The Floating Museum

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The Floating Museum

Floating Museum is an art collective that creates temporary, site-responsive cultural spaces throughout Chicago’s under-served neighborhoods.

Floating Museum is an art collective that creates temporary, site-responsive cultural spaces throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods. Our structures are platforms for engagement between local communities, external institutions, and independent partners. We use socially engaged artworks to activate local archives and histories, and nurture both new and existing networks that push neighbors and institutions alike to rethink the potential of their spaces.

10/06/2026

Practice Space coming soon, thank you Kasey Chronis for having us on!

10/03/2026

Monument Reassembly is included in the exhibition Creative Rebellion at the Chicago Cultural Center open from 10/2/2026 – 03/07/2027 as part of the Veteran Art Triennial and Summit, RESISTING THE LONG WAR.
 First staged as an intervention and performance in public space in 2018, the installation invited participants to recreate an iconic moment in Chicago’s history: the anti-war protests during the 1968 Democratic Convention. The artwork connects the discontent and protests of today with those of Chicago’s past, demonstrating how we can participate in the city’s history. The piece is inspired by Peter Bullock’s iconic photo of protesters in 1968 in Grant Park at the Logan Monument in the Chicago History Museum’s collection.

10/02/2026

We’re excited to introduce Practice Space, our new studio and public art production facility on Chicago’s South Side!

For the last three years, we’ve been transforming a former car wash on 75th Street into a shared cultural infrastructure: a permanent home for artists to experiment, fabricate, collaborate, gather, and realize ambitious public projects.

Last week, we invited friends and supporters in for a first preview. After years of work and fundraising, we’re happy to share that we’re close to reaching our goal.
We’re making the final push and calling on our community to help us close the funding gap. You can contribute to Practice Space by visiting floatingmuseum.org/support, or get in touch with us to learn more.

We’re grateful to Cynthia Heusing, David Kistenbroker, and Cheryl Rudbeck for helping make the evening possible. Special thanks to Bronzeville Winery () and Hennessy () for an incredible meal and cocktails.

09/28/2026

DIGNIDAD en Dallas KERA NPR coverage from our drive through Dallas in partnership with Dallas Contemporary, the Oakcliff Cultural Center, the Latino Cultural Center, and Top Ten Records.

LatinoCulturalCenter Toptenrecords Dallas publicart

09/03/2026

It is with immense pride we congratulate our very own arts and culture impresario Bianca Marks, on her inclusion in this year’s New City Magazine’s Art50. This Floating Museum season alone, Bianca’s expertise in coordinating our work with community partners and organizations was vital to projects and events such as, “DIGNIDAD” and “for Mecca” launch. She is a rising star in studio management, curatorial work and the caretaking or building stronger relationships between artists and the city.

Thank you for all you do, Bianca!

Slide 1 Photo: marlachinbat
Slide 2 Photo: Eric Perez

08/27/2026

A MONUMENTAL FIRST.

On Sunday, August 30, we join Groundwaves at the Salt Shed for GoodWaves Music Festival, bringing our three Floating Monuments into a day of music, performance, and celebration.

This marks a first for us: “for Mecca,” “The Garden,” and “Founders” will be activated together at the same site. Each work brings its own multisensory and interactive qualities, adding another layer of place, movement, and experience to the festival.

We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Groundwaves!

GoodWaves Music Festival
Sunday, August 30, 2026
The Salt Shed | Chicago

Groundwaves Murs

08/05/2026

Our Floating Monuments move across Chicago through the skill, energy, and commitment of an incredible team of docents.

Working both behind the scenes and in public, they help pack, transport, install, operate, monitor, troubleshoot, and deinstall the monuments at sites across the city. They also welcome visitors into the work, share the histories and ideas each monument carries, all while creating space for conversation, and connection.

Leading this work is our Project Manager Eric Perez, an artist, educator, photographer, and whose role spans project coordination, installation, and documentation. Eric leads the team responsible for activating our inflatable monuments while capturing the people, processes, and encounters that shape each activation.

Thank you to our incredible docent team for everything you bring to the Floating Monuments program and to every community that welcomes us.

Lu Polkinghorne - Lu :)
Jackson Fabiyi - Jackson Fabiyi
Jean HerardJackson Fabiyi
Liza Purcell -Jean Herardricka Burton
SteLiza 🐗oe - stevia roxanne.
Seyia Abe-stevia roxanne.e-Bell

Photos: ESeiya Abe-BellEric Perez

07/30/2026

“for Mecca” installed on the former site of Cabrini–Green.

Once home to nearly 15,000 residents, Cabrini–Green became one of Chicago’s largest public housing communities before its demolition between 1995 and 2011. Its removal fundamentally reshaped the Near North Side, raising enduring questions about public housing, redevelopment, displacement, and who cities are ultimately built for.

“for Mecca” is a mobile inflatable monument inspired by the Mecca Flats, another Chicago landmark erased through urban renewal. Moving between sites of loss and transformation, the work connects histories that are too often treated as isolated events, asking how architecture can carry memory after buildings disappear.

Monuments don’t only mark what remains. They can also make visible what has been erased.

Thank you to our program partners Cabrini Art House, “poem(s) out my window” playlist curators FINDING IJEOMA and Coolout Chris , the Windy City Ramblers, and Cabrini’s own Jesse White Tumblers.

Images 1-2, 4-10, 12 by Eric Perez
Image 3 courtesy of Chicago Housing Authority , Photographer Kenneth Johnson, Jr. Kenneth
Image 11 courtesy of Cabrini Art House

07/23/2026

On July 4, we were invited to bring DIGNIDAD back to Humboldt Park as part of El Jolgorio Boricua: No Kings, No Colonies, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center’s celebration of Puerto Rican culture, political expression, and self-determination.

Held at the Humboldt Park Boathouse, the gathering brought together live music, bomba y plena, salsa, spoken word, art, dominoes, food vendors, family activities, community leaders, and guest speakers in a shared call against colonialism.

We were especially honored to welcome DIGNIDAD curator Carla Acevedo-Yates, whose presence marked an important continuation of the relationships and vision that shaped the project from its earliest stages.

Thank you to the organizers, Puerto Rican Cultural Center , Alderperson Jessie L. Fuentes , Becky Medina , for inviting us to participate, and to everyone who gathered with DIGNIDAD throughout the day.

Photos by Eric Perez , 2026.

07/20/2026

Ashwaty Chennat has played an integral role in shaping The Burroughs, our residency initiative exploring new models of artist support, cultural exchange, and community-driven practice. We’re proud to recognize her ongoing contributions as our Burroughs Residency Manager.

In this role, Ashwaty leads the development and day-to-day stewardship of the residency, working closely with artists, community partners, and our Residency Advisory Committee to cultivate meaningful opportunities for collaboration, research, and exchange. She has helped shape a residency rooted in care and connection.

Drawing on a decade of experience as an artist, programmer, facilitator, and administrator, Ashwaty has supported resident artists, advanced key partnerships, and guided the continued evolution of The Burroughs as a “residency without walls.” Her work has also helped cultivate international partnerships, including the recent exchange with Guest Artists Space Foundation (G.A.S.) and Yinka Shonibare Foundation.

Ashwaty

📸: Eric Perez

Address

Chicago, IL
60653

Website

http://www.floatingmuseum.org/

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