Open hours
Nightly at 8:30pm

Art on the Mart is one of the coolest and most under-rated (IMO) cultural assets that Chicago has to offer. On a nightly basis, the city is graced with an amazing performance or dynamic piece of video art by an incredible artist. This April, coinciding with EXPO's 10th Anniversary, Derrick Adams' Funtime Unicorn: Ruby Rides Through Four Seasons will be projected onto the facade of the Merchandise Mart nightly at 8:30pm.

Funtime Unicorn: Ruby Rides Through Four Seasons builds upon Adams’s famed Funtime Unicorn project celebrating Black joy, love and play. The animation–realized in collaboration with The Channel–unfolds across the four seasons and begins with Ruby in a playground before she embarks on adventures through joyful dreamscapes. Ruby’s journeys feature a majestic display of colorful backgrounds and light tunnels across the 2.5 acres of THE MART, while visitors will also watch the flowers bloom, leaves fall, and snow drop in the playground as she returns for each season. Viewers will be transported through Ruby’s journey by the narration of a young girl, with background vocals by Cleo Reed, set to an original jazz-trumpet soundscape by Dave Guy from the Roots. Funtime Unicorn first appeared in Adams’s signature Floater series, a collection of vivid portraits of Black people in various states of rest and play, as a life-size inflatable pool float before Adams made Funtime Unicorn into a unique and interactive sculpture.

If you're looking for a great place for dinner nearby but want to get away from the touristy or businessy area, head to Obelix -- an amazing new restuarant brought to you by the same owners at cozy romantic iconic Bucktown bistro Le Bouchon.