MANO (Mexican Art & Object) will open in Pilsen at 2150 South Canalport on November 12. The new gallery says that “MANO’s curatorial approach expands upon traditional mythologies and deepens audience awareness of contemporary Mexican art, which is frequently limited to Frida Kahlo and Day of the Dead.” They are also “collapsing the distinction between craft and fine art, which most established American and European museums have only seriously attempted in recent years.” Their “longterm vision includes establishing an art residency exchange between Chicago and Oaxaca.” Opening shows and more here.
“Small But Mighty” Opens At Addington Gallery
Susan Aurinko and Susan Blackman (aka Curators Gone Rogue) will host “Small But Mighty” at Addington Gallery, 704 North Wells, opening tonight, November 4 and running through December 29. The small pieces on display include work by Anthony Adcock, Dan Addington, Cleveland Dean, Helen Dannelly, Meredith Dytch, Zack Goulet, Fletcher Hayes, Deborah Maris Lader, Kim Laurel, Nate Otto and Renee Robbins. More here.
DINING & DRINKING
Sushi By Bou Opens Fourth Omakase Experience
Sushi by Bou has opened a 1990s hip hop-influenced version of their omakase experience, their fourth location in Chicago, at The Emily Hotel in the West Loop. Graffiti-covered walls, playlists dedicated to the 1990s sounds and murals of Chicago hip-hop legends provide atmosphere for the ten-seat counter and ten-seat lounge. (The other locations by the Sushi By Bou team in Chicago are Sushi Suite 202 and Sushi by Bou at the Hotel Lincoln and Claridge House Hotel.) More here.
Viking Pub Crawl Returns
Local color in Andersonville, captured in a subject line: “300+ Costumed Vikings invade Andersonville for Annual Event Inspired by Swedish St. Morten’s Gås Day.” The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce will host the fifth annual Viking Pub Crawl, welcoming costumed Vikings to sample drinks throughout the neighborhood on Saturday, November 19, 3pm-6pm. Check-in begins at 2pm at Atmosphere Bar, 5355 North Clark. Each ticket includes a commemorative glass, an appetizer from The Dinner Belle at check-in and drink specials at all participating locations. The event also includes a costume contest for Best Individual and Best Group. A limited number of “authentic” cow horn drinking horns are available for an additional cost. Tickets ($35 per person) are available here.
LIT
Gray Center For Arts and Inquiry Publishes Portable Gray Issue On “Arts of Psychoanalysis”
The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago has released the ninth issue of Portable Gray, a publication that draws on the work of the Gray Center, a research center for experimental collaborations between artists and scholars. Published twice annually by the University of Chicago Press, “Portable Gray is a forum for experimenting with two genres of publication: the scholarly journal and the art magazine. Each issue is shaped by a theme, which is treated elastically and through myriad forms, such as artworks, essays, interviews, musical scores, photography and poetry. Edited by Gray Center Director, UChicago musicologist, and Portable Gray executive editor Seth Brodsky, our ninth issue takes as its theme Arts of Psychoanalysis. Contributors dive into the ‘darkest art,’ probing the still-radical space that psychoanalysis opened over a century ago. The issue functions less as a survey of psychoanalytic art or a collective investigation into the ‘talking cure,’ and more as a series of meditations on the suspensions and fermatas that psychoanalysis has afforded practical life—clinic, asylum, interregnum; etymological hunts, and formalist games; sketch and street.” More here.
MEDIA
Twitter Stirs Angry Birds
“At least five Twitter executives have left in recent days, as one of the world’s largest ad companies said clients should pause spending on the social media platform,” reports the New York Times. “Advertisers—which provide about ninety percent of Twitter’s revenue—are increasingly grappling with Elon Musk’s ownership of the platform. The billionaire, who is meeting advertising executives in New York this week, has spooked some advertisers because he has said he would loosen Twitter’s content rules, which could lead to a surge in misinformation and other toxic content.” L’Oreal is among international corporations leaving the website, reports the FT; “There’s some quiet quitting going on,” said one ad executive of the website Musk and his financiers purchased last week for $44 billion.
MUSIC
Ravinia Steans Music Institute Announces Tour
Ravinia Steans Music Institute—the Ravinia Festival’s summer training program for young professional voice, jazz, and piano & strings musicians—resumes its annual spring touring program, with its first performances since 2019 in March 2023. Miriam Fried, the renowned violinist and director of the Steans Music Institute piano and strings program for the last three decades, will join five alumni of the program for chamber music recitals at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall on March 24, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York on March 28, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on March 30. “Chamber music is about collaboration and communication. The pandemic made both impossible, so we are all very excited to resume our exploration of this great music in rehearsal and to share it with our audiences in concert. We will bring extra enthusiasm to both endeavors,” Fried says in a release. “These concerts will be especially meaningful to me as it is going to be my final RSMI tour. What a beautiful way to say farewell.”
STAGE
Goodman New Stages Festival Set
Six new plays authored by a handful of contemporary playwrights appear in the 2022 New Stages Festival—Goodman Theatre’s eighteenth annual celebration of innovative new work, presented free of charge. More than a hundred plays have appeared in the New Stages Festival since its inception in 2004, the majority of which have gone on to premiere at the Goodman and its peer theaters across the country. Each year, the Festival’s final weekend draws national theater industry professionals to Chicago for the opportunity to view the plays. Curated by Director of New Works Jonathan L. Green, the Festival line-up features two fully staged developmental productions: “This Happened Once at the Romance Depot off the I-87 in Westchester” by Gina Femia, directed by Kimberly Senior, and “Rust” by Nancy García Loza, directed by Laura Alcalá Baker.
Four script-in-hand staged readings round out the festival: “White Monkey” by Charlie Oh, directed by Eric Ting; “Fever Dreams (of Animals on the Verge of Extinction)” by Jeffrey Lieber, with Susan V. Booth directing her first play as Goodman Theatre Artistic Director; “Modern Women” by Omer Abbas Salem, directed by Lavina Jadhwani; and “What Will Happen to All That Beauty?” by Donja R. Love, directed by Malika Oyetimein. The New Stages Festival appears December 1-18 in the 350-seat Owen Theatre; free tickets (reservations required) are available today here.
Steppenwolf World-Premieres “Bald Sisters”
Steppenwolf Theatre Company continues its forty-seventh season with the world premiere of Vichet Chum’s “Bald Sisters,” “a brazen, comic examination of the ties that bind multigenerational families of immigrants together.” Directed by Jesca Prudencio, “Bald Sisters” plays December 1, 2022–January 15, 2023 in Steppenwolf’s in-the-round Ensemble Theater. “Bald Sisters” will feature Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Coburn Goss, Wai Ching Ho, Jennifer Lim and Nima Rakhshanifar. Chum’s world premiere “follows two sisters–at odds since birth–as they settle the affairs of their strong-willed, wisecracking mother while reconciling their family’s Cambodian heritage with its ever-so-complicated American present.” Single tickets start at $20 and are on sale here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Six South And West Side Projects Vie For $10 Million Chicago Prize
The Pritzker Traubert Foundation has announced the six South Side and West Side organizations that are finalists for the $10 million Chicago prize, an initiative begun in 2019. “We are proud to be part of growing momentum to invest in community-led change that includes Invest South/West, We Rise Together, and many others. To build upon Chicago Prize 2020’s success and further fuel this effort, we committed an additional $30 million to support a pipeline of community development projects over the next five years, starting with Chicago Prize 2022,” the foundation writes. Read about the finalists and their projects here.
Fulton Market Tents Won’t Be Forced To Fold
“The Department of Family and Support Services will not require the removal of new winterized tents recently built in the Fulton Market area,” reports the Tribune. “The bright orange heated tents, which include a foundation, heating and lighting, arrived… through the efforts of Andy Robledo, founder of the nonprofit Feeding People Through Plants. Robledo assembled about ten tents for unhoused individuals living under the El near the Metra tracks off North Milwaukee… The city previously tagged red notices… warning occupants that they must clear them… for street cleaning.”
Pumpkin Smash Festival In Andersonville
WasteNot Compost, in partnership with the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, invite you to smash, strike, sling and shatter your post-Halloween pumpkins into smithereens at “It’s a SMASH! An Eco-fest Pumpkin Smash Festival,” on Saturday, November 5, 11am–5pm at 1500 West Catalpa, between Clark and Ashland. Four smashing stations will be accompanied by more than twenty vendors serving food, drink, and locally sourced crafts and sustainable services. The WasteNot Compost team will ensure all pumpkin waste is collected, composted and diverted from landfills. The event is rain or shine. The event is BYOP (bring your own pumpkin) with smash tickets beginning at $5. All attendees must sign a waiver in order to participate in smashing. Register here.
Ferrero Breaks Ground On $214 Million Bloomington Kinder Bueno Production Facility
Governor Pritzker joined Ferrero North America for the groundbreaking of Ferrero’s Bloomington facility, the first North American location to produce Kinder Bueno products. The company’s commitment to further expand its Bloomington facility will bring a $214.4 million investment to the area and create 200 new jobs over four years. “Central Illinois sits in the heart of our nation, so it’s only fitting that it serves as the heart of Ferrero’s North American operations: CRUNCH, 100 Grand, Raisinets, and now Kinder Bueno, all made right here,” the governor says in a release. “This expansion is a testament to Illinois’ quality workforce and reputation on the global stage, and especially the quality workforce right here in Central Illinois. I want to thank the entire Ferrero team for their partnership. Here’s to years of success for Ferrero and economic prosperity for the entire Bloomington-Normal metro area.”
