Christine Mehring is Professor and Chair of Art History at the University of Chicago and Adjunct Curator at the Smart Museum. Her research focuses on abstraction, particularly the ways in which non-mimetic forms, colors, and non-traditional materials come to signify within historical contexts; postwar European art, especially the impact of World War II and transatlantic relations the cross-overs between art and design, including interior and furniture design, wall-painting, and public art; and photography and the relations between old and new media. Together with architectural historian Sean Keller, she is working on a book about the art and architecture of the Munich Olympics.