Curated by Steven L. Bridges

In 2006, the MCA Chicago gave Jason Lazarus his first institutional solo exhibition. He was known then as a photographer, and he’s sort of still known as one now, but as this display of new and recent work should clarify, Lazarus is not a photographer in any conventional sense. Re-created protest signs from Occupy Wall Street demonstrations will be available for museumgoers to shoulder during their visit; a music student will learn a Chopin nocturne live on a piano installed in the gallery; photos found in a New Orleans antiques shop after Hurricane Katrina will be hung on the wall, still taped up in their packing blanket. Images become afterimages, permanence gives way to becoming, pictures are retired—and Lazarus thus proposes ways to practice photography critically in an image-saturated society.

— Lori Waxman