Hindman will present a rare collection by photographic pioneer Eugène Atget, an artist “whose documentary vision of Paris was highly influential to artists across the globe, inspiring everyone from Man Ray to Ansel Adams.” Originally owned by American photographer Berenice Abbott, an early champion of Atget, these photographs were in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York before finding their way to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This forty-two-lot auction “is a stunning display of Atget’s ability to capture Paris’ rapidly changing architecture and culture in the early twentieth century.” “The Museum is pleased to partner with Hindman on this distinguished sale of photographs by Atget, the proceeds of which will support our future photography acquisitions,” Malcolm Daniel, curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts says. “With a rich collection of more than 150 other works by Atget at the museum, we believe the photographs offered here will be more widely seen and appreciated elsewhere, becoming beloved highlights of other personal or public collections.” Bidding for the December 6 auction will be available in-person at Hindman’s Chicago saleroom, via telephone, absentee bid and online via Hindman’sDigital Bid Room.
EXPO Chicago Curatorial Initiatives Announced
EXPO Chicago has announced an expanded curatorial initiatives program for the tenth anniversary edition, which runs April 13–16, 2023 in Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. In partnership with Independent Curators International, EXPO will host its ninth Curatorial Forum, gathering over forty curators from across the country to discuss accessibility, community engagement, labor conditions and new ways of working with artists, featuring both public and closed-door sessions throughout the week. The Curatorial Forum presents an environment for professional development, exchange and collaborations throughout the art and museum ecosystems. A list of participants to date is here. More here.
DESIGN
A Glimpse Of The Original Marina City Marketing Book
Curator Sarah Gaventa unearthed a lovely oddity: “The most beautiful marketing book ever, ‘Marina City: A City Within a City,’ published 1962 for Bertrand Goldberg’s masterpiece. Plan for 24-Hour Urban Living which includes a fifty-four-lane bowling alley, marina for 700 small boats and what I consider essential—an outdoor sculpture garden. Its flower petal design produces progressively expanding space to the outer window walls . Note apartments have dressing table and ‘vanitory’ Textolite countertops, asphalt tile floors, garbage disposal unit in each kitchen and a house physician.” (Colorful design content at the link.)
“The Belden-Stratford apartment building in Lincoln Park was designed for an elite crowd,” writes David Roeder at the Sun-Times. “Courtesy of a top-to-bottom renovation backed by billionaire Joe Mansueto, it soon will have a new introduction in high society.” The 209-unit luxury apartment building reopens in January. “Mansueto’s investment firm, Mansueto Office, acquired it in late 2018, paying $106 million. The renovation began in earnest last year… Rents start around $3,000 a month for a studio and go up to almost $8,000 for three bedrooms.”
“Target: Rats” Game Launches
Transit Tees, a creative group that designs Chicago-focused products and games, will launch the “Target: Rats” game, the first board game inspired by back-alley rat warning posters known to Chicagoans. “Chicago has been named the rat capital of the nation for the eighth year in a row,” so “this game is perfect for adults who enjoy a challenging, eat-or-be-eaten strategy game peppered with references to Chicago culture and urban history. Each player is on a mission to multiply their rat family, build new nests, and be crowned Da Big Cheese, the rat ruler who sits atop a golden throne of Chicago deep-dish pizza. To multiply, rats must scurry around the surface in search of Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, tamales and other delicacies left in the dumpster… Designed with a nostalgic graphic style, the game includes dozens of references to Chicago traditions.” Sign up for the November 17 launch at Emporium Logan Square here.
Supreme Opening Chicago Outlet This Week
An outlet of Supreme opens on November 10 at 1438 North Milwaukee, reports Hypebeast. Rumors of Virgil Abloh-inspired launch merchandise are still unconfirmed.
Macy’s To Invest $30 Million In Minority-Owned Businesses
“Small-business owners may have a new avenue to secure that kind of financing,” reports the New York Times. “Macy’s, the largest department store in the United States, plans to invest $30 million over the next five years into three financing channels meant to support businesses run by people from underrepresented groups in the retail industry. It is working with Momentus Capital, which will oversee the loan fund. The retailer, which brought in $25 billion in annual revenue in 2021, said total financing for these programs would equal $200 million.”
Chicago’s Committee On Design Shaping City’s Development
“Chicago developers worried last year that construction projects would face bureaucratic snarls after city planners added a layer to the approval process. Builders already had to run a gantlet of officials on several commissions and committees, as well as City Council. Some now had to face the Committee on Design, a panel of experts who would critique designs and press developers to make improvements,” reports the Tribune. “Although none of the several dozen projects analyzed by the committee since its first public monthly meeting in August 2021 have started construction, most have marched steadily toward full City Council approval and several developers are ready to begin construction over the next few months.” The twenty-four-member committee is “helping shape what Chicagoans will experience when they walk through new developments, and the committee’s influence is likely to grow as it focuses attention on the most important projects. That includes new towers in Fulton Market and affordable housing developments in neighborhoods historically ignored by investors.”
DINING & DRINKING
Old Fashioned Donuts Celebrates Half-Century In Roseland
“Lines of customers came out to celebrate Old Fashioned Donuts,” reports Block Club. “The secret behind the shop’s success: Burritt Bulloch, its eighty-four-year-old owner, who still makes the doughnuts by hand.”
Chef Nelli Maltezos Joins Robert’s Pizza As Chef De Cuisine
Chef Nelli Maltezos has joined Robert’s Pizza & Dough Co. as chef de cuisine. “We’ve been working together in the kitchen since earlier this summer and the passion and creativity she has is truly remarkable,” owner Robert Garvey says in a release. Maltezos was executive chef for Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises for nearly a decade, most recently with Mon Ami Gabi. Her career began in the early 1990s as a volunteer in Charlie Trotter’s kitchen, “an experience that forged Nelli to become the restaurateur she is today.” She joined Robert’s Pizza over the summer, where “she created menu items incorporating seasonal ingredients, from peaches to softshell crabs. As chef de cuisine, she is responsible for working closely with Robert on menu development, especially seasonal specials, as well as overseeing all aspects of the kitchen.” More here.
Steve Dolinsky Dubs “Sandwich Triangle”
Steve Dolinsky has identified a Chicago Sandwich Triangle on the North Side, covering parts of Irving Park, Avondale and Logan Square. The shops: JT’s Genuine Sandwich Shop in Irving Park; TriBecca’s Sandwich Shop on Belmont; and Loaf Lounge in Avondale.
Liva Opens At Chicago Winery
Chef Andrew Graves’ “Modern Chicago Menu” has opened at Liva, the new restaurant at City Winery, alongside a “playful” cocktail program. “Graves’ menu reflects his Midwest bona fides alongside his passion for the region’s products, purveyors and farms, including Slagel, Kilgus, Nichols and Werp Farms and Wisconsin’s Superior Fresh aquaculture. Deriving its name from the Scandinavian word ‘liv’ meaning ‘life,’ the restaurant is inspired by the joy of the journey–a place to gather with family and friends to celebrate the ordinary and the extraordinary in life.” More here.
FILM & TELEVISION
“Chicago Fire” Co-Creator-Showrunner Leaves After A Decade
Showrunner Derek Haas, who began with Wolf Entertainment in 2011, is leaving Chicago after “launching ‘Chicago Fire’ (and the ‘One Chicago’ franchise) alongside co-creator Michael Brandt in 2012. He serves as executive producer and co-showrunner on the procedural, currently in its eleventh season… He is an executive producer on spinoffs ‘Chicago P.D.’ and ‘Chicago Med,’ which are airing their tenth and eighth seasons, respectively,” reports Variety. “‘I learned everything I know about storytelling, pace, characters, production values, and hiring the best cast, crews, and staffs from Dick Wolf and Peter Jankowski, and as hard as it is to leave a place you love and have called home for over a decade, including incredible support from Universal Television, NBC and CBS, I look forward to building my own brand in entertainment,” Haas says in a statement.
Japanese Production Pictures Chicago
Coyote Sun Productions and Across and Between Pictures, two internationally focused Chicago production companies, have partnered with Tokyo’s Roji Inc. producer Ei Sei Shu and award-winning Japanese director Tetsuya Mariko (“Destruction Babies,” “From Miyamoto To You”) on a Chicago-set feature film, “Runup.” Scheduled for production in the fall of 2023, the filmmakers began shooting a short version of the movie last week. “Chicago is a global city full of global stories,” Yuki Sakamoto Solomon, “Runup” producer and president of Coyote Sun Productions says in a release. “And we’re thrilled to work with these talented filmmakers in bringing this powerful story to life here in Chicago.” “Runup” cowriter and Across and Between Pictures founder Gregory Collins says “‘Runup’ explores connections across and between different people from different parts of the world who crash into each other in Chicago. It’s a film that takes Chicago to the world and that brings the world to Chicago.”
MEDIA
Phony Newspapers Persist In Illinois
The publishers of controversial mailings with heavy political messaging targeting Democratic Governor Pritzker “are able to avoid disclosure requirements covering campaign committees,” writes Lynn Sweet at the Sun-Times. “In the days before the November 8 election, along with routine political pitches, an avalanche of so-called ‘newspapers’ produced by GOP partisans who do not reveal their financial backers is flooding the mailboxes of Illinois voters.” The campaign circulars “sent to Illinois voters—with fuzzy lines between journalism and what amounts to political messaging—and attacking Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker with negative stories—have been faulted for spreading misinformation and disinformation about Democrats.” The Columbia Journalism Review took a look at the pattern in an October article.
More Newspapers Cease Being Newspapers
“We will no longer publish The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, Press-Register and Mississippi Press beginning in March of next year to focus on becoming an all-digital operation,” reports Alabama’s AL.com. “Our commitment to local reporting in the state’s three largest cities remains unrivaled. And we are investing in efforts to deepen our local coverage, adding more journalists and creating a new team of city-focused investigative reporters. In short, journalism in Alabama will continue to thrive.”
Texas Tribune Co-Founder To Emerson Collective To Push Local News
“Evan Smith, the CEO and co-founder of the Texas Tribune, will be a senior advisor to Emerson, which has emerged as one of the top funding sources for local newsrooms, with more than $60 million in grants to journalism nonprofits since 2016,” reports Semafor’s Ben Smith.
How Much Money Should Foundations Give Journalism Intermediaries Anyway?
Excellent work is being done to support nonprofit journalism, writes Richard Tofel at NiemanLab, “from building networks and collaborations to offering shared resources to assembling benchmark data and market research to individualized coaching.” He worries “about whether they may be getting out of scale to what I see as the even more pressing need for funding nonprofit news organizations directly.” He wonders “if more good might have been done by directing much of institutional foundations’ money instead to the most deserving news nonprofits—both those with proven track records of excellence and convincing plans for the future AND those with exciting ideas, innovative models and promising leadership.”
Project Veritas Booted From Indianapolis Journalism Convention
“An exhibitor was asked to leave the convention floor at MediaFest22 on opening day, October 27, two hours after the expo hall opened,” the Society of Professional Journalists says in a release of its Indianapolis convocation. The group in question was Project Veritas, which has posted one of its trademark videos online about the event. “SPJ refunded its exhibitor fee, which included three registrations. The registration fee for an additional employee was also refunded. SPJ is making sure its policies and procedures for approving convention exhibitors are properly applied to ensure similar situations do not happen again. SPJ leaders have been reviewing and monitoring the situation while balancing legal considerations. The organization has taken steps, and will continue taking steps, to ensure the safety of its staff.”
MUSIC
Anonymous Hideout Insiders Offer Context On Allegations Of Racism And Abuse
“On Halloween, The Hideout owners announced that they were shutting down the bar for the rest of the year,” posts journalist and Streetsblog Chicago co-editor John Greenfield, “noting that ‘in the last two weeks, a large number of our upcoming bookings have been canceled.’ They said they had a goal of reopening in 2023 ‘with new leadership, and a commitment to a healthy, supportive and respectful organizational culture.’ However, it’s not obvious that, after surviving long pandemic closures, the bar can endure additional months with no revenue… As for [Mykele] Deville’s assertion that he experienced racism and workplace abuse at The Hideout, I basically agree with an assessment by Philip Montoro, music editor of the Chicago Reader… Regarding the booker’s ‘perceptions of a hostile or racist work culture,’ Montoro wrote that it would be a mistake to tell ‘the person who experienced racism that he did not actually experience it…’ That’s generally sound advice for non-African American folks like myself. As a person who has never personally experienced anti-Black racism, it’s not my place to say his belief that he was exploited due to the color of his skin is ‘wrong.'” Greenfield writes that there has been “zero previous investigative reporting on the circumstances behind Deville’s departure… I’ve been vocal on social media about the questions raised by Deville’s post, and my disappointment with the lack of investigative reporting on the subject. I’ve also vented about the many, many otherwise-intelligent people who seem to have made a final judgment about whether The Hideout is worth saving, or if its owners deserve a permanent stain on their reputations, based on one unhappy ex-worker’s Insta post,” he writes. [Greenfield’s post was originally a Google doc, and is now posted in a Medium version here.]
STAGE
Northwestern Theater Lacks Racial Diversity
“Students and faculty address lack of racial diversity in Northwestern theater,” reports the Daily Northwestern., and “discuss potential solutions to challenges.”
PlayMakers Laboratory Presents “25 Years of Students’ Stories”
PlayMakers Laboratory celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary of arts education in Chicago schools with “25 Years of Students’ Stories,” in two public performances featuring stories written by Chicago youth. For twenty-five years, PlayMakers Laboratory has provided vital arts education by conducting creative writing residencies in Chicago elementary schools. An ensemble of professional actors, comedians and musicians bring the young authors’ stories to life as sketches, songs and movement pieces, performing first for students in their schools and then for the public. All proceeds benefit the group’s ongoing arts education initiatives. Monday, December 5, 6:30pm and 8:30pm, Neo-Futurist Theater, 5153 North Ashland. $25 tickets here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Chicago Karaoke Winner Called
“Jason E. Jackson won Chicago’s first citywide karaoke contest Sunday night at Park West. His formula; sing opera,” reports the Sun-Times. “Jackson’s renditions of ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness and a show-stopping performance of the opera aria ‘Nessun Dorma’ that brought the crowd to its feet earned him bragging rights and a $5,000 prize presented by Mayor Lightfoot—who sang ‘Dancing in the Street’ by Martha and the Vandellas as the judges deliberated.”
Puppeteer With Racist Act At Touché Retires Black Puppet
More on the racist ventriloquist act at the anniversary event for leather bar Touché: “Puppeteer Jerry Halliday compared dropping the racist puppet from his act to the Rolling Stones retiring the song ‘Brown Sugar’ after criticism it presented a sexualized view of Black women,” reports Block Club Chicago. “I continue with my other puppets full speed ahead,” he tells the site.
Today In The Culture, October 11, 2022: Chicago's Top Art Collectors | Keanu Exits Devil In The White City | Tribune to End Endorsements ART Chicagoans Mark ARTnews' "Top 200 Collectors" List ARTnews' annual Top 200 Collectors list is out; the extensive profiles of Chicago notables include Anita Blanchard and Martin Nesbitt (profile); Barbara Bluhm-Kaul and Don Kaul (profile); Denise and Gary Gardner (profile); Liz and Eric Lefkofsky (profile); Alec Litowitz and Jennifer Leischner (profile); George Lucas and Mellody Hobson (profile); and Penny Pritzker and Bryan Traubert (profile). Ex-Chicagoans…
