Tonight! The School of the Art Institute of Chicago celebrates a weekend of exhibitions, festivals, symposiums, and creative gathering with graduating students from both the Undergraduate and Masters programs. The weekend will kick off at 7pm this evening, with the opening of the annual Graduate Exhibition located in Sullivan Galleries, showcasing the work of more than 130 grad students completing their degrees in the Master of Fine Arts program. Guest curators include Steven Bridges, grupa o.k. (Julian Myers and Joanna Szupinska), Tumelo Mosaka, and Pablo Helguera. I'll be performing in congruence with MFA in Art and Technology student Dao Nguyen! This event is one you won't want to miss.

Jeffrey Daniels
MFA in Art and Technology

Saturday follows up going just as hard with Impact Performance Festival which presents the work of the second year graduate students who are also finishing up this spring. This work exemplifies examples of theater, movement, and visual arts that merge together and collectively unite to display outstanding and profound visions of performance art. Impact will also take place on Sunday evening for those of you who cannot make it the first night.

Also running the majority of the day from 9am until 4:30pm students in the Bachelor of Arts in Visual Critical Studies and Bachelor of Fine Arts with Liberal Arts Thesis programs, are participating in a symposium where students in their respective departments speak about their thesis work, with the objective of exploring socia land cultural meaning in visual experiences.


MFA Show 
April 27th 7pm
Sullivan Galleries
36 S. Wabash Ave

BAVCS + BFA with Liberal Arts Thesis Symposium
April 28th 9-4pm
Art Institute of Chicago- Nichols Trustees Suite
159 E. Monroe St

Impact Performance Festival
April 28th & 29th 7-8pm
Peformance Space
280 S. Columbus Dr.

http://www.saic.edu/

Back again to be exhibited for the first time in over 30 years, the Art Institute of Chicago presents Harlem, U.S.A., a full collection of 25 photographs captured by African American renowned photographer, Dawoud Bey. Harlem, U.S.A. originally premiered at the Studio Museum in Harlem, marking Bey’s very first solo exhibition in 1979. The images function as documentation of Bey’s experience in Harlem and its surrounding neighborhood during his residency at the museum. Now, decades later these photos reappear, fresh— strikingly different from his much later work. The show opens May 2 and lasts through September 9.

In addition to Harlem, U.S.A., one week later the Renaissance Society will be exhibiting Picturing People, an expansive career survey of Dawoud Bey’s work at the University of Chicago campus, Cobb Hall, in Hyde Park. Expanding from street photography to formal studio portraiture, Bey is recognized for his outstanding commitment to portraiture as a means for investigating community and contemporary society. The show will also include, Strangers/Community, a series which brings together a double portrait people from one community who were previously unknown to each other. He quotes, 

"My work as an artist has been about giving ordinary people an enhanced presence in the world through my photographs. I see my work as a way to bring the human community into a conversation with itself. Hopefully through my photographs viewers come to know not only something about the people that I photograph, but something about themselves as well. My career survey at the Renaissance Society is an opportunity to sum up what I have been doing and thinking about for the past 36 years. It is an opportunity to see all of these photographs and ideas in relation to each other,"

Dawoud Bey born 1953 and raised in Queens, NY is a Distinguished College Artist and professor at Columbia College Chicago since 1998. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Fogg Art Museum, and Chicago's very own, Art Institute.

Harlem, U.S.A.
The Art Institute of Chicago
May 2 - September 9, 2012
http://www.artic.edu

Picturing People
5811 S. Ellis Ave
May 13 - June 24, 2012
www.renaissancesociety.org

One of the great advantages to living in our culturally rich city is the number of colleges and universities we have here. These institutions offer an abundance of resources to those who attend, as well as to those who do not (most of us). A significant portion of Chicago’s creative vibrancy is due to its academic communities.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s terrific lecture series is one that any member of the public can take advantage of - for free!

Stay up to date on who will be speaking by visiting here 

Expect to see more than just the name of respected artists on the line up – SAIC’s visiting artist program brings scholars, professors, professionals, designers, and artists together on a regular basis. Some recent guest speakers have included director of the Star Wars films, George Lucas, Berry Mcgee, Richard Tuttle, Wangechi Mutu, Terry Eagleton - one of the world's leading literary critics, and Homi K. Bhabha, director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University.

Wednesday November 2 at 6pm SAIC will welcome Professor Jenni Sorkin, professor of Critical Theory, Media, and Design at the University of Houston, as part of their Distinguished Scholars lecture series. Sorkin’s lecture is titled Ancient Modernisms. She has written several catalog essays on feminist art and material culture topics, which have appeared in sources such as Art Journal, Art Monthly, Freize, and Third Text. She has lectured at a number of institutions including CalArts, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; Textile Museum of Canada and School of Visual Arts, New York.

Sorkin’s lecture is sure to bring good discussion in the follow-up Q&A.

2 weeks later on November 16 SAIC is hosting two events for filmmaker Amar Kanwar.

You can also catch his lecture at 6pm on 11/16. On 11/17 there will be a screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center at 164 N State Street.

         Q&A at the Gene Siskel Film Center

 Amar Kanwar’s “films explore the politics of power, violence, sexuality, and justice.

His multi-layered installations originate in narratives often drawn from zones of conflict and are characterized by a distinctly poetic approach to the social and political. In retracing history through images, ritual objects, literature, poetry, and song, Kanwar creates lyrical, meditative film essays that do not aim to represent trauma or political situations as much as to find ways through them. Kanwar's work looks deeply into the causes and effects and how they are translated into everyday life and cultural forms (saic.edu/art_design/vap/).”

Remember that at chicagogallerynews.com we have a calendar page where we post events including other institutional events such as the Block museum, Smart museum, Columbia College, University Chicago, SAIC, and more.

All lectures are FREE and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and lectures begin promptly at 6:00 p.m. All seating is first come, first served. Reservations may be accepted for groups of 10 or more made at least two weeks prior to the event.

Sign up here to join the mailing list to receive info on more SAIC public events! 

There was an article in the Arts section of the New York Times on Thursday, October 13 that really made me cringe, and a lively discussion on Twitter soon followed.  In a nutshell, the article talks about LA's recent emergence as a major international art center, and of course they discuss the city's art scene in comparison to New York today, as well as what has made New York's art world so dynamic over the decades. For me, the piece brought up all sorts of feelings and observations about Chicago.

The article starts by discussing a new arts festival, Pacific Standard Time, and referencing the sprawling territory throughout southern California for galleries, museums, and art centers.  The festival is touted as, "a statement of self-affirmation by a region that, at times, appears to feel underappreciated as a serious culture center."  

There were a lot of lines that sounded very familiar to me - if I read the article with all references to California blacked out, I might be able to read this piece as a summation of our own varied, lively arts scene in Chicago.  I give LA credit - they've got some blockbusters going on right now that are drawing crowds (Tim Burton; the graffiti show.) And it's so sunny most of the year that "Curators talk about the difficulty of encouraging people to walk indoors for anything but a movie in a city that has glorious weather so many months of the year."  They have some really solid artists producing work that is of the moment now - who hasn't been obsessed with Ed Ruscha during the past 10 years? 

"Indeed, Los Angeles these days has more than its share of ambitious museums, adventurous art galleries, wealthy collectors, top-notch art schools and — perhaps most important — young artists drawn here by relatively cheap rents, abundant light and an atmosphere that encourages experimentation."

As I was reading the article I thought, there's something missing - they haven't acknowledged that there IS another major city in the US that has all of these things, except of course the abundant sunshine and mild weather.  Actually, there are a lot of smaller cities and communities that have notable art scenes, but they don't get covered because they're in fly-over territory.  Chicago has really solid artists, though less of the Hollywood vibe (fine by me) and we've always been less flash-in-the-pan. But we have great art schools and young artists. We have cheap rents. Hello, the alternative space/apartment gallery scene here is unlike anywhere else, as shown in Hyde Park Art Center's exhibition, Artists Run Chicago in 2009. We have art fairs devoted to it! We have ambitious museums - Art Institute and MCA, yes, but also Smart, Renaissance, and Block.  Adventurous galleries (5 Chicago galleries are in the ADAA, and LA has 6, though two are related and basically have the same name.)  We have wealthy collectors, though they also suffer from the instinct to sometimes buy in New York more often than they should, to the detriment of our local artists. 

The article goes on: “There is now enough critical mass of galleries, of places where artists meet, blogs, magazines..." Again, we have a long list.  

What made me throw down my paper in frustration on an otherwise quiet Thursday evening was when I got to the concluding, and damning, quote from none other than former Art Institute president Jim Cuno, who recently turned up in LA to become president of the J. Paul Getty Trust after a very sudden departure from AIC.  I guess he left Chicago for LA for more than the weather: "Mr. Cuno said his perception was that people in Los Angeles did not really spend a lot of time worrying about what other people thought of them. “I don’t feel or hear any ‘second city’ mentality here,” said Mr. Cuno, who came from Chicago, where that kind of talk is common. “People in Los Angeles are pretty happy with their position in the world and needn’t get the confirmation from elsewhere.”

So, if I lived in LA I'd be confident enough to just shrug my shoulders and move on.  Since I'm from Chicago, I must be foolishly obsessed with what other people think.  What's wrong with caring?  Chicagoans get doses of 'second city mentality' with their breakfast. We're used to it,  even if we can't overcome it. It's an old debate, and it's not going to go anywhere soon, but I think the reference was kind of a cheap shot.  Conversely, Cuno's comment also makes everyone in LA sound kind of dippy and just inherently happy, which I'm sure isn't giving them enough credit for their own hard work. 

There are a lot of opinions out there about Mr. Cuno and his biggest Chciago project, the Modern Wing, which I happen to really enjoy and love.  I have always thought that someone who could have led that project, which ultimately did garner a great deal of favorable press for Chicago in 2009, would go on to have warm feelings about our city.  That would be 'reverse second city menality, as it made me actually think people liked us.  I'm sure there is more to Mr. Cuno's sentiments than what comes through in the article (I hope so) and if that's the case, it's a poor job by NYT for unnecessarily pitting one city against another without a fair fight. 

Back to the Art Institute: I think that the new head of the museum is absolutley off to the right start to start looking at life after the Modern Wing. New president Douglas Druick has been a curator at AIC for decades, so he's part of the family, and he seems to be committed to keeping the museum on strong financial footing so that it can be an anchor for the city and to making sure that the curatorial schedule doesn't get too bloated.  I hope that there are many opportunities ahead to see the museum as a cultural space that belongs to all Chicagoans and visitors. AIC can serve as a mirror to hold up to our own evolving art history, not just the world's; for instance, I'd love to get back to the time when AIC actually had exhibitions focused on Chicago artists and work being made in the city now - with a wing devoted to contemporary art NOW is the time... Such engaging programs could do our pride some good and just might even make Chicago seem almost as bright and sunny as LA.  In our city at least people have no problem going indoors for at least 6 months of the year.

Mr. Cuno's comments stung my civic pride.  Ultimately I think Chicagoans especially value loyalty, and I put myself in that group.  I've built up some extra defensiveness over the past 9 years of living in Chicago, since there is no shortage of opportunities to have to defend Chicago, let alone its art community, against other bigger, shinier places and to work to build its reputation as a dynamic and honest cultural home.  I also have come to expect the same faithfulness from others who are or have been part of that same community.

I look forward to everyone's comments and thoughts on the article and this post.  If you're a writer in Chicago, I also encourage you to write your own article or posting in response to the dominant ideas about Chicago's place in the art world - on its own or in relation to LA and NYC.  As we all know, it's a never ending battle.

Chicago Humanities Festival is a great organization that works to give people of all ages opportunities to continuously explore the humanities. They host annual festivals like the fall Chicago Humanities Festival, the spring stages, sights and sounds festival, and variety of programs throughout the year that promote the study of the humanities. They are focused on making the humanities a vital and vibrant part of every day life through encouraging people to get involved. The Chicago Humanities Festival was founded by a group of people that believed that the humanities was a rich asset to everyone, and the intention of creating a day devoted to the humanities turned into a festival. Throughout the years many notable artists and performers have come to the festivals or participated in events held at the center. There are a constant source of events highlighting literature and the visual arts, creating great opportunities to get involved.

The month of October has no shortage of great lectures, and from the list of topics everyone is bound to find something that sparks their interest. On Sunday October 16th art historian S. Hollis, Clayson is presenting Shedding Artificial Light on Art History from 3:30 to 4:30. This lecture discusses the French Impressionists fascination with light, and the influences that the incandescent light bulb had on the Parisian artists when introduced in 1881 to Paris. The event is held at Harris Hall in room 107 and is $5.00 for general admission and free for faculty and students.

On Sunday October 23rd, African historian Emily Osborn's lecture Melting Pot: African Culture, studies the continents' past though a variety of methodical tools and approaches. Her next book Recycling Traditions: Aluminum Casting and the Making of a Modern African Diaspora offers a history of technology transfer and diffusion. She looks at the social and cultural history of Africa when discussing the way in which the indigenous people re-use material in creative interpretations, for example using scrap metal to make cookware. Don’t miss this fascinating lecture from 12:30 to 1:30 at The Law School, Glen A. in the Lloyd Auditorium. General Admission is $5.00 and free for faculty and students.

Going into the month of November, you don’t want to miss art detective Francesca Casadio’s CSI: Picasso. Casadio is the senior conservationist at the Art Institute of Chicago and a chemist. She recalls her latest adventure in solving the mystery about Picasso’s paint. She talks of examples from the Art Institute all the way to Southern France, highlighting his works and revealing technology that is rewriting art history. This will be held at the Chicago Cultural Center in the Claudia Cassidy Theater on November 6th from 12:00 to 1:00 pm.

Be sure to check out the list of events at the Chicago Humanities Festival and take advantage of one of Chicago’s greatest resources.