Artist Talk: Mierle Laderman Ukeles

Artist Talk: Mierle Laderman Ukeles

The Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Visiting Artists Program presents Mierle Laderman Ukeles.

Since 1977, Mierle Laderman Ukeles (HON 2019) has been the official, unsalaried artist-in-residence of the City of New York Department of Sanitation. Her artwork—blurring boundaries between labor and performance, system and spirit—unveils connections between feminism, work and workers, the city, and the environment. Ukeles believes art creates freedom and asks whether we can design modes of survival—for a thriving planet, not an entropic one—that do not crush our personal and civic freedoms and silence the individual’s voice.

This lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Re:Working Labor at SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries from September 21–November 27, curated by Daniel Eisenberg and Ellen Rothenberg, faculty research fellows at SAIC’s Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice.

This lecture event is free, non-ticketed and open to the public. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. For more information, visit saic.edu/vap

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations for this lecture event should visit saic.edu/access

Image: Image: Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Ceremonial Arch IV, 1988-2016, 5000 gloves, steel cages, steel rods, six columns with agency-emblematic materials. Installation view at Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Maintenance Art exhibition, Queen's Museum, September 18, 2016 - February 19, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York