Bisa Butler at the Art Institute of Chicago. “The Safety Patrol,” 2018. Via Cavigga Family Trust Fund
ART
Head to Hawaii today
Sorry, we mean virtually, as Chicago’s Theaster Gates joins Ai Weiwei and Homi K. Bhabha on a star-studded lineup for the inaugural Hawai‘i Contemporary Art Summit. It’s free to attend with registration.
Head to Michigan Avenue tomorrow
The Art Institute of Chicago reopens tomorrow (February 11) and to help motivate you, they’re holding over the popular Monet and Bisa Butler exhibitions. Here are our reviews: Bisa Butler Monet
FILM & TV
Bye-bye Barbara
Barbara Scharres, retiring as director of programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center after forty-five years, will be feted with a “Tribute Conversation” tonight with Tribune film critic Michael Phillips. Free with registration.
Southside with her
Sisters in Cinema, led by Yvonne Wellborn, broke ground Monday on a media center for women and gender-nonconforming cinema artists at 2310 East 75th, its opening targeted for September. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said “Sisters in Cinema will help grow a film ecosystem and talent base right here in Chicago, all while giving residents from historically excluded groups … resources they need to find success and entry into the industry,” according to Block Club Chicago.
FOOD & DRINK
Dining goes west
Chicago chef Chris Curren (Fulton Market Kitchen, Seven Lions and Blue 13) and his wife Megan are opening The Graceful Ordinary, a 4700-square-foot waterfront restaurant serving “refined rustic fare” in a former BMO Harris Bank building on the Fox River in St. Charles this spring. “We think the suburbs are truly going to have their moment in 2021,” says executive chef-owner Chris Curren.
Dining goes south
The Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau is launching the inaugural Chicago Southland Restaurant Week, February 21-27. The lineup of south and southwest suburban restaurants is heavy on hearty fare, especially pizza and ribs.
LIT
Wizards Regroup
Comic-book convention Wizard World has postponed its annual happening at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont until August 27-29.
Editor's Letter: February 2021 Taking as our premise "Mirror to the Future," we tasked our writers with looking to the past to help us understand where we are today and where we might go from here.
Today in the Culture: February 1, 2021 DESIGN Silver sounds Hyde Park's The Silver Room is expanding into media with the launch of podcast "Randomly Selected" and a weekly radio station, "Soundrotation." The podcast, hosted by Mario Smith, launches today with an interview with chef Erick Williams of Virtue. The radio station is hosted by Duane Powell, and is a reincarnation of his weekly gig at Funky…
Today in the Culture: February 8, 2021 ART Going to Kansas City Chicago's Zhou Brothers are launching a second Zhou B Art Center, this one a $20 million redevelopment of the historic Attucks School in Kansas City, Kansas. Forty-three artist studios and seven gallery and event spaces are planned for the center, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2022. FILM Make more movies The…
