Hans Haacke, an acclaimed and controversial conceptual artist,will come to the University of Chicago's Court Theatre (5535 S.Ellis Avenue)on Monday, April 7 to present a show titled "Dog and Pony Show."

The show, which begins at 7:30 p.m, will be followed by a moderated conversation with the artist.

Presented by the University's Artspeaks Fellows Program, tickets to "Dog and Pony Show"are $20 for the general public; $5 for University of Chicago students with a valid id.

Since the 1960s, Haacke has created highly influential works of art that analyze real-word phenomena (natural systems as well as social structures). His projects offer critical and often controversial analyses of the worlds of culture, commerce and politics.

"Haacke has spent decades digging around with the often-messy intersection of art, commerce and politics and has used a wonderful variety of means to transform that research into powerful works of art," said Stephanie Smith, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Smart Museum of Art. "His work has helped spark crucial conversations about the roles of art and art institutions in contemporary society. He's also known as an intense, irreverent and engaging speaker, so his 'Dog and Pony Show' is sure to be quite an event."

A German native and a professor at The Cooper Union for more than two decades, Haacke has produced work in a staggering range of art forms that includes sculpture, installation, painting, photography, posters, prints, books and a stage set. One of his best-known recent works is a piece from 2000 that the German Parliament commissioned and which is permanently installed in the open-air courtyard of the Reichstag.

Much of Haacke's work has examined systems and processes. Much of his earlier work focused on physical and biological systems, such as the states of water made visible in his sculpture Condensation Cube.

His later works explored socio-political structures and the politics of art. "Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, A Real Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971" exposed the questionable transactions of Harry Shapolsky's real-estate business dealings between 1951 and 1971.

Haacke gained international renown for his one-artist show scheduled to be exhibited in 1971 at the Guggenheim Museum. The museum's director canceled the show six weeks before its planned opening because he felt that the Shapolsky piece pursued "aims that lie beyond art." Another exhibition met with a cancellation at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, where Haacke included the work "Manet '74," which connected the funding of the museum to the cultural politics of the Cold War.

Haacke's paintings have been exhibited at the University in the past. A 1979 solo exhibition at The Renaissance Society featured highly political paintings that reproduced and altered print ads for Mobil, Allied Chemical and Tiffany & Co.

Now in its fourth year, the University"s Artspeaks Fellows Program brings three distinguished artists to campus each academic year for residencies of various lengths, offering the University community and the community-at-large a rare chance to experience preeminent artists in an intimate setting. The University's Arts Council and the Office of the President provide funding for the program.

Each residency includes a public presentation and participation in seminars and classes. Previous presidential fellows are theater director Anne Bogart, composer Uri Caine, filmmaker Atom Egoyan, writer and graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, dancer/choreographer Bill Jones, film producer James Schamus, playwright and actor Anna Deavere Smith and saxophonist and composer John Zorn.

To purchase tickets to Haacke's "Dog and Pony Show" please call the Artspeaks Hotline at 773-702-8080,or, for more information, visit the program's web sitehttp://arts.uchicago.edu/artspeaks.html.