<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418556/qs6rujqejucnegftgnhc.jpg"><figcaption>Photos by M Lindsay Photography</figcaption></figure>By GINNY VAN ALYEASally Schwartz says she has always been a hoarder. As a child she was always saving various objects, and she’s continued to hold onto many of those things even today, from an old record case and all of her 45 records, to Winnie-the-Pooh’s Piglet and a resultant collection of pigs. If Sally is drawn to something, she will hunt for many more examples of it. Her passion for seeking just the right vintage needle in a cluttered haystack has led her to become queen of Chicago’s vintage market scene, having founded the Randolph Street Market Festival in 2004.“I used to go antiquing as a kid,” Sally recalls. Whenever her mom and her friends would head into the city from the North Shore, she would tag along so she could check out the antiques stores in Boystown. Recalling the unusual pieces she found there, she says, “They had really cool, funky style. I’ve always loved the stuff – I like looking at it. It makes me happy.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2005/original/sally-schwartz-398.jpg" alt=""></figure>Sally’s taste in art and vintage clothing is much the same as what she looks for in antiques. She explains, “I’ve always loved art, and my taste is just all over the place. I like some of the really formal things, and then I like really wild stuff.” She seems to greatly appreciate so many things, from old vases to antique sconces, just for what they mean to her, rather than considering whether or not they have potential to be a monetary diamond in the rough.&nbsp;She loved vintage clothing so much, even as a kid when no one else was wearing it, she says she didn’t care if she ever wore it – she just loved to have it. That same appreciation and enjoyment is a large part of the fun for her today.&nbsp;Sally has long specialized in festive gatherings, and it was through event planning that she would get her start organizing markets. She began doing very elaborate theme parties while also working as a decorator. Sally explains, “If I was doing a ‘50s party, I would go find the grill of a 1957 Chevy, or I’d find a jukebox. If it was a jazz party I would find all this Art Deco stuff. I’d have these really big budgets to put together these parties, but I had to start buying and keeping the decorations, since they could be hard to find – there was no market in the city of Chicago to source these types of authentic props.”&nbsp;Sally saw an opportunity not just for herself but for others hunting for eclectic pieces, too. In the mid ‘90s she organized three big markets with her then-husband, but then, Sally recalls, “I lost the site, and then my marriage ended, and everything sort of fell apart.” Around 2002 she was recruited to take over the Taste of Randolph, but that was not the type of event she wanted to do. Instead, she pitched the idea of an antique market. At the time, she says, there was nothing happening in the West Loop. “It was pretty much dead,” she recalls. “On Randolph Street it was just HARPO, Ina [Pinkney’s diner], Michael Jordan’s One Sixtyblue, and Jerry Kleiner’s restaurants.”Her first market, in 2004, was outside on the street, and the next one was in Hoops the Gym, a basketball space where Jordan and former Bulls teammate Scottie Pippen practiced before they retired.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418557/nlfetpvm4vjnpxoebijz.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Since then Sally has expanded from one-day sales six times a year, to indoor and outdoor markets the last weekend of each month. The Randolph Street Market is internationally known as a go-to source for finding vintage and antique furniture, jewelry, clothing and art. Over 300 vendors take part, and the people who show are an eccentric bunch. The markets have become popular because visitors can find anything from vintage handbags and china to sterling silver candlesticks and high-end rugs. Special themes and on-site events introduced throughout the year make it an unusual experience every time.&nbsp;Sally’s professional life seems to have evolved to perfectly embody who she is personally, while offering her an endless source for finding treasures. While the pace of running the monthly markets is frenetic, she has her own life, away from Randolph Street, in a serene yet glamorous contemporary house in Lakeview, with her husband, Reid Brody.&nbsp;Sally likes to joke that Reid sent away for a mail order bride. The reality is that the couple met in Chicago 14 years ago. Friends had insisted they knew someone who was perfect for her. After getting his name wrong for a while – she thought she was looking for Reid Brophy – Sally finally tracked him down through another friend’s boss. They went on a date, and that was it.&nbsp;The couple got married this past December, after years of living apart in order to raise their own children. Their marriage aligned with their decision to move into a new home together, where they have combined their tastes as well as their belongings and collections. Sally came from a vintage Hyde Park home with art everywhere, while Reid was living in what Sally called a frat house/man cave in Wrigleyville. In their Lakeview house they wanted to display their pieces with more air and a much less cluttered feeling. Reid admits, “The good thing about moving was getting a ton of stuff out.” To Sally, “When we moved in here, we wanted things quiet and spaced. We have a lot of art that we have gotten rid of, and there are pieces that we don’t hang, because putting too much in this space wouldn’t look right.”The home’s open spaces are filled with blonde wood floors, and big windows that let in generous light. Each room is sleek and bright. Even though Sally says they tried not to have too much in the space, there is still something to look at on every wall and around every corner. Many of the pieces and objects have personal stories associated with them: a pair of imposing needlepointed chairs in the dining room were stitched by Sally’s grandmother. A metal sculpture of a woman, created by Sally’s aunt, is installed in the same room up by a large window. Custom built shelves display a range of objects in the living room: Sally’s extensive collection of vintage cigarette lighters is set off by glass and a mirrored background, while Reid’s vintage speakers, receivers and amps are plugged in and arranged opposite the lighters. How to make everything come together, in a single home after more than 14 years of living separately, was the challenge as well as an opportunity for the couple. Sally notes, “Taking our things – like the red couches in our kitchen – and curating how they would work together was fun. I just looked for art and pieces that had accents of red, and then you start to find them – that pillow I found at my market, these works are from the Project Onward program.”&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2007/original/sally-schwartz-160.jpg" alt=""></figure>So much comes through the markets each month, one wonders how Sally could possibly resist making impulse purchases all the time. “It’s hard, but I’ve become more limited,” she admits. She has undoubtedly found a lot of special pieces at the markets over the years, but she must try to be discerning in what she chooses to take home. The items she has acquired range from simply interesting things to overlooked steals. One hand grooved woven piece from the 1920s was dumped in a shopping bag. Sally bought it for $20, paid to clean&nbsp;and&nbsp;frame the piece, and it now complements the pair of needlepoint chairs by her grandmother in her dining room. A pair of salon style bucket chairs add to the glamour of her modern living room, and remarkably, they feature the original fabric – she only had a pair of pillows made to go with them. Sally restores or fixes some pieces, so she tries to find things with good bones no matter what.&nbsp;Sally and Reid’s new house is big enough to accomodate multiple collections of two different people who each have one foot in the past and one in the present. They both have developed an eye for making history their own. &nbsp;Reid’s collecting history is no less serious than Sally’s and just as eclectic, though he has a very different and personal focus. Sally sums up Reid’s extensive collection, “He doesn’t only collect guitars, he collects microphones, he collects clock radios, he collects little lights that you put next to your bed; in his last house he had this entire wall unit that was filled with clock radios, lights and gadgets, and they were all plugged in.” Reid has also long admired toaster ovens. He says, “The downfall of America can be traced to one of these [toaster ovens]. They’re amazing. It’s just the greatest thing ever.” Sally still can’t seem to believe Reid’s fixation with the common household device, but with more fondness than exasperation, she smiles at him when she says, “Can you believe he’s talking about a toaster oven?”<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2040/original/reidsinstruments.jpg" alt=""></figure>Although Sally and Reid say they have very different taste in just about everything, they each end up looking out for what the other collects. Sally remembers, “Reid was at a guitar show in Dallas when he found a really cool cigarette lighter that looks like a microphone – the best of both our worlds. He’s found me a few lighters at his shows.” Says Reid, “The two really good ones were a Jet, and then an RCA microphone lighter.”When Sally comes across a guitar she immediately sends photos to Reid, but she says he’s so picky because he knows what he wants and he’s collected so much already. Reid has spent his career in the film and music industries, and his interest in guitars and recording equipment springs from his childhood, when he says his family couldn’t really afford anything. As an adult, it led him to chase what he once couldn’t have. Today he says he’s mostly held off acquiring things, since he more or less thinks he’s gotten everything he wanted. His collection spans mid-century digital recording equipment, guitars and vintage Hi-Fi, as well as a lot of vinyl. Reid has spent years in search of these objects, and Sally calls their lower level of the home Reid’s Fun House, where he displays nearly 50 guitars as well as more audio components. There is a custom built retro recording environment for ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s sound in a basement room that measures around 12’ x 10’. The equipment in the room also features a digital overlay so that Reid can work with a digital hybrid system. He uses vintage equipment to record an authentically old sound, but he captures it in an up-to-date format.&nbsp;He’s acquired a number of old microphones that each have a place in history. Their sound is distinct and so are the voices that have used them in the past. One example is a U47 mic that was made in post-war Germany and is still closely associated with Frank Sinatra and other ‘50s singers. To Reid, “These things have been used to record history, so they become very collectable. This is all restored, and it’s the original stuff.” Reid admits, “It all can start to own you after awhile, so I think at this point I’ll just enjoy what I have. I don’t feel that precious about anything anymore.” It’s the best way, he says, to appreciate what he already has.&nbsp;Sally and Reid’s children are each into their parents’ collections in their own way. Reid says his kids have a good sense of the sound collection. He dragged them around to flea markets and estate sales when they were young, and that they learned to collect items of their own, like comic books, Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards and other paper things. Today Reid and his son buy and sell vintage guitars together, and someday his son will inherit his collection of guitars, amps and microphones. Reid’s daughter is captivated by Sally’s lighters, so Sally says she’ll never sell them as long as she wants them. Her daughter, about to be a junior in college, has said to her, “You know I’m going to sell everything when you’re dead,” but Sally says she’ll hold onto most things, just in case she has a change of heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/2009/original/sallyflickers-2.jpg" alt=""></figure>&nbsp;Sally’s markets are built on the concept of trading and sharing things between generations. Some people are naturally interested in the search, while others love to look through pieces of history. Many are seeking a unique style in an age of sameness. When she looks to future generations of collectors, Sally says it can be helpful to start something small and fun for a child. Sally had her own collection of pigs, and for her daughter she started picking up various poodles when she was a baby – a collection to complement her French-themed nursery. Sally says, “When they have outgrown that, or they decide, ‘I’m bored with this I want to collect something else,’ they may have developed an eye and be inspired to look at things more deeply,” eventually building a collection on their own. She loves to see kids tagging along at the market. As she points out, almost wistfully, “It helps kids to start looking at stuff, at materials, at the way things were made and how they last, to see that not everything is disposable.”Top image: Sally and Reid’s living room features a pair of salon chairs from the Randolph Street Market, his (architecture) and her (Nancy Drew books) bookshelves, a collection of vintage cigarette lighters, and vintage sound equipment (not shown.) All photos: M Lindsay Photography.&nbsp;</body></html>

CGN interviews collector Sally Schwartz and her husband Reid Brody. 

In Search of the Eclectic 

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo;&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News&nbsp;is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The second in the series examines the connections between three sculptures in Grant Park.&nbsp;

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Public art, by definition, is intended for the public&mdash;you, me, and the rest of the masses&mdash;it&nbsp;is meant to be consumed by all, no matter one&#39;s individual social status, economic means, or political influence. But public art is not only&nbsp;for&nbsp;the masses; it is often&nbsp;about&nbsp;the masses. The south end of Grant Park provides three great sculptural&nbsp;examples: two permanent and one recently de-installed.

<img alt="" data-caption="Magdalena Abakanowicz, &lt;i&gt;Agora&lt;/i&gt;, 2006. Courtesy of the artist and Richard Gray Gallery. Photo: Kenneth Tanaka" data-rich-file-id="1962" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1962/original/agora-1-photo-by-kenneth-tanaka.jpg" />

Agora&nbsp;(2006) by Polish artist <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/4/polish-sculptor-and-agora-artist-magdalena-abakanowicz-has-died-at-86">Magdalena Abakanowicz</a>,&nbsp;who recently passed away, gives new meaning to the phrase &ldquo;the faceless crowd.&rdquo; Pedestrians walking along Roosevelt Road toward the Museum Campus can&rsquo;t help but notice&mdash;and often engage with&mdash;this collection of 106 headless human-like forms. Giant in size, each figure walks in a different direction, seemingly intent on reaching its destination, oblivious to the mortals milling below them. In their preoccupation and hurry, these iron (not bronze) figures seem to reflect the anonymous hustle of city life.

Agora means &ldquo;gathering place,&rdquo; and appropriately, Abakanowicz&rsquo;s installation marks the spot where one of Chicago&rsquo;s greatest gathering places once stood: the Illinois Central Depot (1893&ndash;1974). The artist&rsquo;s ghostly figures seem to evoke the unnamed millions who passed through this railway station during its 81-year existence. Many of those passengers included African Americans escaping the Jim Crow South during the Great Migration. According to the&nbsp;Encyclopedia of Chicago, more than 500,000 African Americans migrated to Chicago between 1916 and 1970. The majority traveled by train along the Illinois Central Railroad lines, which linked the southern states to Chicago.

<img alt="" data-caption="Grant Park in 1891 looking north from the Kimball Building before the installation of the Logan Memorial. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum" data-rich-file-id="1963" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1963/original/grantpark-kimballbldg.jpg" />

The new arrivals must have been impressed by the view of Grant Park and the city skyline that greeted them outside the railway station&rsquo;s great Romanesque Revival archway. Just north of the station, they could see the&nbsp;General John A. Logan Memorial&nbsp;(1897) rising some 30 feet above the park.

Dedicated in 1897, the Logan Memorial stands today as an example of a not-so-typical &ldquo;bronze man on a horse.&rdquo; American artists Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848&ndash;1907) and Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860&ndash;1950) collaborated on the commission, capturing the dynamism of the General riding his warhorse into battle. The memorial was a true team effort; Proctor, an animalier, modeled the stallion; and two women sculptors, Annette Johnson and Mary Lawrence Tonetti, assisted Saint-Gaudens in modeling the figure of Logan. (Regrettably, Johnson&rsquo;s and Tonetti&rsquo;s contributions have often been omitted from the historical record.)

<img alt="" data-caption="Vintage postcard, Grant Park, c. 1900. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum" data-rich-file-id="1964" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1964/original/grantpark-1900.jpg" />

Cast in bronze, the Logan sculpture stands atop a giant earthen mound, a dramatic architectural element that anchors the memorial to its site in Grant Park. Designed by Stanford White (of the New York architecture firm McKim, Mead and White), the mound recalls the Anglo-Saxon burial tumuli of Dark Age Britain, but also evokes the monumental earthworks of Cahokia in southern Illinois, Logan&rsquo;s old stomping grounds.

Logan was a complex character. A popular Illinois politician before the Civil War, he helped legislate the state&rsquo;s infamous &ldquo;Black Laws&rdquo; of 1853, which prohibited African Americans from settling in Illinois. But the General seems to have experienced a kind of political&mdash;and moral&mdash;conversion while serving in the Union Army and later as a US House representative and US Senator. According to the John A. Logan Museum, &ldquo;This was a very different Logan. It was a Logan who voted for constitutional amendments to abolish slavery and to grant citizenship and voting rights to African Americans&hellip;Throughout this time, Logan continued to fight for civil rights for America&rsquo;s former slaves and supported women&rsquo;s suffrage.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="A contemporary view of the &lt;i&gt;General John A. Logan Memorial&lt;/i&gt; (1897). Photo: Franck Mercurio" data-rich-file-id="1967" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1967/original/logan-memorial-2.jpg" />

Logan had transformed himself into a &ldquo;man of the people,&rdquo; and on the occasion of his death, the Illinois state assembly commissioned the memorial in his honor. In July 1897, a staggering 500,000 Chicagoans turned out for the unveiling of the equestrian sculpture&mdash;nearly one-third the city&rsquo;s population at that time. &ldquo;Logan Day&rdquo; was designated an official city holiday and celebrated with a 17,000-person military parade on Michigan Avenue and a naval procession on Lake Michigan. The masses had turned out&nbsp;en masse&nbsp;to honor Logan and dedicate his bronze likeness.

Fast forward to 1968 when the Logan Memorial was again at the center of a mass gathering, this time the political protests outside the Democratic National Convention. Barred from protesting in front of the Conrad Hilton, the site of the convention, hundreds of people staged an impromptu &ldquo;sit-in&rdquo; around the Logan monument. Iconic photographs record crowds of protestors occupying the memorial&rsquo;s great mound&mdash;with General Logan seeming to lead them into battle [see top image]. &nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Tony Tasset, &lt;i&gt;Artists Monument&lt;/i&gt;, 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta" data-rich-file-id="1965" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1965/original/tasset-monument.jpg" />

For a brief period, one other public work f&ecirc;ted the masses in the south end of Grant Park. In 2016, the city installed Tony Tasset&rsquo;s&nbsp;Artists Monument&nbsp;(2015) adjacent to the Logan Memorial. A literal recording of the masses, this sculptural work documented the names of nearly 400,000 artists&mdash;the famous and the obscure&mdash;on colorful panels wrapped around two reclaimed shipping containers. Tasset listed the names in alphabetical order, treating each artist equally&mdash;a gesture that calls attention to the collective power of artistic creativity. Paradoxically, this &ldquo;monument&rdquo; was a temporary proposition and de-installed after a few months on view. But you can still visit its more somber sister installations, which recall Chicago history and celebrate the power of the people in their own distinctive ways.

Up next: Franck Mercurio recounts the battles between traditionalists and modernists by looking at Lorado Taft&#39;s&nbsp;Fountain of the Great Lakes&nbsp;and John Storrs&#39;&nbsp;Ceres&nbsp;and making&nbsp;connections to contemporary public works by Roger Brown and Richard Hunt.

Top image: Protesters climb the General Logan statue in Grant Park while thousands gather on the ground in August of 1968. The Illinois Central Railway Station&nbsp;can be seen in the background. Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune Historical Archives

Chicago Gallery News explores examines the connections between three sculptures in Grant Park.

Public Art and the Masses: Examining Sculpture in Grant Park

Information excerpted from Richard Gray Gallery&#39;s website:

Polish sculptor&nbsp;Magdalena Abakanowicz (born in&nbsp;1930),&nbsp;an artist&nbsp;with a career spanning more than five decades, died yesterday in Warsaw.&nbsp;

In Chicago she is most known for&nbsp;Agora&nbsp;(2006),&nbsp;106 upright figures, made of iron and&nbsp;each standing&nbsp;nine feet tall,&nbsp;permanently&nbsp;installed in Grant Park.

Abakanowicz told The Chicago Tribune in 2005,&nbsp;&ldquo;Every sculpture can be turned into decoration. But if you have 100, you are confronted by them and must think and imagine and question yourself. This is what I want.&rdquo;

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view from &lt;i&gt;Mutations&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago" data-rich-file-id="1980" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1980/original/6290d8c2867137214b9264402887cb3d.jpeg" />

Her first North American retrospective was organized at the <a href="https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/1982/Magdalena-Abakanowicz">Museum of Contemporary Art</a> in Chicago in 1982. She has works in the museum&#39;s permanent collection.&nbsp;

Throughout her long and prolific career she has developed a distinctive sculptural language that is specific to her recollections of life in Communist-ruled Eastern Europe while remaining open to universal readings of human struggle. Her installations often portray crowds of headless or faceless bodies as somber testimonies to ongoing personal, societal, and international violence. Mutations brings together sculptures from the past thirty-five years in an installation that emphasizes the sculpture&rsquo;s materials and symbolic impact. 
 
Magdalena Abakanowicz was born in Falenty, Poland in 1930 and studied painting at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. She was a foundational voice in the development of avant-garde sculpture beginning in the 1960s, particularly challenging the use of fiber as a sculptural material. By the 1970s, she had established herself as a presence in the global art community.

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view from &lt;i&gt;Mutations&lt;/i&gt;, 2016 exhibition at Richard Gray Gallery in Chicago, showing works in burlap and resin, and bronze" data-rich-file-id="1978" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1978/original/1d49b9f21ff414e7464ee65b16316b3a.jpeg" />

She is regarded as one of the most influential sculptors of the Post War period. Her powerful portrayal of the figure explores the human condition, the relationship between man and nature, and social and political histories pertaining to her experience in Soviet-occupied Poland. 
 
Her earliest mature works&mdash;monumental, soft textile sculptures called Abakans that she completed when she was in her early thirties&mdash;won the artist international recognition in an era when very few Polish citizens were permitted to travel abroad. Since that time, Abakanowicz has become best known for her unique treatment of the human figure, often headless and modeled in found burlap or cast in bronze, representing our capacity to follow a leader or movement blindly, without thought. At the same time, she creates each form by hand, emphasizing the individuality that remains, even in the crowd.

<img alt="" data-caption="Magdalena Abakanowicz, &lt;i&gt;The Group of Five with Arms&lt;/i&gt;, 2014, bronze, 60&quot; x 84&quot; x 36&quot;." data-rich-file-id="1981" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1981/original/31483cb1847512407efc1e213351d459.jpg" />

Abakanowicz studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw from 1950 &ndash; 1954. Her work can be found in public collections internationally including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Australian National Gallery of Art, Canberra; the Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; the Ludwig Museum, Cologne; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Mus&eacute;e d&#39;Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York; the Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo and many others.

Additional reading: <a href="http://www.richardgraygallery.com/artists/magdalena-abakanowicz">richardgraygallery.com</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/arts/design/magdalena-abakanowicz-sculptor-of-brooding-forms-dies-at-86.html?_r=0">nytimes.com</a>

Top image: Magdalena Abakanowicz,&nbsp;Agora, 2006.&nbsp;Courtesy the artist and Richard Gray Gallery.

Magdalena Abakanowicz, a Polish sculptor with a career that spans more than 50 years, died on Thursday.

Polish Sculptor and Agora Artist Magdalena Abakanowicz Has Died at 86

The Terra Foundation for American Art&nbsp;in partnership with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation&nbsp;officially announced&nbsp;Art Design Chicago, a yearlong&nbsp;initiative&nbsp;to explore Chicago&#39;s role in the history of art and design.&nbsp;Art Design Chicago&nbsp;provides over $6 million in funding to&nbsp;support exhibitions and public programming at more than 40 cultural organizations.&nbsp;Partners range from large institutions like&nbsp;the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">Art Institute of Chicago</a> and the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution to community focused art organizations like the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/hyde-park-art-center-hpac">Hyde Park Art Center</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/south-side-community-art-center">South Side Community Art Center</a>.

A number of exhibitions have been announced including Arte Dise&ntilde;o Xic&aacute;go: Mexican Inspiration from the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition to the Civil Rights Era at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/national-museum-of-mexican-art--2">National Museum of Mexican Art</a>; Picture Fictions: Kenneth Johnson and Contemporary Photography at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago</a>;&nbsp;A Home for Surrealism at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-arts-club-of-chicago">Arts Club of Chicago</a>; South Side Stories: Rethinking Chicago Art, 1960-1975 at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/smart-museum-of-art">Smart Museum of Art</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/dusable-museum">DuSable Museum of African American History</a>; and Chicago Disability Arts and Design: At the Center of the Disability Rights Movement 1974-2000 at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/gallery-400">Gallery 400</a>.

Other notable forthcoming programs include Show the World: 150 Years of Chicago Art and Design, a four-part documentary produced by WTTW-TV (PBS) and Into the City: A History of Chicago Art published by University of Chicago Press.

Elizabeth Glassman, president and CEO of the Terra Foundation noted, &ldquo;We are delighted to be working with so many brilliant organizations to bring Art Design Chicago to life, and to share with new and existing audiences the dynamic artistic history of Chicago. This city has long had a pioneering spirit, championing the avant-garde, and shaping modern art and design. Chicago continues to be uniquely positioned to translate artistic vision into the consumer goods that we live with everyday. We could not think of a better moment to launch this initiative, when reconnecting with who and what comprises the American story is so essential and immediate.&rdquo;

For more information visit <a href="http://www.artdesignchicago.org">www.artdesignchicago.org</a>

<img alt="" data-caption="Ephemera, “Hollywood Bond Cavalcade,” Soldier Field, Chicago, September 16, 1943, courtesy University of Chicago Press" data-rich-file-id="1948" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1948/original/08-into-the-city.jpg" />

Art Design Chicago: Partners To Date&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution</li>
	<li>The Art Institute of Chicago</li>
	<li>The Arts Club of Chicago</li>
	<li>Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University</li>
	<li>Black Metropolis Research Consortium</li>
	<li>Caxton Club</li>
	<li>Chicago Art Deco Society</li>
	<li>Chicago Cultural Alliance</li>
	<li>Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events</li>
	<li>Chicago Design Museum</li>
	<li>Chicago History Museum</li>
	<li>Chicago Humanities Festival</li>
	<li>Chicago Parks Foundation&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Chicago Public Library</li>
	<li>Chicago Public Schools</li>
	<li>DePaul Art Museum</li>
	<li>DePaul University</li>
	<li>Duke University Press&nbsp;</li>
	<li>DuSable Museum of African American History</li>
	<li>Edgar Miller Legacy</li>
	<li>Ed Paschke Art Center&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Elmhurst College</li>
	<li>EXPO Chicago</li>
	<li>Gallery 400</li>
	<li>Glessner House Museum&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Hyde Park Art Center</li>
	<li>Illinois Executive Mansion Association</li>
	<li>Illinois Humanities</li>
	<li>Illinois Women Artists Project</li>
	<li>Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art</li>
	<li>Jane Addams Hull-House Museum&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Koehnline Museum of Art</li>
	<li>Mary &amp; Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University</li>
	<li>Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</li>
	<li>Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago</li>
	<li>Museum of Modern Art, New York</li>
	<li>National Museum of Mexican Art</li>
	<li>National Public Housing Museum</li>
	<li>Navy Pier</li>
	<li>Newberry Library</li>
	<li>Northwestern University Press</li>
	<li>Rebuild Foundation</li>
	<li>The Renaissance Society at University of Chicago</li>
	<li>The Richard H. Driehaus Museum</li>
	<li>Smart Museum of Art</li>
	<li>South Side Community Art Center</li>
	<li>Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership</li>
	<li>Tang Museum at Skidmore College</li>
	<li>UChicago Arts Public Art Program&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art</li>
	<li>&nbsp;University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies</li>
	<li>University of Chicago Press</li>
	<li>University of Illinois at Chicago</li>
	<li>University of Illinois Press</li>
	<li>Vamonde</li>
	<li>Video Game Art Gallery</li>
	<li>WTTW</li>
</ul>

Top image: Kenneth Josephson, Chicago, 1972, gelatin silver print, 4 3/4 x 7 in. (12.1 x 17.8 cm), Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of the Foster Charitable Trust in memory of Reuben A. Foster, 1983.37 &copy; 1972 Kenneth Josephson. Photo: Nathan Keay &copy; MCA Chicago

The Terra Foundation announced a major 2018 initiative to explore the history of art and design in Chicago.

Terra Foundation Announces Yearlong Initiative to Explore Impact of Chicago's Art and Design Legacy

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

Brazilian artist H&eacute;lio Oiticica&rsquo;s first U.S. retrospective is now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. The survey includes a number of well-known works alongside material that has never been exhibited. Spanning his short but impactful career, To Organize Delirium maps out his early modernist works while recreating a number of large-scale, interactive environments.

Oiticica strongly believed that art was a social and ethical pursuit that must be embedded into daily life, and he often argued that art simply could not function outside of society. The&nbsp;title of the exhibition comes from Oiticica&rsquo;s friend, the Brazilian poet Haroldo de Campos who noted that the artist&rsquo;s philosophy &ldquo;combined extreme diligence for organization with strong need for freedom&rdquo; which culminates in &ldquo;chaos and order coexist[ing] and in this way, he managed to organize delirium.&rdquo;

Oiticica&rsquo;s interactive works require the direct participation of viewers. At first, it feels jarring to play and explore in the galleries at the Art Institute, because the museum and others like it have such strong, performative social codes of respect and reserve. However, these rules must be broken in order fully experience Oiticica&rsquo;s environments.

Early in his career, Oiticica realized the significance of removing art from its canvas and pedestal. He disagreed with the belief that art should be positioned behind the ropes of a museum or hidden from the populous. Instead, he advocated for human interaction with art in order to promote activism and fight corrupt political agendas.

<img alt="" data-caption="Hélio Oiticica, &lt;i&gt;Seja marginal, seja herói (Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero)&lt;/i&gt;, 1967, screenprint on fabric, 41 5/16&quot; x 35 3/8&quot;. © César and Cláudio Oticica. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. " data-rich-file-id="1919" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1919/original/se-20heroi.jpg" />

The exhibition demonstrates Oiticica&#39;s political involvement with the inclusions of&nbsp;Seja Marginal, Seja Her&oacute;i (Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero), made in 1968 for the Festival of Flags. At this time, Brazil&rsquo;s dictatorship became increasingly oppressive and opposing ideas were stifled through torture and imprisonment.&nbsp;However, a resistance was able to form, and Oiticica helped fuel that movement through his work.&nbsp;At the Festival of Flags, the bossa nova musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil held up Oiticica&rsquo;s banner Se Marginal, Se Her&oacute;i.&nbsp;They were subsequently jailed and deported for their actions but their message was clear.&nbsp; They would break the law and become &quot;outlaws&quot; to further their fight against the censorship and the oppression of the Brazilian people.

Oiticica came from a privileged background yet felt a connection to the favelas or shantytowns of Rio and visited them often.&nbsp;His visits inspired his most inventive and participatory art, Parangol&eacute;s.

<img alt="" data-caption="Hélio Oiticica with &lt;i&gt;P8 Parangolé Cape 5, Homage to Mangueira (P8 Parangolé capa 5, Homenagem à Mangueira&lt;/i&gt;, 1965) at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, 1969. César and Claudio Oiticica Collection, Rio de Janeiro. © César and Claudio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro." data-rich-file-id="1911" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1911/original/parangole.jpg" />

Parangol&eacute;s are objects intended to be carried or worn, often realized in the form of fabric wrappings. They are considered unfinished objects until they are &ldquo;activated&rdquo; on a human body, especially through dance. This embodies the idea of a work that is &ldquo;collaborative, constantly developing, and open to change,&rdquo;[1] which is a guiding philosophy for Oiticica.

At the Art Institute&nbsp;visitors are allowed to become active participants by wearing reproductions of Parangol&eacute;s and dancing in them, if they so choose.&nbsp;Many were&nbsp;skeptical and only wore them for moments, unsure whether or not they could actually touch and wear objects in a museum.

After the Parangol&eacute;s station, visitors can enter the sandboxes of Eden and Tropic&aacute;lia. Both environments are open-ended &ldquo;instruments for reflection&rdquo; meant to &ldquo;proposition for behavior.&rdquo;[2] &nbsp;The installations include places for rest, contemplation, reading, and listening to music. Oiticica called these areas penetrables, a term he used throughout this career.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium&lt;/i&gt;, installation view of &lt;i&gt;Eden&lt;/i&gt;, 2017. Photo: Jacqueline Lewis" data-rich-file-id="1912" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1912/original/17357449-1634538683242531-1583685241-o.jpg" />

Museum-goers seem to hesitate before entering this space as if security will arrive the second they cross into the sandbox and touch the objects.&nbsp;In this controlled setting, the penetrables become a sort of social experiment, everyone looking to each other to see what they should do because of the now ambiguous social codes.&nbsp;A note of caution to the enthusiastic adventurer: be careful when exploring the penetrables, because there are hidden areas full of water ready to soak your socks.

Tropic&aacute;lia became a decisive work in Oiticica&rsquo;s career and eventually became the name of a movement that transcended the defined contours of music, literature, theater and film. &nbsp;The work&nbsp;rejects&nbsp;the influence of North American and European culture and embraces the local&nbsp;Brazilian lifestyle, while addressing&nbsp;stereotypes of tropical cultures through the inclusion of palm trees and live birds.

<img alt="" data-caption="&lt;i&gt;Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium&lt;/i&gt;. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago." data-rich-file-id="1917" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1917/original/tropicaliabirdcage.jpg" />

CC Coke Head&rsquo;s Soup also challenges expected museum etiquette. The work appropriates the&nbsp;Rolling Stone&rsquo;s album Goat&rsquo;s Head Soup.&nbsp;Images of the album covered in cocaine flash on the walls of a room with a padded floor, immersing the viewer and moving them into another realm, aided by John Cage-like chance sounds and Rolling Stones song, Sister Morphine.&nbsp;

The unsettling sounds and images of drug use contrast with the lighthearted feel of the floor that just begs to be jumped on. Viewers walk in, look around nervously, and then jump a few times before getting embarrassed. Many seem to hold back their desire to break loose in the room, possibly due to the subject matter but most likely due to its location in a museum. In general, adults do not expect to bounce around in a museum, yet the exhibition demands that kind of spontaneity.

To Organize Delirium asks visitors to rethink&nbsp;the social constraints and etiquette expected in museum settings. Oitcica intended&nbsp;his work to combat social and political issues within&nbsp;communities, instead of&nbsp;hanging behind a rope in a museum.&nbsp;As a participant, letting go of culturally proscribed notions of the museum space will, in turn, help you&nbsp;better understand the work of this important&nbsp;artist. &nbsp;&nbsp;

H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago through May 6, 2017. Click <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/art-institute-of-chicago">here</a> for more information.

Top image:&nbsp;H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, installation view, 2017.&nbsp;Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.

[1] Wall text, H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, Art Institute of Chicago, February 18-May 6, 2017.&nbsp;

[2] Wall text,&nbsp;H&eacute;lio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium, Art Institute of Chicago, February 18-May 6, 2017.&nbsp;

The Art Institute of Chicago presents a large-scale survey of the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica.

Hélio Oiticica Exhibition at the Art Institute Activated by Spontaneity of Visitors

Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz, who is represented by Rhona Hoffman Gallery, has had two exciting announcements in the past day. He was selected for the 2018 Fourth Plinth Commission at&nbsp;Trafalgar Square (London), and the first US museum survey of his work is scheduled to open at the MCA Chicago this fall.

The Fourth Plinth is a prestigious&nbsp;public art program in the United Kingdom, and Rakowitz was selected along with British artist Heather Phillipson. Rakowitz will recreate a statue of the Lamassu, a hybrid winged bull with a human head, that stood at the entrance to the Nergal Gate of Nineveh from 700 BC until February 2015 when it was destroyed by ISIS. Rakowitz noted that&nbsp;&quot;Rebuilding the Lamassu in Trafalgar Square means the sculpture can continue performing his duties as guardian of Nineveh&rsquo;s past, present and future, even as a refugee or ghost, hoping to one day return to Iraq.&quot; The work is part of a larger project,&nbsp;The Invisble Enemy Should Not Exist, in which Rakowitz has attempted to recreate over 7,000 looted artifacts from the Iraq Museum during the Iraq War.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Michael Rakowitz, &lt;i&gt;May the Arrogant Not Prevail&lt;/i&gt;, 2010. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Marshall Field’s by exchange. Image courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery." data-rich-file-id="1940" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1940/original/rakowitz-arrogant-09.jpg" />

Backstroke of the West&nbsp;is curated by Omar Kholeif, Manilow Senior Curator at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">MCA Chicago</a> and will be on view September 16, 2017-March 4, 2018. The survey of Rakowitz&#39;s work&nbsp;will feature a new commission along with&nbsp;Enemy Kitchen,&nbsp;Spoils&nbsp;and&nbsp;The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist.

Read CGN&#39;s review of Michael Rakowitz&#39;s 2016 exhibition <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/6/the-flesh-is-yours-the-bones-are-ours">The Flesh Is Yours, The Bones Are Ours</a>, which was on display at <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/rhona-hoffman-gallery--2">Rhona Hoffman Gallery</a> and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/graham-foundation-for-advanced-studies-in-the-fine-arts">Graham Foundation</a>.

Top image:&nbsp;Michael Rakowitz, Lamassu maquette,&nbsp;2016. Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery.

Chicago-based artist Michael Rakowitz was selected for the UK's Fourth Plinth program and the MCA Chicago announced a major survey of his work for fall 2017.

Michael Rakowitz Selected for Public Art Commission in London & MCA Chicago Announces Major Survey of His Work

CGN interviews Ross Jordan, the curator of "The Presidential Library Project: Black Presidential Imaginary" at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Exploring the Black Presidential Imaginary: An Interview with Ross Jordan

In recognition of Chicago&rsquo;s &ldquo;Year of Public Art,&rdquo; Chicago Gallery News is featuring a series of articles chronicling milestones of public art in Chicago. The first in the series looks at the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono&#39;s Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago&#39;s bronze lions.

By FRANCK MERCURIO

Just south of the Museum of Science and Industry, on Wooded Island in Jackson Park, sits one of Chicago&rsquo;s newest works of public art. Unveiled this past October, Yoko Ono&rsquo;s Skylanding (2016) occupies the site of the Japanese Pavilion and Osaka Garden created for the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. The pavilion is long gone (destroyed by arsonists in 1946), but a resurrected version of the original garden remains. Here, Ono installed a sculptural composition consisting of 12 large stainless steel &ldquo;petals&rdquo; (each 12 feet tall), which suggest a giant lotus flower emerging from the earth. The work is part memorial, part peace gesture, and part ode to Chicago&mdash;the city that &ldquo;blossomed&rdquo; after the Great Fire, rising up from the marshy shores of Lake Michigan.

<img alt="" data-caption="Members of Thodos Dance Chicago performing at the unveiling ceremony of Yoko Ono's &lt;i&gt;Skylanding&lt;/i&gt; © Diane Hutchinson Reilly / Courtesy of Thodos Dance Chicago" data-rich-file-id="1897" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1897/original/skylanding-8.jpg" />

Like most works of public sculpture in Chicago, the location of Skylanding is no accident. It is situated where Chicago&rsquo;s tradition of great public art first got its start more than 120 years ago. In 1893, Jackson Park hosted the World&#39;s Fair and the &ldquo;White City,&rdquo; a showcase of late 19th-century art, architecture, and urban planning. Fair officials commissioned dozens of American artists to create sculptures that complemented the fairgrounds&#39; Beaux-Arts buildings. Perhaps best remembered is Daniel Chester French&rsquo;s monumental Statue of the Republic (1891&ndash;1893), which dominated the fair&rsquo;s Great Basin. A smaller version&mdash;24 feet tall&mdash;stands in Jackson Park today, a testament to the fair&#39;s artistic ambitions.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Clark Potter, &lt;i&gt;Statue of Industry&lt;/i&gt; (foreground) and Daniel Chester French, &lt;i&gt;Statue of the Republic&lt;/i&gt; (background) © The Field Museum, GN85649c" data-rich-file-id="1906" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1906/original/gn85649c.jpg" />

For many Chicagoans, the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition provided a vision of how art could be integrated into an urban setting. Outside the major exhibition buildings, fairgoers walked among sculptures of mammals native to North America&mdash;bison, elk, moose, bears, and mountain lions&mdash;sculpted by Edward Kemeys and Alexander Phimister Proctor. Both artists specialized in depicting wildlife, having spent considerable time observing and hunting animals out West, learning first hand their behaviors, movements, and anatomies. It was an amazing spectacle for visitors to see these life-like &ldquo;charismatic beasts&rdquo; flanking bridges, walkways, and building entrances.

<img alt="" data-caption="Edward Kemeys, &lt;i&gt;Bison&lt;/i&gt;, Brooklyn Museum, S03i2190l01" data-rich-file-id="1907" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1907/original/s03i2190l01-sl1-1.jpg" />

It&rsquo;s no surprise, then, that the Art Institute of Chicago commissioned Kemeys to create the famous African lions that guard the museum&rsquo;s Michigan Avenue entrance. Unveiled in May 1894&mdash;six months after the Exposition closed&mdash;the Art Institute lions were modeled after a pair originally displayed outside the fair&rsquo;s Palace of Fine Arts. Kemeys and his wife Laura (a noted sculptor in her own right) created these temporary lions from staff, a mixture of plaster and plant fibers. After being cast in bronze for the Art Institute, the lion figures achieved a kind of immortality. Today, they rival the city&rsquo;s Picasso sculpture in popularity, decked out with wreaths for the Christmas season and professional sports helmets during championship playoffs.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="World’s Columbian Exposition, sculpture, Chicago, IL, 1891-1893. Edward Kemeys and Laura Kemeys. World’s Columbian Exposition Photographs by C. D. Arnold, 1891-1894, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #198902.02_036-112." data-rich-file-id="1908" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1908/original/198902-02-036-112.jpg" />

Up until the 1890s, Chicago&rsquo;s public sculpture consisted mainly of monuments and memorials confined to the city&rsquo;s parks and cemeteries. But the Art Institute lions broke that mold (so to speak) and served as the first real examples of public art displayed in the city center where all passers-by could see. Florence Lathrop Field Page paid for the Art Institute commission in memory of her late first husband Henry Field (one of Marshall Field&rsquo;s brothers), and with this commission, she established the precedent of public art patronage in Chicago by wealthy citizens and family foundations, a tradition that lives on today with such projects as Millennium Park&rsquo;s Crown Fountain.

<img alt="" data-caption="Marquette Building Lobby © 2007 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation" data-rich-file-id="1905" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1905/original/marquette-building-3-720x563-72-rgb.jpg" />

In 1895, a year after Kemeys&rsquo; bronze lions were unveiled, Owen Aldis, the developer of the Marquette Building (now home to the MacArthur Foundation) took public art in Chicago a step further by incorporating mosaics and sculptural reliefs into his latest commercial building. Aldis commissioned works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward Kemeys, Herman Atkins MacNeil, and Amy Aldis Bradley to adorn the fa&ccedil;ade and lobby of his new Loop office building. Today, you can still see the Marquette Building&rsquo;s opulent mosaics and bronze reliefs, inspired by the artistic examples set by the 1893 World&rsquo;s Fair, the international event that kicked-off the great tradition of public art in Chicago and paved the way for the future installation of Ono&#39;s&nbsp;Skylanding.

Up next: Franck Mercurio explores the connections between three large-scale installations in the southern end of Grant Park including&nbsp;Augustus Saint-Gaudens&#39; General John Logan, Magdalena Abakanowicz&#39;s Agora, and&nbsp;Tony Tasset&#39;s Artists Monument.

Top image:&nbsp;Edward Kemeys,&nbsp;Lions. Bronze with Green patina. Gift of Mrs. Henry Field, 1898.1a-b. The Art Institute of Chicago. The lions are the registered trademarks of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Chicago Gallery News explores the unlikely connections between Yoko Ono's Skylanding and the Art Institute of Chicago's bronze lions.

The Origins of Public Art in Chicago: From the Bronze Lions to Skylanding

In this two-part series, CGN intern Jacqueline Lewis shares her insights into the new&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/a-new-survey-highlights-merce-cunningham-s-collaborative-career">Merce Cunningham: Common Time</a>&nbsp;exhibition and accompanying performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Lewis has been a dancer for most of her life; she took&nbsp;her first dance lesson at two years old,&nbsp;and she began training with the&nbsp;Lou Conte Dance Studio at the age of sixteen. The second part in the series focuses on&nbsp;Centre Chor&eacute;graphique National&ndash;Ballet de Lorraine&#39;s recent performance&nbsp;of works from Cunningham&#39;s repertoire.&nbsp;

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

The stage of the Edlis Neeson Theater at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)</a>&nbsp;was dark when the performance&nbsp;Works by Merce Cunningham and Others began with Untitled Partner #3.&nbsp;The only light&nbsp;radiated from movable LED lights and video projections of dancers dressed in&nbsp;white. Four male dancers entered the stage&nbsp;and began to interact with the&nbsp;highlights and shadows provided by this unconventional stage lighting. At times, the dancers manipulated the projectors and lights, adding a dimension of uncertainty&nbsp;to the performance.

The choreography demonstrated the dancers&#39; strength and trust in their&nbsp;partners.&nbsp;They ran back and forth, throwing themselves towards the ground and rolling away, while at the same time&nbsp;supporting each other in an&nbsp;effort to create and hold difficult shapes.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Untitled Partner #3&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: M.Rousseau." data-rich-file-id="1883" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1883/original/parnter-3-fly-resize.jpg" />

Untitled Partner #3 was created by CCN-Ballet Lorraine&rsquo;s artistic director Petter Jacobson and the coordinator of research, Thomas Caley.&nbsp;Caley danced with Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1993-2000, and the iconic choreographer&#39;s influence is apparent in Caley&#39;s&nbsp;mixed media approach to performance, his choice of&nbsp;electronic musical&nbsp;and the athletic choreography.

The next piece, Fabrications,&nbsp;showcased Ballet de Lorraine&rsquo;s large cast of dancers. The company&nbsp;is based in Nancy, France and has developed an impressive reputation due to their&nbsp;large contemporary repertoire as well as works that span&nbsp;modern history.&nbsp;This, along with their director&rsquo;s experience, makes them an ideal company to demonstrate the works of Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC).

<img alt="" data-caption="Performance view, CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Works by Merce Cunningham &amp; Others&lt;/i&gt;, MCA Chicago. Photo: Nathan Keay." data-rich-file-id="1885" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1885/original/fabrications-2-resize.jpg" />

Merce Cunningham created Fabrications&nbsp;for MCDC in 1987 at the Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The work&nbsp;consists of 64 different movement phrases, which correspond to the 64 hexagrams found in I Ching, the Chinese book of chance.&nbsp;These phrases are mixed-up and combined to create a work that exemplifies Cunningham&rsquo;s strong interest in chance and randomness. The flowing costumes are colorful, yet simple enough to focus attention on the movement.&nbsp;Fabrications highlights the strong, classical abilities necessary for Cunningham choreography, which the Ballet Lorraine dancers most definitely possess.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;Fabrications&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Bernard Prudhomme." data-rich-file-id="1884" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1884/original/fabrications-resize.jpg" />

After Fabrications, the performance broke for an intermission, which gave the audience a chance to prepare for the enveloping experience of Sounddance.&nbsp;Cunningham described this work as &ldquo;vigorous, fast, complex,&rdquo; and as &ldquo;a space observed under a microscope.&rdquo;&nbsp;He does not exaggerate.&nbsp;The full experience captures your attention and draws&nbsp;you in until you are on the edge of your seat.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, SOUNDDANCE. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1893" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1893/original/key-image.jpg" />

Sounddance was created after Cunningham spent nine weeks with the Paris Opera Ballet, and the influence is evident in multiple aspects of the piece.&nbsp;From the costuming to the partnering and the balletic movements, Cunningham takes the classical qualities of ballet and gives them his own&nbsp;modern twist.&nbsp;Even the luscious, golden backdrop is reminiscent of the billowing curtains that frame the stages of classical ballet.&nbsp;In this case, Cunningham turns&nbsp;the curtains into part of the movement.&nbsp;Dancers enter&nbsp;and exit through openings that seem&nbsp;invisible until they burst through them.&nbsp;The&nbsp;stage design becomes a&nbsp;living part of the performance, a characteristic very common in Cunningham choreography.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;SOUNDDANCE&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1888" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1888/original/sounddance-partnering-resize.jpg" />

The most difficult part of the performance was trying to take it all in at once for the fullest experience possible.&nbsp;As a dancer, I tend to focus on one dancer or a single movement and watch every detail as it comes to life. While this is often enjoyable, for this performance I made sure to observe the entire production in order to comprehend the fullness of the work.&nbsp;This created an entirely different experience that integrated the rich gold color,&nbsp;the choreographed formations, the connections amongst dancers and their synchronicity.&nbsp;I was moved into a trancelike state that elevated the performance beyond what I expected.

<img alt="" data-caption="CCN-Ballet de Lorraine, &lt;i&gt;SOUNDDANCE&lt;/i&gt;. Photo: Laurent Philippe." data-rich-file-id="1887" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1887/original/sounddance-curtain-resize.jpg" />

CCN-Ballet Lorraine brought Merce Cunningham&rsquo;s choreography to life at the MCA&rsquo;s stage.&nbsp;The performance was co-presented by the Dance Center of Columbia College Chigago and complemented the exhibition Common Time that is on view through April 30 at the MCA.&nbsp;Information about the exhibition and programming&nbsp;can be found <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">here</a>.

To read the first article in this two-part series visit: <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/a-new-survey-highlights-merce-cunningham-s-collaborative-career">New Survey Highlights Merce Cunningham&#39;s Collaborative Career</a>.

Top image: Performance view, CCN-Ballet de Lorraine,&nbsp;Works by Merce Cunningham &amp; Others, MCA Chicago. Photo: Nathan Keay.

French dance company Ballet de Lorraine recently performed work by Merce Cunningham in conjunction with the MCA's exhibition Common Time.

Ballet de Lorraine Performs Captivating Works by Merce Cunningham

By ALISON REILLY

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/expo-chicago">EXPO Chicago</a> announced details for their new partnership with Palais de Tokyo, the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/dusable-museum">DuSable Museum of African American History</a>, and the Institut Fran&ccedil;ais. With the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, these four organizations have come together to present a group&nbsp;exhibition at the DuSable Museum&#39;s Roundhouse, which will coincide with EXPO Art Week (September 13-17, 2017) and the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/chicago-architecture-biennial-announces-2017-participants">opening of the second Chicago Architecture Biennial</a> (September 16, 2017-January 8, 2018).

Chicago architecture firm Burnham and Root designed the Roundhouse as equestrian stables for the 1893 World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition. Despite the prestige of the space, it has been vacant for more than 50 years. The DuSable Museum acquired the building in 2005 and has spent time raising funds to reconstruct and restore it to its original state.

<img alt="" data-caption="Tony Karman, president and director of EXPO Chicago, speaks at a press conference on March 7, 2017 at the DuSable Museum's Roundhouse." data-rich-file-id="1889" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1889/original/tonykarman-hlm.jpg" />

The expansive 17,000-sq. ft. building with a vaulted ceiling, decorative windows, natural sunlight, and impressive acoustics will now serve as an ambitious exhibition space for 12 artists selected by curator Katell Jaffr&egrave;s of Palais de Tokyo and guest designer Andrew Schachman, who was nominated by the Graham Foundation. Jaffr&egrave;s, who spoke at the press conference on Tuesday, is still in the process of selecting artists but envisions five structures within the space, which will serve &ldquo;as works of art able to welcome other works of art.&rdquo; The participating artists, who will be&nbsp;representative both of the Chicago art scene and the Francophone world, will install site-specific works of art in the building.

A number of representatives from&nbsp;particpating institutions attended the&nbsp;announcement including Tony Karman, president of EXPO; Jean de Loisy, president of Palais de Tokyo; Perri L. Irmer, president of the DuSable Museum; Fabrice Rozie, cultural attach&eacute; of the French Embassy, along with Mark Kelly, Commissioner for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in Chicago.

Kelly expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership noting that the confluence of the Roundhouse exhibition, EXPO Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the city&rsquo;s Year of Public Art would provide an opportunity for &quot;all of Chicago&quot; to engage in the celebration of art, architecture and design. The <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/1/the-city-of-chicago-designates-2017-the-year-of-public-art">2017 Public Art initiative</a> promises&nbsp;art installations in all of the Chicago&#39;s 50 wards, a move to assuage criticism that the city&#39;s funds are diverted largely to downtown areas to increase tourism.

<img alt="" data-caption="An interior view of the Roundhouse, which will be used to exhibit the work of 12 artists with ties to Chicago and France." data-rich-file-id="1890" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1890/original/interior-hlm.jpg" />

The partnership is also significant because it marks the beginning of Palais de Tokyo&rsquo;s Hors les Murs initiative, which presents off-site exhibitions around the world. Rozie emphasized that &ldquo;the choice of Chicago is not random,&rdquo; and that the French Embassy, along with Palais de Tokyo, is invested in engaging with cultural and educational partners across the South Side of Chicago.

Hors les Murs at the Roundhouse will be open to the public September 12-October 29, 2017.&nbsp;

The sixth edition of EXPO Chicago will now include an installation at the DuSable Museum's newly renovated Roundhouse. 

EXPO Chicago & Palais de Tokyo Announce New Partnership with DuSable Museum

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announced participants for its second edition, Make New History,&nbsp;scheduled to open September 16, 2017. The biennial, led by artistic directors Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee&nbsp;of Johnston Marklee,&nbsp;will feature the work of more than 100 architects, artists, designers&nbsp;and firms from around the world.

Local participants include <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2016/8/ania-jaworska-relocating-the-canon">Ania Jaworska</a> (featured in the fall 2016&nbsp;issue of&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News and represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/volume-gallery">Volume Gallery</a>),&nbsp;Daniel Everett,&nbsp;David Schalliol,&nbsp;Design With Company,&nbsp;I&ntilde;igo Manglano-Ovalle,&nbsp;Marshall Brown (recently exhibited at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/the-arts-club-of-chicago">Arts Club of Chicago</a> and <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/western-exhibitions">Western Exhibitions</a>),&nbsp;Norman Kelley (represented by <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/volume-gallery">Volume Gallery</a>),&nbsp;Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner,&nbsp;Robert Somol,&nbsp;Tigerman McCurry Architects and&nbsp;UrbanLab (designed Shane Campbell Gallery&#39;s South Loop space).&nbsp;

The full list of 2017 participants includes:

51N4E (Brussels, Belgium; Tirana, Albania)&nbsp; 
6A Architects (London, UK)&nbsp; 
&Aacute;balos+Sentkiewicz (Madrid, Spain;&nbsp; 
Cambridge, USA; Shanghai, China)&nbsp; 
Adamo-Faiden (Buenos Aires, Argentina)&nbsp; 
AGENdA agencia de arquitectura (Medellin,&nbsp;Colombia)&nbsp; 
Aires Mateus (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Ana Prvački and SO-IL (Los Angeles, USA;&nbsp;New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Andrew Kovacs (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Angela Deuber Architect (Chur,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Ania Jaworska (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Aranda\Lasch and Terrol Dew Johnson&nbsp;(New York, USA; Tucson, USA)&nbsp; 
Archi-Union (Shanghai, China)&nbsp; 
Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu (Ghent,&nbsp;Belgium)&nbsp; 
Arno Brandlhuber and Christopher Roth&nbsp;(Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Atelier Manferdini (Venice, USA)&nbsp; 
AWP office for territorial reconfiguration&nbsp;(Paris, France; London, UK)&nbsp; 
Bak Gordon Arquitectos (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Barbas Lopes (Lisbon, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Barkow Leibinger (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
baukuh (Milan, Italy)&nbsp; 
Besler &amp; Sons LLC (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
BLESS (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
BUREAU SPECTACULAR (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Caruso St John (London, UK)&nbsp; 
Charlap Hyman &amp; Herrero (Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA; New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Charles Waldheim (Cambridge, USA)&nbsp; 
Christ &amp; Gantenbein (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Daniel Everett (Chicago, USA; Salt Lake&nbsp;City, USA)&nbsp; 
David Schalliol (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Dellekamp Arquitectos (Mexico City,&nbsp;Mexico)&nbsp; 
Design With Company (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
Diego Arraigada Arquitectos (Rosario,&nbsp;Argentina)&nbsp; 
DOGMA (Brussels, Belgium)&nbsp; 
DRDH (London, UK)&nbsp; 
ENSAMBLE STUDIO (Madrid, Spain;&nbsp;Boston, USA)&nbsp; 
&Eacute;ric Lapierre Architecture (Paris, France)&nbsp; 
Estudio Barozzi Veiga (Barcelona, Spain)&nbsp; 
fala atelier (Porto, Portugal)&nbsp; 
Filip Dujardin (Ghent, Belgium)&nbsp; 
Fiona Connor and Erin Besler (Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA; Auckland, New Zealand)&nbsp; 
First Office (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
formlessfinder (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Frida Escobedo (Mexico City, Mexico)&nbsp; 
Gerard and Kelly (Los Angeles, USA; New&nbsp;York, USA)&nbsp; 
Go Hasegawa (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
HHF Architects (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
I&ntilde;igo Manglano-Ovalle (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
J. MAYER H. und Partner, Architekten and&nbsp;Philip Ursprung (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
James Welling (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Jes&uacute;s Vassallo (Houston, USA)&nbsp; 
Jorge Otero-Pailos (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
June14 Meyer-Grohbr&uuml;gge &amp; Chermayeff&nbsp;(New York, USA; Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Karamuk * Kuo Architects (New York, USA;&nbsp;Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Keith Krumwiede (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
K&eacute;r&eacute; Architecture (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Kuehn Malvezzi (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
Luisa Lambri (Milan, Italy)&nbsp; 
L&uuml;tjens Padmanabhan Architekten (Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Made In (Geneva, Switzerland; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
MAIO (Barcelona, Spain)&nbsp; 
Marianne Mueller (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Marshall Brown (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
MG&amp;Co. (Houston, USA)&nbsp; 
MONADNOCK (Rotterdam, The&nbsp;Netherlands)&nbsp; 
MOS (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Norman Kelley (Chicago, USA; New York,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Nuno brand&aring;o costa arquitectos Ida (Porto,&nbsp;Portugal)&nbsp; 
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen&nbsp;(Brussels, Belgium)&nbsp; 
PASCAL FLAMMER (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Patrick Braouezec (Paris, France)&nbsp; 
Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner (Chicago,&nbsp;USA; Denver, USA)&nbsp; 
Pezo Von Ellrichshausen (Concepci&oacute;n,&nbsp;Chile)&nbsp; 
Philipp Schaerer (Zurich, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
PRODUCTORA (Mexico City, Mexico)&nbsp; 
REAL Foundation (London, UK)&nbsp; 
Robert Somol (Chicago, USA)&nbsp; 
SADAR+VUGA (Ljubljana, Slovenia)&nbsp; 
Sam Jacob Studio (London, UK)&nbsp; 
SAMI-arquitectos (Setubal, Portugal)&nbsp; 
SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
Sauter von Moos (Basel, Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Sergison Bates (London, UK; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
Serie Architects (London, UK; Zurich,&nbsp;Switzerland)&nbsp; 
SHINGO MASUDA+KATSUHISA OTSUBO&nbsp;Architects (Tokyo, Japan)&nbsp; 
Stan Allen Architect (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
Studio Anne Holtrop (Muharraq, Bahrain;&nbsp;Amsterdam, The Netherlands)&nbsp; 
Studiomumbai (Mumbai, India)&nbsp; 
Sylvia Lavin (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
T+E+A+M (Ann Arbor, USA)&nbsp; 
Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (Mexico City,&nbsp;Mexico)&nbsp; 
Tham &amp; Videg&aring;rd Arkitekter (Stockholm,&nbsp;Sweden)&nbsp; 
The Empire (Verona, Italy)&nbsp; 
The Living (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
The Los Angeles Design Group (Los&nbsp;Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Thomas Baecker Bettina Kraus (Berlin,&nbsp;Germany)&nbsp; 
Tigerman McCurry Architects (Chicago,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Toshiko Mori Architect (New York, USA)&nbsp; 
UrbanLab (Chicago, USA; Los Angeles,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Urbanus (Shenzhen, China; Beijing, China)&nbsp; 
Veronika Kellndorfer (Berlin, Germany)&nbsp; 
WELCOMEPROJECTS (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
Work Architecture Company (New York,&nbsp;USA)&nbsp; 
Zago Architecture (Los Angeles, USA)&nbsp; 
ZAO/standardarchitecture (Shanghai,&nbsp;China)

For CGN&#39;s past coverage of the biennial visit:&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/1/second-chicago-architecture-biennial-to-coincide-with-sixth-expo-chicago">Second Chicago Architecture Biennial to Coincide with Sixth EXPO Chicago</a></li>
	<li><a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2015/9/the-inaugural-chicago-architecture-biennial">The Inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial</a></li>
</ul>

Top image:&nbsp;Johnston Marklee and Gramazio Kohler, Chicago Rooms Center,&nbsp;&copy; Chicago Architecture Biennial /&nbsp;Tom Harris, 2015

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announced participants for its 2017 edition.

Chicago Architecture Biennial Announces 2017 Participants

In this two-part series, CGN intern Jacqueline Lewis shares her insights into the new&nbsp;Merce Cunningham: Common Time&nbsp;exhibition and accompanying performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Lewis has been a dancer for most of her life; she took&nbsp;her first dance lesson at two years old,&nbsp;and she began training with the&nbsp;Lou Conte Dance Studio at the age of sixteen. The <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/news/2017/3/ballet-de-lorraine-performs-captivating-works-by-merce-cunningham">second part in the series</a>, which focuses on the Centre Chor&eacute;graphique National-Ballet de Lorraine&#39;s recent MCA Stage&nbsp;performance, will be published Friday, March 10, 2017.

By JACQUELINE LEWIS

On view now through April 30&nbsp;at the <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA)</a>&nbsp;and the Walker Art Center&nbsp;in Minneapolis are&nbsp;two simultaneous presentations of <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/merce-cunningham-common-time">Merce Cunningham: Common Time</a>.&nbsp;They are the largest surveys to date of Merce Cunningham and his multiple artistic collaborations.

Cunningham, who was a&nbsp;prolific choreographer, determined that &ldquo;music and dance and art could be separate entities independent and interdependent, sharing a common time.&rdquo;&nbsp;The MCA successfully demonstrates this idea in the exhibition, which displays these three aspects in a cohesive yet distinct manner.

In order to create these multidimensional works, Cunningham collaborated with artists spanning diverse artistic fields of expertise.&nbsp;Even though he was primarily a choreographer and dancer, Cunningham&nbsp;believed that all facets of performance were equally important.&nbsp;He did not prioritize dance over the set design or the music&nbsp;since&nbsp;they all worked together to create a cohesive work of art.&nbsp;In fact, Cunningham believed that dance did not have to be deliberately connected to music so he would often ask composers for music without showing them the choreography.

<img alt="" data-caption="Charles Atlas, &lt;i&gt;MC9&lt;/i&gt;, 2012. Installation view, Charles Atlas and Collaborators, BMW Tate Live, The Tanks, Tate Modern, 2013. Edition of 3, aside from 2 artist’s proofs. © Charles Atlas and Tate. Photo: Gabrielle Fonseca Johnson for Tate Photography." data-rich-file-id="1877" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1877/original/video-room.jpg" />

One of the first galleries in the exhibition at the MCA immerses the viewer in performance videos that continuously change on screens to a musical score that does not match any of the dances.&nbsp;The installation allows the viewer to experience the disjointed connection that Cunningham strived for in his music and dance compositions.

The videos are projected in a long, dark gallery solely dedicated to excerpts of choreography.&nbsp;The screens hang at different levels and angles,&nbsp;which envelopes the viewer&nbsp;in Cunningham&rsquo;s world of dance and allows&nbsp;them to experience the intricacies of his style from the inside. The movements are strong, sharp and full of classical technique with a new twist.

Cunningham famously used the element of chance in his choreography, and often consulted the Chinese book of chance, I Ching, when creating movement patterns for his dancers.&nbsp;Later in his career, Cunningham choreographed with the help of computer programs, which gave him the opportunity to test human physical limits.&nbsp;He would create a seemingly impossible movement with the software and then see how closely his dancers could mimic that technique.&nbsp;Cunningham dancers can attest to the physical and mental demands of these techniques due to their almost inhuman nature.

<img alt="" data-caption="Merce Cunningham at Black Mountain College, 1948. Photo: Hazel Larsen Archer, courtesy of the Estate of Hazel Larsen Archer and the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center." data-rich-file-id="1876" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1876/original/hazel-larsen-archer-cunningham-bmc-.jpg" />

Common Time also includes a room dedicated to Cunningham&rsquo;s notebooks, company fliers, costumes and photographs, most notably one that depicts him and Martha Graham.&nbsp;This room, along with a timeline on one of the walls, allows viewers to gain an appreciation of the man behind the synergistic works that light up the exhibition space.

Cunningham was born in Centralia, Washington in 1919, and studied dance in the small town throughout his youth.&nbsp;He applied to Seattle&rsquo;s Cornish School (now Cornish College for the Arts) as a drama major but changed it to dance after taking a life-changing course with former Martha Graham Dance Company member, Bonnie Bird.&nbsp;Around this time, he met composer and visiting lecturer John Cage, who would become immensely influential to Cunningham&rsquo;s artistic philosophy.&nbsp;

After college, Cunningham danced with the famed Martha Graham Dance Company until the summer of 1945 when he left to pursue his own work.&nbsp;He created The Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) in 1953 while at Black Mountain College.&nbsp;His company ran from then until 2011 after which it performed a legacy tour, which had been planned by Cunningham before his own death.&nbsp;This tour celebrated almost sixty years of work.

<img alt="" data-caption="Installation view, &lt;i&gt;Merce Cunningham: Common Time&lt;/i&gt;, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 – Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago." data-rich-file-id="1875" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1875/original/decor.jpg" />

Along with archival materials, the exhibition&nbsp;also features a set design&nbsp;installation consisting of movable chairs, bicycle frames, ropes, sails and can tins created by Robert Rauschenberg for Cunningham&rsquo;s performance, Summerspace (1958/77).&nbsp;&nbsp;The inclusion of the chair acknowledges Marcel Duchamp and his Bicycle Wheel readymade, thus connecting Cunningham&rsquo;s work directly to the visual arts.&nbsp;

In another gallery, Jasper Johns&rsquo; set design for Walkaround Time&nbsp;(1968/85)&nbsp;is on display.&nbsp;By 1968, Jasper Johns became the artistic director of the MCDC and considered himself a curator of ideas.&nbsp;He reached out to Marcel Duchamp and inquired about using some form of The Large Glass for stage d&eacute;cor.&nbsp; Also known as&nbsp;The Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even,&nbsp;the work&nbsp;is a glass sculpture fused with other materials such as wires and lead foil. The Large Glass is transparent, allowing the viewer to look through it, and Duchamp, who must have found the piece to hold a great deal of importance, worked on it&nbsp;for about eight years.&nbsp;Jasper Johns was permitted to recreate The Large Glass in a way that allowed dancers to move around sections of the work while others hung above the stage.&nbsp;The transparent quality of the pieces heightened audience perception and gave the illusion of the dancers living within the d&eacute;cor itself.

<img alt="" data-caption="Jasper Johns, Set for &lt;i&gt;Walkaround Time&lt;/i&gt;, 1968. Walker Art Center, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, 2000. © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY." data-rich-file-id="1878" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1878/original/johns-2000-404-1-14.jpg" />

Finally, in what will most likely be a visitor favorite, the exhibition presents a gallery&nbsp;dedicated to Andy Warhol&rsquo;s Silver Clouds, which were used as stage d&eacute;cor for Rainforest (1968). Adapted for the dance, the helium filled balloons floated around the dancers while some remained on the ground to be kicked.&nbsp;The set design became a living organism that could respond and mutate based on chance encounters with dancers.&nbsp;Now, museumgoers have the opportunity to interact with the &ldquo;clouds,&rdquo; too.

The cross-disciplinary programming of the MCA and the Walker provide an ideal platform to explore Cunningham&rsquo;s own multi-dimensional, collaborative approach.&nbsp; Common Time is an immersive experience incorporating audio, painting, video, sculpture, technology and fashion.&nbsp; Accompanying the exhibition are a number of performances including Music for Merce&nbsp;and Ballet de Lorraine: Works by Merce Cunningham and Others.&nbsp; More information on these events and the exhibition&nbsp;can be found <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/institutions/museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-mca">here.</a>

Top image:&nbsp;Installation view,&nbsp;Merce Cunningham: Common Time, MCA Chicago. Feb 11 &ndash; Apr 30, 2017. Photo: Nathan Keay, &copy; MCA Chicago.

The MCA's new exhibition 'Merce Cunningham: Common Time' surveys the collaborative performances of the prolific American choreographer.

A New Survey Highlights Merce Cunningham's Collaborative Career

By JULIANNA TANCREDI, Restoration Division

At <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/restoration-division">Restoration Division</a>, a fine art conservation studio in Chicago, murals are given a new lease on life regularly. Murals are unique in their physical and stylistic connection to a location, and this creates issues as older buildings with murals are renovated, demolished, or repurposed. The process can potentially be devastating for an artwork that is on a wall or ceiling, but it can also be seen as an opportunity to save, restore, and transfer a mural to a new environment. Older murals inherently have their own trail of thoughts and histories, and incorporating them into new spaces can create nuanced and complex interiors. The juxtaposition of the modern and antique is a trend that has gained recognition and popularity year over year, and fine art conservators are on the front line of this movement.

<img alt="" data-caption="Randolph Tower Mural, before removal and conservation" data-rich-file-id="1814" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1814/original/randolph-tower-mural-before-removal-and-conservation.jpg" />

A striking revitalization project undertaken by Restoration Division was the restoration of badly damaged murals located in what is now the Chicago Randolph Tower. The Gothic Revival skyscraper was built in 1929 for the Steuben Club, which promoted German-American heritage. The club included a ballroom decorated with neoclassical murals by Gustave Brand (1862-1944), a German-American artist, which celebrated the history and accomplishments of the German people. The building subsequently went through a period of extreme neglect and disrepair in the mid-20th century and eventually resurrected from 2011 to 2013.

<img alt="" data-caption="Restored Randolph Tower murals in their new location" data-rich-file-id="1851" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1851/original/restored-randloph-tower-murals-in-their-new-location.jpg" />

The ballroom with Brand&rsquo;s ceiling murals particularly suffered, as the space was divided into offices and bathrooms installed above. The murals were damaged to the point of tatters by time, water, and contractors&rsquo; carelessness. Rather than declare the paintings a loss, Restoration Division was asked by Paul Alessandro of Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture and Kenneth Barnes of Lexington Homes to transform them into framed, individual artworks. After months of conservation and restoration, the framed murals were installed in the newly redesigned Randolph Tower interiors. The historic murals and the contemporary interiors now successfully interweave with each other to create a new, vibrant architectural vocabulary.

Another mural Restoration Division recently breathed new life into is the first ever mural project by William de Leftwich Dodge (1867-1935), an American painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1893, Dodge was commissioned to paint the enormous dome of the Administration Building at the World&rsquo;s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The artist first made a large study in oil on canvas for the full scale mural, which was painted directly onto the structure&rsquo;s plaster ceiling. As with much of the White City, the Administration Building and its mural were demolished once the fair closed. Despite the destruction of his work, Dodge emerged as one of the most prominent muralists of the era as a result of the commission, &nbsp;

<img alt="" data-caption="Restoration Division conservator Olga Knopf removing William de Leftwich Dodge mural" data-rich-file-id="1852" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1852/original/restoration-division-conservator-olga-knopf-removing-william-de-leftwich-dodge-mural.jpg" />

Although the full scale mural is lost, the study survived and later placed on the ceiling of an 1893 suburban Chicago home. The home owners, Allan and Judy Koessel, are deeply knowledgeable and sensitive to art and history. They decided to have Restoration Division remove the mural from the ceiling, where it was barely visible, and restore it to its former glory.

Rather than reinstall the mural on the ceiling after restoration, the Koessels have decided to display the artwork vertically, in a custom-built frame. Like the Administration Building mural, the Koessels&rsquo; study is a depiction of The Glorification of the Arts and Sciences. A procession of figures representing Architecture, Agriculture, Art, and Science flamboyantly and colorfully parades the roundel. Through the re-imagination of its display, viewers can now see the mural&rsquo;s fascinating details and connect with the time of the Columbian Exposition. The Koessels&rsquo; plan to exhibit the framed mural in different locations, so audiences can view and learn about an important piece of Chicago history. The couple ultimately hopes to find a permanent location for the painting, where it can radiate its colorful style and masterful composition for many generations to come.

Significant murals are artworks worthy in their own right and they can offer more than just a glimpse into things past. They are intricate paintings that can argue and coexist with new environments, creating new visual vocabularies in contemporary interiors. Art can go out of style, but qualities of a good artwork are eternal. Restoration Division is pleased to have the duty of reintroducing murals into contemporary life.

Top image:&nbsp;William de Leftwich Dodge mural, before and after restoration&nbsp;

Find more information about Restoration Division <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/art-services/restoration-division">here</a>.

A restoration case study from Restoration Division in Chicago.

Restoration Case Study: Mural Revival

<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/galleries/kavi-gupta">Kavi Gupta</a> announced&nbsp;that Chicago-based&nbsp;gallery artist McArthur Binion will be featured in the 57th Venice Biennale, which opens in May.&nbsp;

Viva Arte Viva&nbsp;will be curated by Christine Macel.&nbsp;The 57th International Art Exhibition is open to the public May 13&ndash;November 26, 2017, at the&nbsp;Giardini and the&nbsp;Arsenale in Venice, Italy.&nbsp;

120 artists are part of this year&#39;s exhibition, down from 136 last year, and the curator has said that her emphasis will be on the artists and how they see and interpret society today, rather than a unifying themes. Binion is the only Chicago-based artist on this year&#39;s list.&nbsp;

Visit the exhibition&#39;s <a href="http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/news/06-02.html?back=true">website</a> for more information.

Top image:&nbsp;McArthur Binion,&nbsp;DNA: Seasons: XI,&nbsp;2016, Oil paint stick, paper on board, 72&rdquo; x 96&rdquo;. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta

McArthur Binion Included in 57th Venice Biennale 

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image image-style-side"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721418555/epwvl9ui1hakxcisyvsl.jpg"></figure>Hebru Brantley is one of Chicago's rising stars. Brantley’s pop-infused contemporary art is inspired by Japanese anime and the bold aesthetics of street art pioneers Jean-Michel Basquiat, KAWS and Keith Haring. His latest show, Hebru Brantley: Eat Crap King, explores the relationship between the two major contemporary art archetypes of Basquiat and Andy Warhol.&nbsp;His second solo show at Vertical Gallery opens February 4, showcasing a style of work he has not shown in some time. Brantley shared a few thoughts with&nbsp;CGN&nbsp;on his&nbsp;new show.CGN:&nbsp;Tell us a little about&nbsp;Hebru Brantley:&nbsp;Eat Crap King,&nbsp;your second solo show at Vertical Gallery.Hebru Brantley:&nbsp;Eat Crap King&nbsp;explores the relationship between two major contemporary art archetypes Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Placing these&nbsp;two artistic celebrities in the same two-dimensional frame fosters inquiries of power, race and the true nature of the celebrity relationship. The work considers the chasm between the two in their artistic careers. Warhol becomes a representative of the traditional institutionalized art world status, while Basquiat remained more rebellious and navigated the art world through non-conforming means previous to his death. Additionally,&nbsp;Eat Crap King&nbsp;exposes similarities between Brantley and Basquiat’s identities and modes of operation throughout the art world. Brantley’s non-traditional relationship between street art and the art world mirrors his muse.Eat Crap King&nbsp;subversively probes the art world’s lineage by using familiar, iconic Pop-Art imagery and contemporary art archetypes. The series inspects hierarchy and status, while also reflecting on my own&nbsp;identity and the merging of the traditional and non-conforming&nbsp;within my career.CGN: Give us&nbsp;some insight into the key image from the show, featuring a young, bare chested, African American man (Basquiat) in boxing gloves, next to a white haired, older man in a turtleneck (Warhol), also wearing boxing gloves. &nbsp;&nbsp;HB: It comes from the campaign that they did for their collaborative show back in the 80s, again with Basquiat representing the young, hungry, unestablished – and&nbsp;more primitive notion – of the art world, and Warhol representing the established traditionally accepted art world. The two worlds are always at odds, depending on who you're talking to.&nbsp;CGN:&nbsp;Your career has been moving at a breakneck pace the past 5 years or so. What does this show mean to you?&nbsp;HB: It's a chance to continue to show work as part of an&nbsp;exhibit and to&nbsp;get it out to the public. This show in particular is me switching gears a bit and going back to an older style that I haven't exhibited in quite some time.&nbsp;CGN: Where do you usually view Chicago in relation to your work? Do you try to share a certain personal story about your city with viewers?&nbsp;HB: I am from Chicago so there is naturally a bit of my personal life in it. It's where the work is created and where I'm from.&nbsp;CGN: In addition to your art work, you also have built the Hebru Brand - what are the latest developments on that front?We're working on different projects, expanding the merchandising arm and working more in the digital space. Just trying to grow it organically.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hebru Brantley: Eat Crap King is on view at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar/hebru-brantley-eat-crap-king">Vertical Gallery</a>,&nbsp;1016 N. Western Ave.,&nbsp;from February 4-25, 2017.An opening reception with the artist takes place Saturday, February 4, 6-10pm.</body></html>

Hebru Brantley's second solo show at Vertical Gallery is on view February 4-25, 2017.

Rising Star Hebru Brantley is Back in the Gallery

Our first edition of the new Chicago Gallery News 2017 Arts Guide is here!&nbsp;

Pick up a copy of our 160-page book in area galleries, museums, the Chicago Cultural Center, area hotels and more locations.

You may also <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/subscribe">subscribe</a> and receive our summer and fall magazines as well.&nbsp;

We offer new and expanded listings, vibrant images, detailed exhibition information, seasonal <a href="http://www.chicagogallerynews.com/calendar?tag=opening-receptions">openings</a>, 2017 art news, and much more. &nbsp;

You may also browse our digital edition <a href="http://issuu.com/chigallerynews/docs/cgn2017annualforissuu?e=3171751/43814696">here</a>.

Tell us what you think, let us know if you&#39;d like to obtain copies, and we look foward to connecting with you and sharing the art world in new ways this year.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Thank you especially to artist Carlos Rol&oacute;n/Dzine for his vibrant&nbsp;cover artwork:&nbsp;Flooded with Ecstasy,&nbsp;Resin and Acrylic on wood panel,&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist, Salon 94, New York, and David Castillo Gallery, Miami&nbsp;

New Annual CGN Arts Guide Is Here

2017 marks the second celebration of the Chicago Architecture Biennial. In partnership with City of Chicago, EXPO Chicago and others, the biennial will explore the theme MAKE NEW HISTORY by presenting diverse work from local, national and international architects. The Chicago cityscape will serve as the backdrop for the development of new architectural projects, proposals, and experiments that consider role of architectural traditions within progress and innovation.

More than half a million Chicago residents and tourists attended the 2015 Biennial. The focus this year will again be on engagement with the public by using the Chicago Cultural Center as the main hub. The Cultural Center, along with Hyde Park Art Center, The Beverly Art Center and others, will host a full schedule of exhibitions, events, and public programming.

Architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee will serve as artistic directors. Their firm, Johnston Marklee, has completed projects in North and South American, Europe and Asia and is currently working on a renovation of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which is scheduled to be complete in the summer of 2017.

The Biennial will take place from September 16-January 7, 2018, and the opening with align with the sixth annual EXPO Chicago, which will run September 13-17 at Navy Pier.

For more information visit <a href="http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org">chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org</a>

Image: Pedro &amp; Juana, &copy; Chicago Architecture Biennial / Steve Hall, 2015

The second celebration of the Chicago Architectural Biennial is scheduled for fall 2017 and will explore the theme Make New History.

Second Chicago Architecture Biennial to Coincide with Sixth EXPO Chicago

One of Chicago&rsquo;s leading arts institutions has hit middle-age: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. Grounded in a mission devoted to the curation of contemporary art and to performance through experimentation and collaboration, today the MCA claims an expansive, diverse collection of contemporary works as well as a range of socially-conscious programs, artist initiatives and community outreach. Many influential international artists can trace their start back to exhibitions nurtured here &ndash; the MCA hosted Jeff Koons&rsquo;s first solo museum show.

The MCA first opened at 237 E Ontario (the former Playboy headquarters) as a Kunsthalle&mdash;non-collecting art hall&mdash;in 1967. Over the past half century the MCA became the first building wrapped by Christo in the United States (1969), established a permanent collection, commissioned a building to house that collection (the present space opened in 1996 at 220 E Chicago), presented a landmark survey of Chicago artists and artistic traditions &ndash; Art in Chicago, 1945&ndash;1995 &ndash; began a noted public plaza series, and much more.

A 50th birthday is an honor. Anniversary celebrations will continue throughout the year, including a major, three-part exhibition on view from the end of October through January 28, 2018, titled, I Am You, You Are Here, We Are Everywhere.

An October 21 opening for the exhibition is a public event, and all are encouraged to attend. Afterall, a party is always more fun with friends.

Up-to-date event and exhibition information can be found at <a href="http://mcachicago.org">mcachicago.org</a>

Image: MCA Chicago front steps. Photo: Nathan Keay, &copy; MCA Chicago.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago celebrates its 50th year with special events and major exhibitions.

A Museum of the New Turns 50: The MCA’s Big Birthday

50 years ago on August 15, 1967, Pablo Picasso&rsquo;s 50-foot tall, abstract steel sculpture was donated to the city and unveiled in Daley Plaza. Chicago&rsquo;s long and rich tradition of making public art an accessible, often times literally monumental, part of our every day lives, has only continued to expand and evolve.

Today, thousands of tourists visit Anish Kapoor&rsquo;s Cloud Gate (known more casually as &ldquo;The Bean&rdquo;) and just as many local children splash in the spray of Jaume Plensa&rsquo;s interactive, face changing Crown Fountain each summer. It is art that gives Chicago much of its creative character and international appeal. In recognition of this legacy, The City of Chicago has announced a Public Art initiative and schedule for the entire year; the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events has coined 2017 as the Year of Public Art, with a slate of planned public exhibitions, and pledged a $1.5 million investment designated to support permanent public art installations throughout the city&rsquo;s 50 wards.

<img alt="" data-caption="View of Anish Kapoor’s &lt;i&gt;Cloud Gate&lt;/i&gt;, Millennium Park, Chicago. Photo: Laura Mettam" data-rich-file-id="1757" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1757/original/chicagopublicart-keyimage.jpg" />

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, expressing a personal interest in public art projects notes, &ldquo;There is no question that art is vital to a neighborhood&rsquo;s spirit and the quality of life for residents.&rdquo;

The program is designed to share art with residents in every single neighborhood, not just the downtown tourist centers. Events will showcase several neighborhoods and their unique creativity. Venues include DuSable Museum of African American History, South Side Community Art Center, Daley Plaza, National Museum of Mexican Art, and more. A significant cornerstone for the Year of Public Art will be the Public Art Festival premiering in the fall and offering free activities for people of all ages.&nbsp;

More information at <a href="http://cityofchicago.org">cityofchicago.org</a>

Top image:&nbsp;Picasso&rsquo;s untitled sculpture caused a stir when it was first revealed. Today public opinion is primarily supportive, though it is a piece that still continues to inspire discussion and opinions. Photo: &copy; Jeremy Atherton, 2006.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago designates 2017 as the Year of Public Art.

The City of Chicago Designates 2017 The Year of Public Art

In celebration of Henry Darger&rsquo;s 125th birthday, Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art presents five exhibitions in 2017. Darger, who was born in Chicago and lived in a one-room apartment in Lincoln Park for most of his life, was a prolific self-taught artist and author. By day Darger lived as a hospital janitor and dishwasher, but at home in his apartment-turned-studio he was secretly writing thousand-page novels and illustrating hundreds of drawings.

Intuit is home to The Henry Darger Room Collection, which offers a rare window into the life of this reclusive artist. This year, visitors will also have the opportunity to view a number of exhibitions, which explore Darger&rsquo;s own writing and work, along with work by other artists who immerse themselves in complex, otherworldly places.

Darger&rsquo;s 15,000 page unpublished novel, The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What Is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, now referred to as Realms of the Unreal, was discovered in 1972 by Darger&rsquo;s landlord, Nathan Lerner, who was cleaning out his former tenant&rsquo;s room. Along with the novel, more than 350 watercolors, pencil drawings and collages were found.

<img alt="" data-caption="Henry Darger (American, 1892-1973). &lt;i&gt;COLONEL JACK F EVANS&lt;/i&gt;, mid-twentieth century. Watercolor, pencil, ink and collage on board, 13 ¾ x 11 ½ in. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, museum purchase, 2002.22.5. © Artists Rights Society ( ARS), NY, Photo credit: Gavin Ashworth, ©American Folk Art Museum / Art Resource, NY" data-rich-file-id="1758" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1758/original/darger-1-20-1-.jpg" />

The suite of exhibitions, organized by Intuit in partnership with the American Folk Art Museum in New York, juxtaposes Darger&rsquo;s writing alongside his visual art, while contextualizing the artist in the historical tradition of the epic novel.

For information on Henry Darger and a full schedule of exhibitions visit <a href="http://art.org">art.org</a>

Top image:&nbsp;Henry Darger (American, 1892-1973). GIGANTIC ROVERINE WITH YOUNG ALL POISONOUS ALL ISLANDS OF UNIVERSAN SEAS AND OCEANS. ALSO IN CALVERINA ANGELINIA AND ABBIEANNIA, mid-twentieth century. Watercolor, pencil, and carbon tracing on pierced paper, 14 x 33 &frac34; in. Collection American Folk Art Museum, New York, anonymous gift, 2001.16.4. &copy; Artists Rights Society ( ARS), NY, Photo credit: James Prinz, &copy;American Folk Art Museum / Art Resource, NY

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art celebrates the 125th birthday of Chicago artist Henry Darger through a series of exhibitions.

A Year of Exhibitions to Mark Outsider Henry Darger’s 125th Birthday

Breaking away from the&nbsp;narrative&nbsp;of representing&nbsp;AIDS&nbsp;through&nbsp;pain and suffering,&nbsp;ART AIDS AMERICA&nbsp;celebrates&nbsp;strength and beauty in the face of&nbsp;a devastating disease. The exhibition&nbsp;is now on view through April 2 at&nbsp;Alphawood Gallery on North Halsted.

The expansive installation showcases&nbsp;170 works from over 100 American artists, ranging from the 1980s to the present day. The exhibition has traveled to a number of cities, including Tacoma, Washington and Bronx, New York. For the Chicago iteration, a number of artists with ties to the ciy including&nbsp;Gregg Bordowitz, Roger Brown, Doug Ischar, Patric McCoy, Michael Qualls, Oli Rodriguez, Daniel Sotomayor and Israel Wright, are featured.

Art AIDS America has a full schedule of programming available to the public in hopes of creating space for a citywide dialogue regarding the cultural impact of HIV/AIDS over the recent decades. In partnership with StoryCorps, the organization invites visitors to share and preserve their personal accounts of the AIDS crisis.

<img alt="" data-caption="LADZ (John Arsenault and Adrian Gilliland), &lt;i&gt;Eden #31&lt;/i&gt;, 2012. Chromogenic color print, 32&quot; × 52½&quot;, Courtesy of the artists." data-rich-file-id="1756" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1756/original/8-inch-350-dpi-ladz-eden-number-31-2012-arsenault-and-gilliland-2-20.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Roger Brown, &lt;i&gt;Peach Light&lt;/i&gt;, 1983, Copyright: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Brown family. Courtesy of Kavi Gupta. Photo: James Connolly" data-rich-file-id="1755" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1755/original/roger-brown-peach-light-1983-copyright-the-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago-and-the-brown-family-courtesy-of-kavi-gupta-photo-james-connolly.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Tino Rodriguez, &lt;i&gt;Eternal Lovers&lt;/i&gt;, 2010. Oil on wood, 18&quot; × 24&quot;. Private collection. Photo courtesy of the artist." data-rich-file-id="1754" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1754/original/400-dpi-7-inch-rodriguez-img-8504.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="Patric McCoy, &lt;i&gt;Only 18 Pawns&lt;/i&gt;, 1983" data-rich-file-id="1753" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1753/original/patric-mccoy-35mm-17a-rtp-33x50-medres.jpg" />

<img alt="" data-caption="ACT UP NY/Gran Fury (active New York, New York, 1987–1995), &lt;i&gt;Let the Record Show…&lt;/i&gt;,1987/recreated 2015. Mixed media installation, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Gran Fury and the New Museum, New York. Photo courtesy of the artists." data-rich-file-id="1752" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1752/original/400-20dpi-20gran-20fury-gran-20fury-2026.jpg" />

Admission is free and open to the public. 
 
Events: 
<a href="http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/events/">http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/events/</a> 
 
Artists: 
<a href="http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/exhibition/artists/">http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/exhibition/artists/</a> 
 
Hours: 
<a href="http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/visit/">http://www.artaidsamericachicago.org/visit/</a>

Top image: Thomas Haukaas,&nbsp;More Time Expected, 2002. Handmade ink and pencil on antique ledger paper, 16&frac12; &times; 27&frac12; inches. Tacoma Art Museum, Gift of Greg Kucera and Larry Yocom in honor of Rock Hushka, 2008.10. Photo &copy; TAM, by Richard Nicol.

ART AIDS AMERICA  is now on view through April 2 at the Alphawood Gallery on North Halsted.

Exhibition at Alphawood Gallery Constructs New Narrative about AIDS

In early 2017&nbsp;CGN&nbsp;will launch a new chapter, with our first edition of&nbsp;The CGN Arts Guide. This comprehensive listings publication will cover the visual arts in Chicago, the suburbs, as well as in neighboring Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and beyond.&nbsp;

<img alt="" data-rich-file-id="1724" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1724/original/cag-coverdraft.jpg" />

Look for the new 5&quot; x 8&quot;&nbsp;orange guide &ndash;&nbsp;with&nbsp;cover art featuring work&nbsp;by <a href="http://www.carlosrolondzine.com">Carlos Rol&oacute;n/Dzine</a>&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;in galleries, museums, hotels and more&nbsp;in the coming weeks.&nbsp;

The CGN Arts Guide will feature expanded gallery listings, lists of all art spaces in the city,&nbsp;more images,&nbsp;key event and opening dates for 2017,&nbsp;&nbsp;museums, auction houses, art fairs, private dealer listings, collector resources,&nbsp;and more.&nbsp;

Building on our 34+ year history, we are excited to change things&nbsp;while continuing to be a top resource for the arts in the Midwest.&nbsp;

This summer and fall we will roll out expanded issues of&nbsp;Chicago Gallery News, featuring more news and interviews than ever.

The guide will be released around February 1, 2017.

Happy new year!

&nbsp;

Cover image for CGN Arts Guide:&nbsp;Carlos Rol&oacute;n/Dzine,&nbsp;Flooded with Ecstasy,&nbsp;Resin and Acrylic on wood panel,&nbsp;Courtesy of the artist, Salon 94, New York, and David Castillo Gallery, Miami&nbsp;

Information on the new CGN Arts Guide in 2017

New CGN Arts Guide in 2017

Charlie Belloc&nbsp;Lowndes, an art dealer and&nbsp;longtime friend to many in the River North Gallery District, passed away unexpectedly on December 20 several days after suffering injuries from&nbsp;a hard fall. Charlie was also married for many years to another friend of the art world, Portia Belloc&nbsp;Lowndes.&nbsp;&nbsp;A service is planned for&nbsp;January 3rd at noon in River North at Immaculate Conception. Charlie's full obituary is <a href="http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&amp;pid=183243926">here</a>.&nbsp;Detailed information about Charlie's condition from Portia Belloc-Lowndes is available through&nbsp;Caringbridge.com&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1725/original/screen-20shot-202016-12-26-20at-203-37-05-20pm.png" alt=""></figure>&nbsp;Some thoughts from friend and fellow dealer Dan Addington are reprinted below:On Friday Dec. 9, Chicago art dealer and friend&nbsp;Charlie Belloc-Lowndes took a hard fall, striking his head. He passed away a few days ago, on Dec 20th.Charlie and I started working in galleries in River North across the street from each other the same year, 1995. He had moved from England, and was already a seasoned art dealer. He opened Belloc Lowndes Fine Art, located on Superior Street, and it was a fantastic space. Charlie had a great eye, and an encyclopedic knowledge of British modern and contemporary art. His exhibitions were impeccable, and his clients loved him. Charlie supported the Chicago art scene, and when he discovered I was opening my own space on Wells St., he was very encouraging, frequently offering advice and always making me laugh. In the last few years, having gone private, he came by the gallery more frequently, and I really enjoyed his visits as he recounted great gallery stories, each more entertaining than the last.Charlie was a real cheerleader for the River North Gallery District, and he holds an important place in the history of Chicago's art world. More importantly, he was a devoted and loving father of two girls who survive him, along with his loving and devoted ex-wife Portia. We wish them strength and comfort during this time. Charlie, thanks for all the positive and artful things you contributed to Chicago and our lives.&nbsp;SaveSaveSaveSave

Former art dealer Charlie Belloc Lowndes died Dec 20, 2016

Former River North Art Dealer Charlie Belloc-Lowndes Dies

The Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) exhibits and promotes works by national and international artists, focusing many of its efforts on providing exposure and support to up-and-coming talent. One way the museum is able to tap the energy of fresh and innovative artwork being made in the region is through the Midwest Photographers Project, or MPP for short. MPP is a rotating collection of portfolios on loan from artists for a three-year period. “Oftentimes we see artists making exciting new bodies of work that are still in progress or have recently been completed,” says MoCP’s Executive Director Natasha Egan. “We may not be ready or able to acquire the artwork for the museum’s collection or to display it in an exhibition. In those cases, we include artists in MPP, where their works are accessible to students and researchers looking to learn about what’s new in the field.” The collection is made accessible to the public by appointment in the museum’s Print Study Room and via the museum’s <a href="http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/">website</a>.&nbsp;Egan recommends checking out portfolios by Zora J. Murff and Clarissa Bonet. Both artists make photographs about particular aspects of life in their hometowns.Zora J. Murff (American, b. 1987; resides in Cedar Rapids, IA)<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1717/original/mocp1.jpg" alt=""></figure>With a background in psychology and social services, Zora J. Murff began a position at Iowa’s Linn County Juvenile Detention and Diversion Services in 2012. Working with minors on probation as a “Tracker,” he was responsible for keeping tabs of their whereabouts (either digitally or in person), and assisting in their rehabilitation. According to the artist, “Tracking and other similar community-based services are being increasingly used as an alternative to detention facilities. These services, which allow juveniles to stay in their homes, show a higher rate of success than strict incarceration.”[1] Reflecting on the relationships the artist forms with the juveniles he serves— which range from stable to contentious—Murff began his ongoing series Corrections in 2013. His images portray not only young people and the ephemera related to their probation, but also offer a glimpse into the systems that are used to contain the individuals. &nbsp;Obscuring his subjects’ faces, Murff’s images focus on themes broader than personal identity –including control, privacy, and personal development—and the ways these issues are embedded in the juvenile corrections system.Corrections will be on view in an upcoming solo exhibition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The project has also been shown at Filter Space, Chicago, IL; ARCADE Museum, St. Louis, MO; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, among other galleries and institutions.<figure class="image"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/chigal/rich/rich_files/rich_files/1718/original/mocp2.jpg" alt=""></figure>The street scenes in Clarissa Bonet’s ongoing project City Space&nbsp;(2011-2016) are re-staged from events she witnesses as a pedestrian living in Chicago. Though the city is densely populated, Bonet seeks to express her sense of isolation within the continuous crowd of strangers. Her images represent fleeting encounters with anonymous individuals, which unfold against the stark contrast of light and shadow shaped by the city’s looming architecture. These are reinterpretations of chance encounters and observations, yet Bonet’s images offer a glimpse into the unique psychological experience of living within an interminable urban landscape.Bonet is represented in Chicago by Catherine Edelman Gallery, where her solo exhibition City Space + Stray Light recently closed. She has exhibited widely at venues including Workspace Gallery, Lincoln, NE; the Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA; and the Aperture Foundation, New York, NY&nbsp;MoCP is located at 600 S. Michigan, Chicago, IL 60605. Hours: Monday-Saturday, 10-5, Thursday till 8, Sunday, 12-5. Admission is always free, $5 suggested donation.&nbsp;

Museum of Contemporary Photography's Midwest Photographer's Project 