From the Dr. Harry Bakwin and Dr. Ruth Morris Bakwin Soviet Posters Collection, 1930-1932, at the Special Collections Research Center, The University of Chicago Library
In trying economic times, the American narrative goes, we band together and lend each other a helping hand. This spirit of collaboration seems to be a prevailing theme this fall season, whether it’s the Redmoon-MCA project “The Astronaut’s Birthday,” or the Dance Center-Harris-MCA teaming up to bring a seminal Butoh dance company, Sankai Juku, to Chicago for the first time. But most noteworth is The Soviet Arts Experience, a multi-year joining of a whopping twenty-five cultural institutions, spearheaded by the University of Chicago Presents, that covers a plentitude of disciplines, in showcasing art created “under (and in response to) the Politburo of the Soviet Union.” So that’s the theme this season: People setting aside self-interest for the larger good. Just don’t call it socialism. (Brian Hieggelke)
