Telefantasy Studios is the creation of Jennifer Juniper Stratford and Christine Adolph, their union is the direct result of a meeting in an after-school high school video production class in 1990.

I spent the past summer in Chicago on a Threewalls residency with my collaborator, Jemima Wyman. It was my first real break from Los Angeles in four years.

Fucking Good Art started as a newsprint newsletter/arts publication and quickly became a critical voice for Rotterdam’s arts worlds.

Watching these groups, initiatives and spaces grow in the past decade has been instrumental in our understanding of what other art worlds can look like.

In 2005, Ong—his full name is Pisithpong Siraphisut, but most Thais go by a nickname—had just finished art school at Chiang Mai University. He was living in the city and working dead-end jobs. An opportunity arose to buy some land outside the town of Doi Saket, about 20km to the northeast of Chiang Mai, Thailand’s [...]

They are expressive enterprises as much as they are businesses, and they can have considerable impact on the world around them.

…too often the imagined and expressed political positioning of this “arts-activist” scene becomes less explicit and watered down in the attempt to encapsulate a complex history of discursive thought and production.

Nicely played, however, was the decision to install the jaw dropping behemoth of illusionism in the back gallery.

… I left “Actions” not bored in the least, despite the compulsive abundance of text, but rather with an uneasy sense that the utopian promise of space and technology has …

An introduction to groups and spaces in the U.S. and throughout the world.

Photos courtesy of the artist.

www.barbaragross.de

Photo by Aron Gent

www.daytoncastleman.com

Photos by Joseph Rynkiewicz

www.shashicaudill.com

www.nielspost.com

www.theyesmen.org

www.chrislarson.com

www.clairepentecost.org

The Condition of Art Education: Defining the Field and its Distinct Territories.
The following material is intended as a starting point for expanding discussions, collaborations, and research for the field of Art Education. Much of this document reviews personal and historical influences whilst restating existing ideas in the disciplinary literature. We have attempted to articulate a [...]

The visual and material culture of outsiders—bikers, tattooers, carnies, and others—tends to orbit around, participate in, and influence aspects of the fine arts.

Conditions in our country are more miserable now for artists than they have been in decades. The vast majority of artists are not able to pay for their lives through the creative work that they do.

Most traditional economic theory is built around the concept of scarcity — the idea that there’s not enough stuff to go around.

Some Dispatches.
First Fridays at the MCA: Art, Absinthe, and Loneliness, Just in Time for Valentine’s Day by Theresa Rothschadl and Review of American Radical by Matt Muchowski. Enjoy!

If you’re looking for love in all the wrong places, and you’d like to continue that losing streak, you might want to try First Fridays at the MCA.

Finkelstein was a professor of mine at DePaul University and he has gained fame and controversy for his books critical of the occupation of Palestine. Finkelstein was denied a tenure position at DePaul and I was one of the students who organized protests in support of his bid for tenure. I was a part of the occupation of DePaul President Fr. Holtschneider’s office. Finkelstein was a fantastic teacher and an excellent academic.

Some of these picks aren’t necessarily spaces that opened in 2009 or the newest NPOs that have popped up on the map, but since I’ve just crawled out from under a rock, all of them are new to me, and all of them are pretty amazing.

Our second Top Ten picks for 2009. This one by Contributing Editor Albert Stabler.

Here is the first installment of our year-end round up of art projects, exhibitions and actions in Chicago that made a difference to us here at Proximity and the Public Media Institute.

” What is refreshing about the exhibition is that there are no Midwest or Dutch stereotypes, but an investigation of materials and clear presentation of ideas which share both countries’ sense of place.”

There is little evidence that the land US Route 90 travels though as it arcs from El Paso to Marfa (Population: 2,121) is not the fabled middle of nowhere. That is, almost no evidence.

Adam Farcus will be presenting his “Store Interventions” project on Saturday, October 3, at the SAIC as part of the Accidental Publics symposium.

Patrick Holbrook is the mastermind behind the tiny, but awesome Humboldt Park art space, Eel Space.

The stenciled image read “End Torture in Illinois” and featured an outline of the state and the star locating the TAMMS supermax prison…

I was scared by the movie. I also laughed at some parts of it, just as Slate promised I would. What neither scared me nor pleased me was the gory stuff…

LA><ART is the leading independent nonprofit exhibition space in Los Angeles for the production of experimental exhibitions, public art initiatives and emerging artist publications.

Our job is to facilitate what people want to make happen in their individual practice and also to see opportunities for collaboration or trying new things.

www.aarondelehanty.com

Photos by Ben Speckmann

www.rachelniffenegger.com
www.jeremytinder.com

Photos by Ben Speckmann

www.thebirdmachine.com

Photos by Michael Ruggirello

www.petersutherland.com

www.gregstimac.com

www.carolinedevries.com

www.2megapixels.com

www.cheonejoon.com

Rod Slemmons is the Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. He’s had a very distinguished career as a museum professional, teacher, curator, writer, editor and printmaker.

graphic design, lettering, logo, illustration … Vandalism, punk rock, video, sandwich making … Teaching, editing, beard growing, book covers …

My research into the museum’s permanent collection is largely aimed at providing helpful context for each of the artists and artworks that are represented.

I see fine art photography as hemmed in by three ‘P’s: painting, poverty, and Pentax.

In this, our fourth-ever Lit Column, Proximity is pleased to present “How Dark the Corners” – new fiction by Gretchen Kalwinski.

If the Heartland is the giant, general landmass that is the Midwest, KCMO (and KCK) are the spine from which the rest of the nation fans

As the out-of-work scenario bombards the landscape, the miseries of job hunting, resume writing, and searching for employment threaten to drag even the most cheerful among us down…

We live and work in Chicago, a city with some of the country’s best traditional and non-traditional photography incubators. Some of our schools – like The School of Art Institute, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Columbia College – have especially distinguished instructors and programs. And in the past few years…

We are super happy to have been chosen to exhibit at Publish and be Damned. The event is held in conjunction with the London Art Book Fair and introduces some of the planet’s best independent publications to each other. Our Man in Spain, Jorge Miñano Ramírez, will be holding down our stand for Proximity.
“Surveying a [...]

Enjoy a review of the socially responsible Bi-Rite Grocery Store by Stuart Keeler. Makes us want to open one in Chicago.
Advanced tech and art knowledge is transferred via Ten Links with Christopher Hudgens.

Not to be confused with Vanessa, Christopher Hudgens is an advocate for all things art and tech. As the architect of the online presence of “Bad at Sports” Hudgens is a true champion of dialogue and criticism in the Windy City and beyond.  In a previous life he served as Business Operations Manager for Bridge Art Fair [...]

The Bay Area, historically, has been on the cusp of change; this is evident in the social movements, as well as the trends in food, style and living where humanistic attitudes lead contemporary lifestyles. Maybe, it’s how you use your city space, why and what statement, if any is communicated that is the greatest form [...]

THE BLDG BLOG BOOK
Chronicle Books, $29.95
Let’s face it most of the web is for short attention span browsing and no one really reads anything lengthy online. This fact makes it odd that I am choosing for my first review in this series The BLDG BLOG Book by Geoff Manaugh.
I thought that everyone browsed the BLDG [...]

Why should you listen to Casey Smallwood when she tells you that these links are the greatest things to happen to the internet since Al Gore?
You should listen to Casey because she’s designed a dog suit for the future.  You should listen to Casey because if you don’t, she will steal your pizza.  You should [...]

Dee Clements is a local painter, curator and aspiring gallerist.  Although Simple Gallery has been in the works as a brainstorm for ten years, it’s just within the past year that benefits have been held and the first artist grant has been awarded. Conducted over email between the end of July and beginning of August, [...]

12 x 12 @ The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago – June 6th-28th

@ Chicago Cultural Center

Click here for the photos from last weekend’s openings of “control c, control v” at ebers, Rod Hunting at the coop, “Unusual Suspects” at 2612 space, “The Diorama Show” at The Home Gallery, “Matthew Harris: Beyond China”, “Glenn Wexler: Transit 2″ &  “Spellbound” & “Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture” at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Reblogged everywhere on the artblogosphere Bravo is now casting their reality based show called the Untitled Art Project. They are seeking emerging and mid career artists.
Here’s your chance.  Now go to the Bravo casting call site for full details:
Casting Calls for The Untitled Art Project are as follows:
LOS ANGELES
Saturday, July 11 & Sunday, July [...]

#4 – www.androidworld.com

Birds might actually benefit from a study in ornithology.

Various Artists – Madison Museum of Contemporary Art – May 2 to August 23, 2009

Lilly Lampe reveiws two books: Fragments by David Carl and Trucks by John Himmelfarb

Jenny Holzer at the MCA Chicago.

Sarah Galvin reviews these three things. Enjoy.

Locust Projects is a non-profit alternative art space that specializes in experimental and/or site-specific artwork.

www.bradbiancardi.blogspot.com

Photos by Ben Speckmann

www.michaelrea.com

Photos by Justin Goh

www.silvia-b.com

Photos by Aron Gent

In order to share hard truths, you need a vehicle. The vehicle could be something that I invent to reveal and other times, the stories come from the mouths of people who have lived them.

I think that the art institution has to change from being a warehouse to being a site for potential action.

For centuries graffiti has claimed visual space throughout cities, impudently besmirching society’s accreted attempts at organizing itself.

Ten years ago, I was looking for a way to understand what life inside prison was like. My brother was locked up in Texas and he refused to let me visit.

An excerpt from James Kennedy’s sparkle-excellent first novel, The Order of Odd-Fish and a new comic from Grant Reynolds.

Portrait paintings have always given me the creeps. “The creeps,” in my opinion, is not necessarily a bad thing.

Can a better system emerge from the wreckage? Can the art world return to making art instead of making inventory? And will any of us be able to afford it?

You are shivering now, hard, and your chest clenches. Your bladder has shrunk too, and you have to pee every fifteen minutes. In a Porta-Potty. Did I mention the wind is blowing thirty miles per hour?

Once again, I bring the performance art version of “Two Truthsand a Lie,” everyone’s second favorite party game.

Times are bad. We see local galleries close and institutions selling their collections. There is financial fraud at nonprofits, “underperforming” auction houses, decreased ad revenue in art magazines, empty booths at art fairs, shrinking state funding, and hiring freezes at art schools. Layoffs and cutbacks are pretty much everywhere.
The upside of all the turmoil in [...]

Paul Chan’s digital videos and projects combine outsider art, surrealism, and popular culture in dystopian visions engendered by events of grave social injustice.

Various Artists – Happy Dog Gallery -March 26th and 27th, 2009

Roots & Culture – Chicago, IL – March 28 – May 2nd 2009

In one photo, Jimmy Stewart stands humorously in the desert, staring oddly at what looks to be a gas-powered model airplane.

Some hear the term “Beautiful Losers” and think of the Leonard Cohen book.

I went to bed at three with my hair full of Miller High Life and other people’s sweat. I set my alarm for six. I didn’t have to get up for work until eleven…

Blame Dada. Wikipedia, that hallowed inter-web tome of ceaseless knowledge, associates performance art with the Dadaists.

Trapped in the middle of this century, like a sardine in a can, exists its most relevant artist, whom I’m quite certain you’ve never heard of.

www.deliciousdesignleague.com

Photos by Ben Speckmann

Art Fag reviews Stan Shellabarger, Gordon Matta Clark, Patricia Acosta, Stina Kaczmaryn, Jeff Koons, and Michael Hernandez De Luna.

We have a gallery, a print shop, and two floors of studio space. The artists who work here range from painters to video artists, sculptors to musicians. The work that is produced here is incredibly diverse.

We aim to provide a space for thought-provoking exhibitions without compromise to the commercial market.

“As far as a scene, I feel that especially right now with photography in the art world, people just want to come up fast. They want to be the shit right now.”

This interview is part of 5 Questions About Critical Art In Chicago, an online publication presented by AREA Chicago.

Although online literary magazines have always been more accessible than print ones, it wasn’t until after 2001 that the quantity and quality began to dwarf print magazines.

Our national narrative holds many more flattering examples of what defines us as a people. Over the past seven years, for example, we’ve billed ourselves as bearers of Democracy to the rest of the globe.

The type of signs, billboards, historical markers and monuments that dominate public space inform us greatly about the culture and the politics that we live under.

In this, our second-ever lit supplement– curated by Mairead Case – please enjoy…

Proximity’s first essay for its Theory Series is by the renowned New York painter David Reed.

The well-stocked storefront in Chelsea is home to more than 15,000 publications by 5,500 international artists. Crowded shelves of limited edition artist books—reflecting a mind-boggling array of…

The square books in Columbia College’s 6×6 series, measuring 6 inches on each side, could easily be mistaken as CD jewel cases.

Various Artists – Green Lantern, Mar/Apr 2009

REVIEW: Paul Nudd and Nick Black at Antena – Feb/Mar 2009

REVIEW: Deborah Simon – Packer Schopf Gallery – Jan/Feb 2009

Alumni Bookworks, 1991 to 2008 by Various Artists (The Columbia College Chicago Book and Paper Center Gallery, March 2009

We have a lot more going on than we can put in three issues each year. More interviews, reviews, features and studios. Keep an eye out for more in the future…we are taking the internet by storm.

Chicago Art Spaces
from (Con)Temporary Art Guide Chicago 2009
(A Proximity Publication)

This List of galleries and spaces was  included in the Proximity publication: The (Con)Temporary Art Guide Chicago 2009.

The Guide  was released in late April during Version Festival and Artropolis.
For more information on how to be listed please email ed(at)proximitymagazine.com

The guide is divided into ROUTES:
Self-Guided Route: View [...]

Images from Issue #2 – Photography by Rebecca Smeyne

Images from Issue #2 – Photography by Justin Goh

Images from Issue #2 – Photography by Zach Abubeker

Images from Issue #2 – Photography by Justin Goh

Images from Issue #2 – Photography by Rebecca Smeyne

From Issue #2 – Photography by Justin Goh

From Issue #2 – Photography by Zach Abubeker

From Issue #2 – Photography by Aron Gent

Studio images from Issue #3.

Photographs by Aron Gent

Photographs by Rebecca Smeyne

Photographs by Justin Goh

Sure, you could call Steve Lambert a prankster, but that would be too simple a title.

The history of early twentieth architecture is replete with innovations in building technology, especially in sometimes experimental industrial housing developments.

Despite nearly five decades of critical writing and art practice that seeks to dismantle the sacred cows of art (i.e., the artist-genius, the artist as white hetero male…

Some people join groups, some people start groups, others lurk and smirk on the outskirts of groups – and then there are, of course, the groupies.

There is a lot of hooting going on around town, now that we have Barack Obama as our president. Collectively, we are delighted that Team Bush is tucking up its tail, because now we can focus our energies in moving beyond the morass and into the swamp of what is to be done. [ Read More... ]

I am a chronically sleep-deprived art teacher in a Chicago public school, and it’s been a tense two weeks…

Directory of organizations, resources, links and spaces related to the study and practice of architecture in Chicago.

The fist time I went to Central New York state was the first time I knew where it was. The first time I heard about Sudan on the news was the first time I knew where it was, and what was on the nearby borders. Our personal maps of the world are continuously changing. Through [...]

James Jankowiak, William Betts, Katerina Šedá, Shawn May, Chuck Walker, Chang Jia, Jason Hackenwerth all reviewed by Art Fag.

Henry Darger Exhibition – INTUIT – Jan-Jun, 2008

Various Artists – Phantom Galleries, Chicago – February 2008

Sonny’s Café At the School of the Art Institute, Chicago – Feb 21,2008

Various Artists – MCA (Chicago) – Winter/Spring 2008

Various Artists – Museum of Contemporary Photography – Spring 2008

Indexical Frontiers, featuring Adelheid Mers – Inova Gallery – Spring 2008

For more than thirty years, a close relation of mine has worked in the shipping and receiving department of a non-unionized factory in Pennsylvania.

…Cats, no babies, flagellation, flatulation, fraggleation, actually we are the fraggle nation. Ok, ok, serious now…

The space was completely raw before we moved in, so we had to create a “gallery” within an industrial space.

There is a very strong sense of a creative community at AS220. We operate under the philosophy is that everyone has the right to creative expression.

It was a pragmatic decision to interleaf daily life with art. It was a political decision to bring the contemporary avant-garde to the suburbs.

“I get friends to do shows in my apartment that I get to live with; I ask people to come give lectures that I’m present for…”

“This is my studio… I’ve converted it into a cafe for four hours a day, serving art students coffee and hopefully engaging them…

…at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum, Stephanie Smith has organized articulate exhibitions marked by expansive investigations of focused themes.

Relationships within a group can bring additional challenges, especially when they disintegrate.

The city stretches for miles, a Cartesian fabric of right angles only occasionally interrupted by an errant diagonal.

According to Andre Breton’s 1929 “Surrealist Map of the World,” the USA is missing.

Only a bunch of artists would start a new art magazine in the throes of a recession. But someone has to do it. Because, sure—the economy is receding and politics are rent, but cultural production in Chicago is surging yet again. [ Read More... ]

In this episode of Proximity, we continue our mission: revealing art worlds, real and imagined. Today, we present a series of investigations by dreamers currently inhabiting under-represented art metropoles around the world. Places like Hamburg. Jacmel. Los Alamos. [ Read More... ]

Anne Wilson – Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago – Spring 2008

Various Artists – Tate Modern, London – Summer 2008

Institute for Social Research – San Francisco Bay Area – Fall 2007

Please check back soon. Out studios section will be great; including on-line only studio features as we continue to collect images from all over.

The descriptions are hypnotic in Associated Press correspondent Bryan Mealer’s new book All Things Must Fight To Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo…

Among the things Horvitz mails to strangers: photographs of the sky, the sea, himself kissing a moon tree; a rock from the Hudson River

“I think there is always a gap to be bridged, with integrity on one side and compromise on the other.”

Technically a neighborhood in the city of East Chicago, Marktown lies just over the Illinois/Indiana state border along East 129th street.

Over the past twenty years, Rotterdam has emerged as one of the lesser-known cultural capitals of Europe.

Ruffenhofen is one of those places that, after 1400 years of settlement and development, remains a handful of houses and fields.

Can you imagine being in a community where being an artist is considered an honest and valued career choice? I am pleased to say I have found that community…

Some years ago, the city of Hamburg discovered that it could promote itself through its cool subcultural scene, which visual artists are an important part of.

“I hope the Secret Shop becomes a big secret.”

Outside of the Russian mafia, the Icelandic Artist wields a lot of power here.

Tokyo & The Presentation of Art in Unusual Places

Each year Oberhausen transforms into a gathering place for film and video…

Searching for Art in the Land of Curds and Beer.

Where are essays by contemporary artists on theory? That is, written pieces beyond the dreaded, largely pedantic and seemingly omnipresent “Artist’s Statements”?

This essay examines one collective, the Pocho Research Society (PRS) that has done just this by dedicating their practice to altering existing monuments…

Earlier this summer, I went on the first leg of a book tour for my new novel, boring boring boring boring boring boring boring…

Other Options attempts to identify artists’ practices, which critique these old paradigms, and the infrastructures that support them, while …

My friend Zoë has a passion for sewing. However, instead of pulling needles through fiber, she directs needles in and out of her private canvas—her skin.

A wedding party strides through the pedway beneath the Cultural Center to my car, and as chauffeur, I’m kicking myself that I failed to decorate it…