Art & Design top ten of 2008

1. The Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing
When Renzo Piano’s $300 million edifice opens in May, the Art Institute will have almost 35 percent more exhibition space, making it the second-largest museum in the U.S. It will finally display its entire modern and contemporary art collection and give the architecture and design department a gallery that’s better than a broom closet. We’re sure the buzz around the expansion will bring in tourist bucks, and we can all take our minds off the economy on Thursday nights, when admission is free.

2. Apartment galleries
Want to open an apartment gallery in New York? You’ll have to either finance it with a meth lab or show works that can fit in your fridge. But our cheaper rents allow spaces like Lloyd Dobler Gallery, Mini Dutch, Old Gold, Second Bedroom and Normal Projects to thrive.

3. (Sm)art schools
In fall 2008, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago opened the 32,000-square-foot Sullivan Galleries in the landmark Carson Pirie Scott building, giving its students a professional-caliber space to show their work. In October, Columbia College unveiled Shop Columbia, a store where current students sell their own radical fashions, hipster stationery, fine-art photographs and other impressive merchandise. Who says M.F.A. doesn’t spell “practical”?

4. Barack Obama
The President-elect has made our freezing city cool. As tourists descend on Hyde Park to gawk at Obama’s favorite bookstore/barbershop/pizzeria/manhole cover, they’re bound to stop by the Hyde Park Art Center, the Renaissance Society and the Smart Museum. (We’re also hoping Obama will implement a new Works Progress Administration, complete with Federal Art Project.)

5. Talent pool
Chicago has at least half a dozen nationally respected schools pumping out artists, architects and designers, and the city’s size and relatively low cost of living make it a sensible place for both recent grads and their famous teachers to stay. Just ask Audrey Niffenegger, Dan Peterman and Bruce Mau.

6. Inspiration
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger—and offers fodder for your painting about rising CTA fares, your sculpture of a can of beans or your performance piece about clipping coupons.

7. Daniel Burnham
The Burnham Plan Centennial Committee has made no little plans for the 100th anniversary of the document that shaped Chicago—in particular, our lakefront. Starchitects Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel are designing two temporary pavilions for centennial programs in Millennium Park, and hundreds of exhibitions, educational programs and reenactments (!) will take place throughout the region.

8. Public art
A visit to the Art Institute costs $12, but it’s free to admire Chicago’s outdoor sculptures by Alexander Calder, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso and other 20th-century icons. The city’s Percent for Art ordinance—one of the first in the nation when it was enacted in 1978—has yielded incredible commissions inside public buildings as well, from libraries to Midway Airport to police stations. (You don’t have to get arrested to see them.) When the CTA’s financial woes leave you stranded, contemplate the gorgeous tile and photographic murals installed at El stops around the city: Many were designed by young local artists like Juan Angel Chavez and Chris Silva.

9. Good shows!
In January alone, “Money, Money, Money”—a timely show juried by Mary Jane Jacob—goes on view at ARC Gallery, and Northwestern’s Block Museum hosts an exhibition of rarely seen Polaroids by Robert Mapplethorpe. The MCA presents Buckminster Fuller’s blockbuster retrospective in March and an Olafur Eliasson show in May. And did we mention the Burnham Plan Centennial?

10. Nonprofits hang on
Against all odds, Chicago’s nonprofits continue to grow. In 2008, the Graham Foundation hosted a site-specific installation by Cecil Balmond in its expanded exhibition space; ThreeWalls started its SOLO program and beefed up its artist residency; the Green Lantern teamed up with Bad at Sports to host the Parlor, a new reading series; Experimental Sound Studio participated in the Chicago Humanities Festival; Harold Arts staged innovative shows; and the Public Media Institute launched a new art magazine, Proximity.

For a review of how political art fared in 2008, read "A bang or a whimper." For more of the best of 2008, visit timeoutchicago.com/2008lists.