Can’t buy me art

Art has a value beyond the monetary. It might be easy to forget that when entering a behemoth structure like the Mart (with “merchandise” in its name), which will be filled with amazing stuff with equally amazing price tags for ARTropolis. That’s why fair organizers carved out space on the Art Chicago floor to accommodate New InSight, where nothing is for sale. New InSight features the work of 24 grad students from 12 of the finest schools with Master of Fine Arts programs—among them Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Sarah Krepp, the former chair of the painting department at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, signed on as director of the New InSight project and called the deans of the 12 schools asking them to nominate their four best students. Then Susanne Ghez, director of the Renaissance Society, agreed to act as curator and chose two artists from each school.

“It might be less threatening for new collectors to walk into a space that is not about selling art, and just think about art,” Ghez says. She also sees it as an opportunity for art students to get a sense of what their peers are doing.

“This work is untested in the market,” Ghez says. And that makes New InSight a healthy risk for the Mart. It’s also a chance to put art in the larger, educational sphere in which it belongs. “Art is what leads us to question everything, and with art we have a means to question and to contemplate human development,” Ghez says.

Hot tip If you’re looking to learn about the logistics of being an artist, check out the free New InSight roundtable discussion, “Help Wanted: Confronting the Realities of 21st Century Art Practice” on Monday 30, from 10–11 am.

VIP sneak peek, Thu 26, 5–6pm, bestbuddies.org, $150; Preview party, Thu 26, 6–9pm, 773-472-8493, $100; Fri, Sat 11am–7pm; Sun, Mon 11am–6pm