A year after its opening, the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago has received the environmental certification it was seeking. The U.S. Green Building Council awarded the building with LEED Silver last week, says the Tribune's architecture critic Blair Kamin. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and the silver level is below platinum and gold as the third-highest rating. The certification governs five areas of a building's construction and existence: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. more ›

If you walked by the Art Institute’s Modern Wing earlier this week, you might have wondered if they were promoting a new exhibit on street art. Bright graffiti stretched for 50 feet along a light stone wall, bookended by the words “Modern Art” and “made you look.” While Chicagoist in no way condones illegal activity of any sort, we have to admit that this graffiti raises some interesting questions about the accessibility of art. It’s unlikely the tagging was gang-related, and it seems to be a pre-meditated, self-referential joke about art. more ›

And now for some good news: the city's museums saw a seven percent increase in 2009 over 2008 as 14.8 million people visited 14 Chicago-area museums and zoos in 2009. Tops was the Shedd Aquarium - which got a bounce from its revamped Oceanarium - with 1.9 million visitors. The Art Institute saw a huge bounce of 32 percent for a total of 1.8 million visitors, the new Modern Wing overcoming any negative reaction to the new admission fee hike. And the MSI, which also had a small admissions hike, had 1.6 million visitors, buoyed by the Harry Potter and You! exhibits. The Field Museum was the other museum to break the million visitor barrier with 1.3 million. Meanwhile, according to the Museums in the Park press release, the Lincoln Park Zoo welcomed an estimated 3 million visitors while the Brookfield Zoo had 2.2 million visitors. [CBS 2] more ›

We're keyed up about Saturday's grand opening of the AIC's new Modern Wing. As the largest expansion in the museum’s history (with a price tag of - holy shit - about $290 million), this new three-floor facility offers 65,000 feet of new galleries that will house both modern and contemporary works, photography, as well as architecture and design collections. It's sheer magnitude will make the Art Institute the second largest museum in the United States. And perhaps we should mention that the New York Times has given the Modern Wing an absolutely glowing review. (For a peep at their lovely photo slideshow, click here.) more ›

• We had this pop up about a dozen times in the inbox today: Google Map used to track Swine Flu.
• The Tribune takes a look at the new modern wing at the Art Institute, due to open in a few weeks and the possible ramifications of the new admission hike.
• Speaking of the Trib, Crain's is reporting today that circulation for the paper in the six months ranging from October '08 through March '09 is down 7.4 percent, while the Sun-Times also saw a drop, but a far smaller one of 0.04 percent. The decline for the Trib was right at about the national average of 7.1 percent.

With the opening of its Modern Wing just around the corner on May 16th, The Art Institute of Chicago has decided to tease us a bit with its March 24th opening exhibition, Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper. With an unveiling of 80 drawings that rarely see the light of day in public galleries (literally -- due to light sensitivity), expect to see works by famous modern artists like Pablo Picasso, German School Artist Ernst Kirchner, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as contemporary additions to the collection by Minimalist Sylvia Plimack Mangold and architect Le Corbusier. The best part? Notational and diagrammatic sheets will be featured along with finished works. Which means that you can see the artists’ drawing process evolve right before your very eyes. And if you’re unable to see this exhibition, not a problem. Major works by many of these artists will be on display in the Modern Wing’s permanent galleries. more ›

Last week, while at a certain Olympic bid fundraiser at Pritzker, we noticed a strange building in the south skyline. We soon realized that we were looking at the Art Institute’s new Modern Wing, and were surprised at how … done it looked. Which is a good thing, since the Art Institute announced last Thursday that its 264,000 square-foot addition to the museum will be opened to the public on May 16th, 2009. more ›