Music like New Navy

EXPO Chicago is an international contemporary and modern art exhibition held each year in Chicago, Illinois. In 2012, it took over the duties of a prior organization, Art Chicago, which began in 1980. Art Chicago was Chicago's longest-running major contemporary art exposition, but was cancelled after the 2011 fair, by its then owner Merchandise Mart Properties due to financial problems.

Subsequently, the group under the name EXPO CHICAGO, decided to revitalize the annual International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art at Navy Pier.

Art Chicago was founded as an American version of the Art Basel contemporary art exposition in 1980. Founded by Michigan print dealer John Wilson, Chicago International Art Exposition premiered in May at Navy Pier. The show attracted 80 dealers and 10,000 visitors. It was the first such modern fair in North America. For years it was held in the long barnlike sheds on Chicago's Navy Pier. In 1989, the leaky old sparrow-infested sheds on the pier were demolished and replaced by a mall, theatres, entertainment venues and convention exhibition halls. In 1993, Thomas Blackman took over as organizer of Art Chicago. During the 1990s, Art Chicago was called "the nation's leading fair of 20th-century art," "second only to Art Basel in Switzerland in global importance."