What We're Reading: 10/27/23
City unveils 'Kin Link,' a vision of family and immigration along the Chicago River
With performances by South Asian dancers and musicians, the City of Chicago heralded the unveiling of Kin Link, a series of five banners from artist Leonard Suryajaya, who said the installation was centered around the idea home.
Via WBBM
On The West Side, Dragonfly Gallery Relaunches Affordable Art Workshops After Pandemic Hiatus
A West Side art studio had to close just a week after it opened because of the pandemic — but its classes are finally back after being on pause for years.
Dragonfly Gallery and Creative Spaces, 2436 W. Madison St., will begin hosting art classes again Monday after a two-year break. Registration is online.
The art studio offers two- to three-hour-long classes in media like macrame, fused glass, ceramics, bookbinding, paper making and weaving. Ivonne Cruz, founder and executive director, priced classes at $40 each — cheaper than many art workshops in the city because she wants the classes to be accessible, she said.
Via Block Club
Artforum reportedly fires editor David Velasco over Israel-Hamas open letter
The editor-in-chief of the prestigious contemporary art magazine Artforum, David Velasco, has been fired over an open letter on the Israel-Hamas war, according to the New York Times.
The letter, published on 19 October, calls for an immediate ceasefire to the Israeli bombing of Gaza. It criticises the "institutional silence" around the current humanitarian crisis in Palestine and advocates for Palestinian liberation. The authors of the letter are unknown.
The letter published on Artforum drew criticism, including from a number of influential figures in the art world, for initially omitting to mention Hamas's 7 October massacre that killed more than 1,400 people.
Via The Art Newspaper