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... ]
Introduction
Columns
Lit Column
In this, our second-ever lit supplement– curated by Mairead Case – please enjoy…
Together: Writing About People Who Work in Groups
Relationships within a group can bring additional challenges, especially when they disintegrate.
Don’t You Forget About Me: Chicago’s Anonymous Buildings
The city stretches for miles, a Cartesian fabric of right angles only occasionally interrupted by an errant diagonal.
Why We Feel Slighted As A Mere Dotted Line
According to Andre Breton’s 1929 “Surrealist Map of the World,” the USA is missing.
Spaces
Dirt Palace (b. 2000)
…Cats, no babies, flagellation, flatulation, fraggleation, actually we are the fraggle nation. Ok, ok, serious now…
Western Exhibitions (b. 2002)
The space was completely raw before we moved in, so we had to create a “gallery” within an industrial space.
AS220 (b. 1985)
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.
The Suburban (b. 1999)
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.
Vonzweck (b. 2005)
“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…”
Features
Signs As Direct Action
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.
Death to Law:Progressive Public Art in Chicago
I am a chronically sleep-deprived art teacher in a Chicago public school, and it’s been a tense two weeks…
Swampwalls Dark matter & the Lumpen Army of Art
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.
Interviews
Philip Matesic
“This is my studio… I’ve converted it into a cafe for four hours a day, serving art students coffee and hopefully engaging them…
Stephanie Smith
…at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum, Stephanie Smith has organized articulate exhibitions marked by expansive investigations of focused themes.
Reviews
Space Discovery: A review of An Atlas of Radical Cartography
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 [...]
Art Fag in Art Land
James Jankowiak, William Betts, Katerina Šedá, Shawn May, Chuck Walker, Chang Jia, Jason Hackenwerth all reviewed by Art Fag.
How Sylvia Skullworthy Becomes an Art Brut Star
Henry Darger Exhibition – INTUIT – Jan-Jun, 2008
Go Tell Mama I’m for Obama
Various Artists – Phantom Galleries, Chicago – February 2008
Performance art by Rirkrit Tiravanija
Sonny’s Café At the School of the Art Institute, Chicago – Feb 21,2008
Recent Acquisitions: Focus on Chicago
Various Artists – MCA (Chicago) – Winter/Spring 2008
This Land is Your Land
Various Artists – Museum of Contemporary Photography – Spring 2008
Indexical Frontiers
Indexical Frontiers, featuring Adelheid Mers – Inova Gallery – Spring 2008
Directories
Archidirectory
Directory of organizations, resources, links and spaces related to the study and practice of architecture in Chicago.
