Remember Walsh Gallery? Since she closed that space in 2011, Julie Walsh has been pushing her curatorial focus into “immersive technologies.” Starting this week, Walsh is curating MEET Digital Culture Center/Milan’s opening virtual exhibition “Synthetic Corpo-Reality,” featuring eleven digital artists and running through May.
Here’s part of the show’s description: “This exhibition examines the work by international artists who have chosen the body as a vessel for the realization of their artistic goals. There is a new more encompassing definition of “sculpture art” in the digital age or post-digital age. Artists using computers to create images of the body do so in a variety of digital mediums including photography, video, multi channel animations, 3D printer scans, sketch-fab, GIFs, AI softwares, augmented reality, 360° experiences and virtual reality.”
Making amends for Chief Illiniwek, too?
Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announces the acquisition of a number of works by contemporary and modern Native American artists, including painting, glasswork and pottery. Notably included are “Loss,” a 1989 painting by Kay WalkingStick and three glass works by Preston Singletary.
From the press release: “KAM has been working steadily over the past decade to increase the presence of women artists, Native American artists and artists of color in the collection, which historically has disproportionately represented the work of white men, KAM director Jon Seydl said. ‘We’ve been working to redress these historical imbalances in a number of ways,’ including collaborative initiatives with Native American House and American Indian Studies to engage with and promote the creative contributions of Native Americans, he said. As part of a land-grant university, the museum has a particular responsibility to present work by the people who originally inhabited the land, drawing attention to both historical and contemporary voices, Seydl said.”
Preservation Chicago released its annual list of Chicago’s seven most endangered historical structures, leading off with the Lakefront, which it says should be designated a national park. Other buildings include Phyllis Wheatley Home (5128 South Michigan), Cornell Store and Flats (1230-32 East 75th), Roman Catholic churches (throughout Chicago), South Chicago Masonic Temple (2939 East 91st), Central Manufacturing District – Original East District (Roughly bounded by Morgan to Ashland and 35th to Pershing/39th) and West Loop Industrial Buildings.
From the announcement: “There are genuine concerns that our world-famous Lakefront parklands, designed by some of the world’s most well-recognized landscape designers and architects, could be further compromised and parceled-off as political giveaways. These parks have belonged to the people of Chicago for more than 150 years. No private development, regardless of how noble or popular, should be built there. “Forever open, clear and free,” needs to be applicable to all of our Lakefront lands in perpetuity, from the East Side and South Chicago neighborhoods on the South Side to the Edgewater and Rogers Park communities on the City’s North Side.”
Scouting for Mid-Century Modern?
Scout, the Andersonville home furnishings boutique, has opened a pop-up shop next door at 5225 North Clark called Côncept, which will be open through the end of March and promises to offer “a keenly curated collection of the finest mid-century moderne furniture in Chicago.” Pieces by designers including Milo Baughman, Florence Knoll, Harvey Probber, Mies van der Rohe, George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames are in the mix.
DINING & DRINKING
Social justice?
A federal judge refused a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by restaurants, ranging from the Lettuce Entertain You operation to the Billy Goat, against Society Insurance for refusing to pay out on their business interruption insurance when the pandemic, er, interrupted their business.
The Music Box Theatre reopens today, albeit limited to about seven percent of capacity, thanks to the fifty-person cap in its 750-seat main auditorium.
LIT
Deep stacks
Adam Morgan, founding editor of the Chicago Review of Books and the Southern Review of Books, announced the launch of Chicago Literary Archive, “an open-source, online library dedicated to Chicago literature, printing, and publishing from 1837 to today.”
Julia A. Miller, president and CEO of Chicago-based blues and jazz label Delmark Records is the first woman to be awarded AirPlay Direct’s “Iconic Innovator” Award, which recognizes digital innovation in the music industry. As part of the award, Delmark will get a $50,000 “AirPlay Direct Marketing & Awareness Campaign to accelerate her ongoing brand development and global radio distribution footprint for her label’s new releases and catalog.”
A Little Village community arts hub built up by Latinx immigrant musicians, “La Casa del Inmigrante,” is fighting eviction by the building’s owner, who wants to demolish it.
From Borderless Magazine: “While a community arts space at heart, La Casa del Inmigrante has also served as a residence for an ever-changing roster of immigrants for the last five years. Juan Herrera, a graffiti artist and one of the residents, said there have been around eight people who have made their homes there, and a larger network of people who have used the space as an art studio. ‘We fixed up everything to be able to have a kitchen, bathroom and shower,’ Herrera said in Spanish. ‘I paid out of my own funds to create this space,’ resident Marcos Hernandez, who also plays drums in the local punk band Desafio, said in Spanish. ‘Little by little, people in the city started to join.'”
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…
