MCA Chicago Head Madeleine Grynsztejn Offers Consummate Windy City Guide

Madeleine Grynsztejn will step down at the end of the year after 18 years as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, closing a tenure that reshaped the institution's finances, collection, and public profile. During her leadership, the MCA's operating budget doubled, and its holdings grew to more than 2,000 works.

The museum's origins remain central to its identity. Founded in 1967 with a Fluxus happening by John Cage, Dick Higgins, and Allison Knowles, the MCA quickly moved beyond the idea of a temporary venue and into the long-term work of collecting. One of its earliest claims to distinction came in 1969, when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the building, making it the first US structure to receive that treatment.

Grynsztejn's years at the museum were marked by major collection gifts. Among the most significant was a donation from Greek collector Dimitris Daskalopoulos of about 100 works, most of them held jointly with the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The group includes works by Louise Bourgeois, Robert Gober, Wangechi Mutu, Paul Pfeiffer, and others. Another important addition came from Chicago collectors Marilyn and Larry Fields, whose $2 million gift included 79 artworks.

Her remarks also underscored the MCA's curatorial priorities. The museum has maintained a self-appointed mandate that at least 50 percent of acquisitions, exhibitions, and collections be by women artists. Its collecting strategy has also emphasized surrealism, performance art, and the Ascendant Artist Series, reflecting a broader interest in practices that move between object, action, and idea.

That approach has helped define the MCA's place in Chicago, a city Grynsztejn described as“hyper-local and globally relevant.” She pointed to artists such as Michael Rakowitz, Kerry James Marshall, and Theaster Gates as examples of work rooted in Chicago yet resonant far beyond it. She also cited the city's unusually dense ecosystem of universities, museums, nonprofit spaces, commercial galleries, and collectors, which continues to draw and sustain artists.

As the MCA prepares for a leadership transition, Grynsztejn leaves behind an institution that has remained closely tied to Chicago while building a collection and reputation with international reach.

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