For more information, see the event website.

This afternoon symposium explores these questions through literature, experimental theater, and visual art. Opening with an introduction by MCA Pritzker Director and Luc Tuymans co-curator Madeleine Grynsztejn, the program features a reading by writer Aleksandar Hemon; a conversation with members of the performance group Superamas; and a conversation with artist Luc Tuymans led by curator and writer Hamza Walker.

Over the span of three weeks DYNAMO project-space in Thessaloniki, Greece and Spoke in Chicago, U.S.A. will host the commencement of dialogue between selected artists. The conversation will spring from an open, collaborative process and will be used to identify topics relevant to the group. Invited curators, artists and historians will lead discussions during weekends for the duration of the DYNAMO exhibition.

Initially, artists will display past work at DYNAMO, while an exchange of knowledge, ideas, and influences will spur each artist to create new work in response to discussion, as they each contend with where they situate themselves politically in contemporary culture and within their historical past. The exhibition space will reflect the organic nature of conversation, continually evolving and displaying evidence of discussions along side with both past and newly created work. The process will be evident, presented at DYNAMO just before the end of the exhibition.

Organized by Rachel Moore. Artist participants include Lena Athanasopoulou, Kim DeBord & Rachel Moore, Monica Herrera, Georgia Kotretsos, Areti Leopoulou & Theofanis Nouskas, Dimitris Michalaros, Jeroen Nelemans, Shannon Schmidt, Briana Schweizer, Hui-min Tsen, Chryse Tsiota and Vasilis Zografos. Guest participants include Stephanie Bertrand, Ellen Rothenberg, Syrago Tsiara and Shannon Stratton.

In conjunction with AREA Chicago‘s ninth issue, Peripheral Vision, Pedagogy of the Periphery will focus on the history, practice and theory of radical pedagogy inside and outside institutions. Together, educators and students will discuss pedagogical practices, broadly defined—their optimism, obstacles, methods, pleasures, and frustrations—with both short informal presentations and time for group discussion. Some discussion questions will be submitted in advance by students, however there will be flexibility to address current events as needed (such as, campus uprisings happening in California, Europe, and elsewhere).

This free event allows people not attending the conference to benefit from a sampling of visiting speakers. It is not conceived as anti-CAA, but happens alongside the conference to illustrate the fact that some conversations are easier to hold outside the professional machine.

Presenters include Dara Greenwold, Eve Ewing, Nicole Marroquin, Gregg Sholette, Bert Stabler and Liz Mason-Deese and Tim Stallmann of the Counter-Cartographies Collective.

Space is limited. Please RSVP to sarah@gogoweb.com.

The winter solstice is a time of rebirth, manifestation of ideas, and new beginnings. This final event in the Orientation Center space, on the eve of the solstice, will gather friends and supporters together to talk about how place and nourishment intertwine with creative practice.

The evening will feature presentations by and about two artists whose work relates to both themes. Jim Duignan of the Stockyard Institute will be talking about the work and life of his longtime collaborator Michael Piazza, to whom this symposium is dedicated. Piazza worked tirelessly to nourish the people and neighborhoods around him, especially those whose voices tend to be ignored and marginalized. Sarah Kavage, InCUBATE’s Michael Piazza resident, will be discussing her project-in-progress Industrial Harvest: an exploration of growth, exchange and rebirth in three Acts. Industrial Harvest will begin with the purchase of 1000 bushels of wheat on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The wheat will be distributed around the Chicago area in a series of events that will transform this “commodity” back into something that is nourishing and enriching – its true nature. Rather than an investment by a broker, this wheat will become an investment in people and places.

For additional details, including the schedule of events, see the InCUBATE website.

Accidental Publics is organized by Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sculpture Department, and co-sponsored by the Departments of Performance and Arts Administration at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It will include presentations by invited artists as well as faculty, students, and alumni of area colleges and universities. Presentations will focus on specific works that have been realized and have had a public life. Please visit the website of Northwestern’s Department of Art Theory and Practice for additional information as the event approaches.

Accidental Publics is organized by Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sculpture Department, and co-sponsored by the Departments of Performance and Arts Administration at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It will include presentations by invited artists as well as faculty, students, and alumni of area colleges and universities. Presentations will focus on specific works that have been realized and have had a public life. Please visit the website of Northwestern’s Department of Art Theory and Practice for additional information as the event approaches.