The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry is a new forum at the University of Chicago for experimental collaborations between artists and scholars. In fall 2013, the Gray Center moved into its permanent home, the Gray Center Lab in Midway Studios, which features a flexible 1000 square foot work space that can be configured as a studio, lab, or classroom, as well as an installation, exhibition and performance space. The Center also offers office space to project collaborators.
Just as important as our new home is our diasporic aspiration: Gray Center activities take place all over campus (encompassing various divisions, departments, and programs), across the community and throughout the city. Through its various programs – including the Mellon Residential Fellowships for Arts Practice and Scholarship, incubator initiatives, lab events, collaborative experiments, salons, international conferences, and institutional collaborations — the Gray Center seeks to foster a culture of innovation and experimentation at the intersection of arts practice and scholarship.