections from the Permanent Collection December - February 1986: Eric Fischl 1986 (Admission is $3.50 & $2.50 for students and seniors) January - April: Abstract Painting and Sculpture: 1950s – 1980s Portraits: Selections from the Permanent Collection March - April: Robert Morris: Works of the Eighties May - August: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Centennial exhibit August - October: Options 28: Jon Kessler sculpture September - October: Miroslaw Rogala, video works October - January 1987: Jannis Kounellis 1987 January - April: British Sculpture Since 1965 April - July: The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Paintings 1890-1985 July - August 21, extended to September 18: Chicago Artists from the Permanent Collection August - September: Options 29: Images for Human Conduct: Mary Ahrendt, Anita David, Robert Peters, Jonathan Waterbury Options 30: Jennie Holzer September - November: Donald Sultan November - January 1988: David Salle retrospective Options 31: Nancy Chunn 1988 January - April: Cross References: Sculpture Into Photography Ed Ruscha, recent paintings February - April: The Marshal Frankel Collection April - June: Christian Boltanski: Lessons of Darkness Francesco Clemente: 14 Stations of the Cross July - August: Nancy Spero: Works Since 1950 Jeff Koons, sculpture Options 33: Odd Nerdrum September - October: Forrest Bess September - November: Gerhard Richter: Paintings October - December: Options 34: Mike and Doug Starn, photoworks December - February 1989: Three Decades: The Oliver-Hoffman Collection December - January 1989: Options 35: Tom Czarnopys 1989 (admisison is now $4 and $2) February - April: Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment - highest turnout ever Chicago Artists in the European Tradition May - June 18 – extended to July 9: Object, Site, Sensation: New German Sculpture April - June 18 – extended to July 9: Selections from the Permanent Collection June - July: Options 36: Mark Innerst July - September: Peter Saul retrospective August - October: Arnulf Rainer retrospective October 7 - 24: Video Art, Video Documentation From Our First Two Decades October - November: Permanent Collection: Promised Gifts November - January 1990: The Photography of Invention: American Picture of the '80s December - February 1990: Options 37: Tunga 1990 February - April: Robert Longo February - April: Options 38: Richard Rezac May - July: Toward the Future: Contemporary Art in Context Options 39: Will Kopf July - September: Secrets, Dialogues, Revelations: The Art of Betye and Alison Saar Julian Schnabel: Works on Paper 1975-1988 October - December: The Primal Spirit: Ten Contemporary Japanese Sculptors Toward the Future: Contemporary Art in Context 1991 January - March: Cuba-USA: The First Generation, which represents the work of 43 artists who emigrated to the US after Fidel Castro solidified his power. Artists such as Mario Petrirena and Jorge Pardo are featured. Options 40: Cheri Samba March - May: Options 41: Julia Wachtel Christian Boltanski April - June: Jean-Pierre Raynaud May - July: Options 42: Daniel Senise June - September: Sigmar Polke: The first North American exhibition July - August: Realism, Figurative Painting, and the Chicago Viewpoint September - November: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940-1987 Rosemarie Trockel – 1st American exhibition November - January 1992: Alan Rath: 15 video sculptures Margin of Safety:Installations by 6 recent female graduates of SAIC December - January 1992: Options 43: Lorie Novak 1992 January - April: Options 44: Yasumasa Morimura February - April: Robert Rauschenberg: The Early 1950s John Cage: Scores from the Early 1950s: Exhibitions of little-known paintings and music by two of America’s most influential artists. May - August: Donald Lipski: The Bells Alfredo Jaar: Geography = War: Temporary installations, ranging from sleight of hand to social conscience August - November: Conceptualism-Postconceptualism: The 1960s to the 1990s September - January 1993: Art in the Armory: Occupied Territory November - January 1993: Emmett Gowin November - March 1993: Lorna Simpson: For the Sake of the Viewer 1993 (Admission fees are now $4 and $2 for students) February - March: February - April: Radical Scavenger(s): The Conceptual Vernacular in Recent American Art May - August: Under Development: Dreaming the MCA's Collection September - October: January 14 – March 12: |
 When the new, expanded MCA opened in March 1979, one of its galleries, endowed by the Borg-Warner Corporation, became devoted to Chicago area artists and was known as the Borg-Warner Gallery of Chicago and Vicinity Art. Another gallery was devoted to works form the museum's collection. Also launching with the newly renovated MCA was the Options series of exhibitions, which focused on younger artists or experimental projects by established artists. Fifty Options shows would complete the series and close out exhibitions at the museum's Ontario Street location. The curatorial staff grew during this period in the MCA's development. When the Museum of Contemporary Art opened in October 1967, the museum had one curator and the director had a hand in curating shows. David Katzive and Jan Van der Marck, the curator and director, respectively, were responsible for the exhibition programming until Van der Marck resigned in 1970. Until MCA director Kevin Consey began his nine year tenure in 1989, the museum's directors also curated shows: 1967 - 70: Jan Van der Marck 1971 - 77: Stephen Prokopoff 1978 - 83: John Hallmark Neff 1984 - 88: I. Michael Danoff With the help of Lynne Warren, MCA curator since 1981, this is a loose chronicle of the earliest curatorial staff: 1967 - 70: David Katzive
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