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Chicago Architecture CenterThe Loop

Built on Belief: First Presbyterian Church

Now showing17 October 2026 – 16 April 2027Ticketed, see website

Off-site at the 1927 First Presbyterian Church in Woodlawn (6400 S Kimbark Ave): three artists' installations across its grounds and sanctuary, with Arts at First.

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In the church's greenhouse garden, Bella Adekoya has built a conversation pit framed by arched mesh trellises draped in climbing vines. The church put up a solar greenhouse here in 1981; Imole Grove turns its garden into somewhere to sit and talk.

Inside, the sanctuary of this 1927 Gothic church holds the other two commissions. Schetauna Powell's The Living Quilt turns patterns from African American vernacular traditions into communal furniture for sitting and storytelling. Eva Nwachukwu's Sanctuary of Breath fills the room with spatialized audio, light, sculpture and community-sourced voices, tracing Black sacred sound from hymns to prayers. While you listen, look up: the stained and clear glass still carries historic bullet damage.

No critic has reviewed it. It isn't at the Center on Wacker Drive but in Woodlawn, at 6400 S Kimbark Ave, in a working church with Sunday worship at 11am. Neither the CAC nor the church lists viewing hours or a price, so call the church (773-363-0505) first. Metra's 63rd Street stop is 0.2 miles away.

Look for

  • Imole Grove's conversation pit

    In the greenhouse garden, look for a conversation pit sheltered by arched mesh trellises with climbing vines, built as a place to gather, talk and simply sit.

  • The Living Quilt

    Patterns from African American vernacular traditions, adapted from the artist's Tea Time Retablo, become a set of communal furniture in the sanctuary for sitting and telling stories.

  • Sanctuary of Breath

    The sanctuary itself becomes a sound piece: spatialized audio of hymns, prayers and community-sourced voices, set among light and sculpture.

Good for

  • Going Solo
  • Locals Who've Seen It All

Skip if

You want an architecture exhibition: this is three artists' installations in a working church.

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