Behind the brick façade of a 1920s apartment building, lies an architectural masterpiece by the award-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Wrightwood 659’s Assistant Curator Ashley Janke takes visitors on a journey through the soaring light-filled atrium, exposed masonry, and precision-built concrete walls whose smoothness resembles polished stone. Throughout her tour, Janke will convey the origins of the building and its transformation into one of Chicago’s hidden structural gems.
About the exhibitions
Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now features 28 contemporary artists from the Himalayas, Asia, and diaspora whose work is presented in dialogue with objects from the permanent collection of the Rubin Museum of Art. With 18 commissions as well as recent work across mediums—including painting, sculpture, sound, video, and installation—the exhibition reimagines the forms, symbols, and narratives found within the living cultural heritage of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and other Himalayan regions. The contemporary works in the exhibition span a wide range of media, from painting and sculpture to sound, video, and installation. Paired with each contemporary work are traditional religious art objects, ranging from an intricate gilded figure of the Hindi sun bird Garuda to Buddhist prayer beads fashioned from a sheep bone, which have been drawn from the Rubin’s permanent collection of nearly 4,000 Himalayan art objects spanning more than a millennium. Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now is presented by Halsted A&A Foundation.
John Akomfrah: Four Nocturnes is an exhibition comprised of two installations by acclaimed Ghanian-British artist and filmmaker, Sir John Akomfrah. Mesmerizing and haunting, his works are characterized by their investigations into memory, post-colonialism, temporality, and aesthetics, often exploring the experiences of migrant diasporas globally. Four Nocturnes is an immersive three-channel, HD color video installation which explores the complex relationship between humanity’s destruction of the natural world and the destruction of mankind, using Africa’s declining elephant populations as its narrative spine. Toxic Cloud, an installation inspired by the filmmaker’s experience growing up next to a coal-fired power station in London, comprises over 1,000 plastic jugs suspended overhead, capturing the vast scale of the polluted atmosphere. Both works remind viewers of the losses brought about by environmental abuses and devastation. John Akomfrah: Four Nocturnesis presented by Alphawood Exhibitions.
About Wrightwood 659
Wrightwood 659 presents exhibitions on socially engaged art and architecture, on issues facing LGBTQ+ communities, and on Asian art and architecture. Located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood in a building transformed by Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, Wrightwood 659 encourages visitors to engage with pressing issues of our time in an intimate and beautiful space. For additional information, please visit wrightwood659.org.
Wrightwood 659 Hours of Operation
Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tickets
Admission is $15 and is available online only at https://tickets.wrightwood659.org/events. Please note, admission is by advance ticket only. Walk-ups are not permitted.
For additional information, please visit wrightwood659.org.
