CHICAGO.- For its 13th annual presentation, Art Chicago, the acclaimed international contemporary art fair produced by Thomas Blackman Associates, will be reinvented as Art Chicago in the Park and staged in a dramatic 125,000-square-foot tent overlooking Lake Michigan at Butler Field, adjacent to the new Millennium Park, from April 29 – May 2, 2005.

First produced as Art Chicago in 1993 in a tent structure along Chicago’s lakefront, this year’s Art Chicago in the Park returns to its grassy “roots” with the largest exhibition structure of its kind ever erected for a contemporary art fair. The exposition will also feature an open-to-the-public sculpture garden on the surrounding grounds and roundtable forums with new and established artists throughout the four-day fair.

“This year’s show will signal a re-birth of Art Chicago,” enthused Thomas Blackman, the show’s veteran producer. “The city has hosted one of the world’s top art fairs for over a quarter of a century and I am confident that the 2005 Art Chicago in the Park, with its exciting new outdoor dynamic and proximity to Chicago’s stunning new Millennium Park, will rank among the most exciting to date.”

Art Chicago in the Park will feature some of the world’s most important fine arts galleries and the work of more than 2,000 individual artists. Showcasing paintings, drawings, sculpture, mixed media, film, video and installations, there will be something for practically every aesthetic and sensibility. Art Chicago had most recently been staged at Navy Pier since 1995.