BY GINNY VAN ALYEA

On Saturday, April 5 there's a dynamic fundraiser party and benefit art auction taking place at TUSK in Logan Square. The event is in support of Summer Forum for Inquiry + Exchange, a new discussion-based residency program.

The cause is in the name of dialogue and creative thinking, and the supporters run the gamut from collectors, curators, up and coming thinkers, and of course artists. A variety of artists, in fact, not just the visual, are part of this residency. At a time when most of us are so on-the-go that we are too fried to daydream, unless we're stuck somewhere with a dead cellphone battery, Summer Forum has taken up the cause to let people think. And talk. It's all about old school approaches to being creative.

The auction includes great works by artists such as Heidi Norton, Carrie Schneider, Paul Cowan, Jenny Kendler, Andrew Holmquist, and Alex Chitty, among many others. There will also be a whole bunch of unique raffle items, including limited edition LPs by artists Jason Lazarus and Michael Rakowitz. Plus, the party is guaranteed to bring out a host of Chicago art world players looking to catch up while ogling fun, affordable art.

Pre-sale tickets are $25 online and include unlimited food and drinks, and a raffle ticket. Tickets are also available at the door for $35.

Online bidding has already started and closes at noon on Saturday, April 5. After that you'll have to bid in person on Saturday night. 

I'm interested in Summer Forum because of my talented and super smart friend, curator Karsten Lund. Karsten and I endured the antics and quirks of a few crazy art professors together in college (including one who wore three pairs of glasses at a time, and another who changed her name to sound like a flattering adjective), and today he's one of the smartest, artiest people I know in Chicago. Anything he loves to support is a great cause. 

Lund sums up the program's goals well: 

"The goal of this unusual residency -- happening every two years -- is to bring together artists, writers, scholars, and other creative people to discuss and explore the complex issues of the present moment in a different geographical location for a week in the summer. This coming July (6th-13th), thirty-four residents will meet in Joshua Tree, California to discuss the theme, ‘Networks of Belonging.’ We have also invited four amazing guests to give a talk about the theme, including design theorist Benjamin Bratton, novelist Gina Apostol, architecture scholar Felicity Scott, and philosopher and prison activist Lisa Guenther. The first session in 2012, in New Harmony, Indiana, the site of a 19th-century utopian community, was incredibly successful and the sequel should be just as fantastic."

• Please visit summerforum.org for more information about the residency. 

• To see the items in the auction or to buy tickets to the event, click here.

• To lend your support via Kickstarter, click here (3 weeks left to go to $10,000!)

Summer Forum 2014 Fundraiser and Art Auction 
Saturday, April 5, 2014, 7-11 pm
TUSK (Logan Square) 3205 W. Armitage Avenue