Chicago City Wire

The Art Institute of Chicago will present Jane Alexander: Infantry with beast from November 15, 2025 to January 12, 2026. This installation has not been shown in Chicago before and is returning to the United States for the first time in over twelve years.

The central work, Infantry (2008-10), features 27 dog-headed human-like figures, each less than five feet tall. The figures are arranged in a grey formation that advances along a military red carpet stretching 90 feet—a feature specific to this presentation at the Art Institute. At the end of the carpet stands beast (2003), a smaller creature crouched and snarling.

The Infantry figures all look blankly upward and to the right, as if waiting for instructions. Visitors will approach from behind and pass alongside the group, placing them in a position similar to an unseen commander.

“With great artistry, Jane Alexander pulls us into scenes and situations we might otherwise not want to think about, let alone encounter firsthand,” said Matthew Witkovsky, Richard and Ellen Sandor Chair and Curator, Photography and Media, and vice president for strategic art initiatives. “Through her impeccable sense of placement and allegory, Alexander helps us to see our own relationship to difficult human relations more clearly and ask better questions of ourselves and one another.”

Jane Alexander became known in 1991 with Butcher Boys, which responded to apartheid in South Africa. Her sculptures often address themes such as coercion, violence, and suffering. In a 2013 essay written when Infantry with beast was first shown in its current form, art historian Kobena Mercer described Alexander’s creations as “humanimals,” noting their unsettling impact.

Matthew Witkovsky is organizing this exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.