Ivan Bujan is a firm believer that art can bring people together.
“I believe that art has a very special function in our society, where it can allow us to think about questions or feel feelings that politics and news cannot necessarily tackle the way art can,” said Bujan, who will begin his tenure as Riverside Arts Center’s new gallery director Aug. 10, succeeding Joanne Aono. The center is located 32 E. Quincy St.
“Art can make us feel a certain way and then kind of producing a change or raising questions that language itself cannot,” he said. “The question is, what does that produce and what can that create for us as a viewer but then on a larger scale in society? What kind of conversations can we tackle or what kind of change can it provoke?”
Aono, who has served as gallery director since 2021 and has worked with the organization since 2016 and will remain as an exhibitions committee volunteer, said Bujan is the right person at the right time.
“I think he brings a fresh line that will expand what the Riverside Arts Center has,” Aono said. “His connections are broad-reaching and diverse, not only in the academic sector, but different elements of the art community”
Bujan is a researcher, educator and curator with a background in gender and sexuality studies, and performance studies. He teaches at DePaul and the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where he mentors emerging artists and scholars at the intersection of performance, visual culture and social practice. He has a doctorate from Northwestern and master’s degrees from both New York University and Central European University.
“I am so excited for Ivan to be here, because Ivan is really a ‘yes, and’ person to me,” Riverside Arts Center executive director Ann Filmer said. “I feel like Ivan leans into ‘yes’ and then figures out how he can make that work, or even, ‘yes and let’s investigate that.’ I think that spirit is really wonderful.”
Originally from Croatia, Bujan has lived in the Chicago area since 2014, and said his new role checks all the boxes for him personally.
“What initially attracted me to this position is it brings together several of my passions … art, activism, social change and community engagement,” he said. “This is something I have been actively pursuing in academia.”
To that end, his new job will be a seamless extension of his work at DePaul and the School of the Art Institute.
“I love teaching,” he said. “I really enjoy teaching young minds and I like to give them tools to become responsible citizens by using art and functions of artists of social justice. I help them grow though different types of assignments in the classroom, and I also give them critical vocabularies that they can use (for) how they would inform the artistic practice.”
Bujan’s curatorial vision for Riverside Arts Center is diverse and will add to exhibitions like “What’s The Story,” which launched Sunday and explores how five painters grapple with the ongoing compulsion to tell stories.
“How to open up RAC to wider audiences, for people to come in the door, either in the gallery space or take classes,” he said of his vision, “not as passive consumers, or coming into the space where they are talked down to, but rather as active participants. My vision on the one hand is, honor the tradition but with a fresh lens.”
He also tipped his hat to Aono for her guidance in the onboarding process.
“She has been very generous about how she has been running the program the last couple of years,” he said. “I’m just really appreciative of her openness and willingness to bring me in, to allow me to understand how RAC has been operating but also giving me a chance to do things differently.”
As an educator, it’s no surprise that Bujan is cerebral when it comes to his work and passions, which he plans to bring to his new role as gallery director. For example, when asked by a reporter whether art itself creates common ground for people, he thought for a few moments and agreed, but with an important caveat.
“What I feel is more important is to move people,” he said, “a movement toward a change. It can be a movement toward thinking collectively, it can be a movement toward how do we care for another.”