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THIS FALL, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, opens The Language of Less (Then and Now) to reintroduce now-classic Minimalist artworks to the public alongside work by five cutting-edge contemporary artists who are reconfiguring this visual language for today. On view from October 8, 2011, to April 8, 2012, The Language of Less (Then and Now) is inspired by the MCA’s rich holdings of Minimalist and Postminimalist work from the 1960s and 70s by artists such as Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Sol LeWitt, Carl Andre, Jackie Ferrara, and Bruce Nauman, among others. Now a younger generation of American and international artists are working in the tradition of these Minimalists, but tailoring it to their own ends: Leonor Antunes (Berlin), Carol Bove (New York), Jason Dodge (Berlin), Gedi Sibony (New York), and Oscar Tuazon (Paris).

The exhibition is divided into two distinct parts, one devoted to a fresh reinstallation of this historical material, including recent acquisitions, and a second showcasing the five contemporary artists who are working within the stylistic language of the Minimalists, but with entirely new content and concerns. The curator of the exhibition, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator Michael Darling says “The Language of Less foregrounds the MCA’s belief that history is always under constant reappraisal, none more so than by working artists themselves. This exhibition presents now classic material to the public alongside work by artists who have not shown much in Chicago before, but who are starting to gain international attention.”

In the 1960s, artists such as Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Richard Serra, and Sol LeWitt pioneered a stripped-down aesthetic that allowed audiences to focus on fundamental concepts that shape our world, such as solids and voids, repeating patterns, elemental structures, and principles of proportion. Their work provided a clearer vision of a world during a turbulent period of social and political upheaval, war, and rapidly evolving technology. In many ways, contemporary artists are again returning to this spare, formal language to slow us down, clarify thinking, and inspire reflection. However, where the 1960s generation largely sought to distance itself from the heroic, emotive gestures of the Abstract Expressionists by adopting a more impersonal and neutral tone through their use of industrial materials and repetitive patterns, current practitioners are imbuing their work with an increasing amount of poetic, personal, and even romantic content.

Across the work of Leonor Antunes, Carol Bove, Jason Dodge, Gedi Sibony, and Oscar Tuazon visitors can recognize a shared aesthetic of restraint, but find as well a warmer, more humane, even domestic quality to their efforts. Likewise, the established canon of historical Minimalism has been enriched in recent years by the rediscovery of pioneering talents that had slipped from view. The MCA has responded to these revisions with recent acquisitions by artists such as Tony Conrad, Charlotte Posenenske, and Franz Erhard Walther, all of whom debut in The Language of Less. The dual nature of the exhibition provides a historical context for understanding the new developments among the younger generation of artists, while also offering a chance to reflect on the groundbreaking rigor and elegance of the earlier artists who made “Minimalism” part of our collective parlance.