Visual Arts
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Michael Abramson: Pulse of the Night.
What goes on at small clubs is ephemeral by nature: society created and dismantled night after night. A delicate hierarchy composed of drifters, dreamers, and those simply longing to escape. In the mid 1970s, a young white student, Michael Abramson, worked his way into the world of largely black South Side Chicago clubs. He brought…
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Join Ayana Contreras: Monkey Hustlin’ in Chicago.
I will be hosting a film screening of 1976’s Monkey Hustle at the Black Cinema House on Sunday, June 9th at 6pm. We will watch the film (which was shot mere blocks from where we’ll be watching it), and then discuss it. Monkey Hustle – hosted by Ayana Contreras Black Cinema House 6901 S. Dorchester…
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Opera-Matic’s New Moon on the Lagoon
In this audio piece, I eavesdrop on rehearsals for Opera-matic’s very cool New Moon on the Lagoon, an “evening lullaby parade”, featuring a 15 foot tall giant moon that will be lit up from within by projections of facial expressions. It’ll be happening Friday May 10th and 11th, 2013 at the Humboldt Park Lagoon in…
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Dreams in Jay-Z Minor: The Intersection of Visual Art + Excess + Lyrics
Visual Artists Amanda Williams + Krista Franklin have collaborated on “Dreams in Jay-Z Minor”, a new exhibition at Blanc Gallery in Bronzeville running October 5, 2012 – December 29, 2012. Connected by dual recurring dreams of Jay-Z, Williams and Franklin explore the natures of upward mobility, excess, fantasy, and hip-hop luxury. In their works they…
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Sundown in K-Town: North Lawndale Documentary Festival
Sundown in K-Town Teaser from BetterBoys Foundation on Vimeo. Better Boys Foundation (BBF) and Facets Multi-Media announce a film festival comprised of a series of social documentaries screened outside in the inner courtyard of the BBF Center at 1512 S. Pulaski Road . These groundbreaking documentaries such as The Murder of Fred Hampton (pictured at…
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Record Store: where you can’t buy anything, but you can listen to everything.
I’ll be spinning for the opening of this… The record store is completely modular and made to encourage the kind of listening-based cultural interchange that makes record stores awesome. Over 4,000 records on loan from community members’ collections. None of them are for sale, but visitors can listen to them all: from “Belly Dancing Favorites”…
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Dorchester Projects: presenting a home movie film festival for the south side.
(above, taken by me during Dorchester Projects’ Summer Daycamp, 2011) The last installment of The Dorchester Projects’ Outdoor Home Movie Film Festival is this Thursday, August 11th at 9pm and will feature Live Musical Accompaniment… Sounds like a fantastic way to spend the last little chump change of summer. Organizers request you RSVP to dorchester.projects@gmail.com.…
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Mark Bradford at the MCA: exercises in community, texture, and collaboration
So, I am totally late on this one… which is inexcusable really, because I was at the Opening of the exhibition. Least I could have done is pub it. But, alas…. Mark Bradford‘s Exhibition currently on view at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art is a Retrospective that really gives a sense of the artist’s use of layers…
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Theaster Gates’ Dorchester Projects
What do you get when you mix a maverick artist with strong community ties and an Urban Planner? For one thing, Theaster Gates. For another, the Dorchester Projects, pictured above. Theaster has been purchasing properties in the Woodlawn/Grand Crossing neighborhood for a few years now, and has quietly acquired the stock of the former Dr. Wax record…
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The Return of Captain EO: This was it.
Hot off the presses.. Captain EO will be reopen at the Epcot Center (at Walt Disney World) this July. The ride/film short directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring Michael Jackson was originally opened in 1986 and closed in 1994 amidst allegations of abuse. The film was definitely a highlight of my family’s trip to…
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