Our Art Picks are created in collaboration with The Visualist, Chicago’s leading visual arts calendar, and cross-promoted through Windy City Times, one of the longest locally-published LGBTQ weeklies with a national reach. Click here to get our Art Picks and latest articles delivered to your inbox monthly.
This is a growing list, so check back often for new additions.
Featured
Thurs, May 11, 6pm
Wrote Two: An Open Forum for Arts Writers
ACRE Projects (1345 W 19th St)
Free
Sat, May 13, 1-3pm
Community Archiving + Volunteer Orientation with Read/Write Library
As part of the Chicago Archives + Artists Festival
Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Washington St.)
Free
Fri, May 19, 6pm
Archive Lovers Cocktail Hour + Film Screening with On The Real Film + Media Burn
Kick-off for the Chicago Archives + Artists Festival
Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Washington St.)
Free
Sat-Sun, May 20 -21, 11am – 3pm each day
Chicago Archives + Artists Festival
Hosted by Sixty Inches From Center
Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Garfield Blvd)
Free
Fri-Sun, May 19-21st
Latinx Artists Retreat
Home-base at Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Washington St.)
Free, but registration required
Sat, May 20, 1pm
Triptych Unloose
Curated by JGV/WAR and Cecilia Vargas
Chicago Cultural Center Michigan Avenue Galleries (78 E Washington St)
Free
May Art Picks
Mon, May 1, 6-9pm
Summit: What is an Artistic Practice of Human Rights?
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St)
Free
Mon, May 1, 4-6pm
Between Realism and Materialism
The Franke Institute for the Humanities (1100 E 57th St)
Free
Tues, May 2, 4-6pm
Marc Fischer: Disobedient Publishers from Mexico
Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection (37 S Wabash Ave, Ste 508)
Free
Tues, May 2, 7pm
2017 Dr. Margaret Burroughs Centennial Film Series
DuSable Museum of African American History
Free
Tues, May 2, 6-7pm
MCA Studio: Protest Bound: Artist’s Books for Resistance
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (220 E. Chicago Ave)
Free
Wed, May 3, 4-6pm
Blackbox: An Afrofuturist Opus
Student Union Galleries | SUGs (37 S Wabash Ave)
Free
Wed, May 3, 6:30-7:30pm
In-Session Five: Patricia Nguyen, Chris Xopal + Justin Zullo, Haydee Souffrant, Jennifer Ligaya
Navy Pier (600 E Grand Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 4, 6-8pm
Public Newsroom #16: The TRiiBE—Another Life
Build Coffee (6100 S Blackstone Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 4, 6-9pm
Sexual Violence Prevention Community Meeting and Skillshare
Hume (3242 W Armitage Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 4, 6:30-9pm
Warm Data
Sector 2337 (2337 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 4, 6:30-9pm
Up Close & Personal with Ledisi
Chicago Cultural Center (78 E Washington St)
Free
Thurs, May 4, 7pm
Connectivity – 20 x 20 Slideshow Night
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art (2320 W Chicago Ave)
Free
Fri + Sat, May 5-6
Chicago Zine Fest
Co-Prosperity Sphere (3219 S Morgan St) and Plumbers Union Hall (1340 W Washington Blvd)
Free
Fri, May 5, 6pm
Love Movement: Max Sansing & Sentrock
Elephant Room Gallery (704 S Wabash Av)
Free
Fri, May 5, 5-8pm
Robert Burnier: So That Justice Should Be Tyrant // Council
Andrew Rafacz Gallery (835 W Washington Blvd)
Free
Fri, May 5, 5:30-10:30pm
Nasty Women Art Chicago
Moonlight Studios (1446 W Kinzie St)
Free
Fri, May 5, 6-8pm
GrassRoots
Woman Made Gallery (685 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Fri, May 5, 6-9pm
Out of Body
ACRE (1345 W 19th St)
Free
Fri, May 5, 6-9pm
RESPECTability
Plus Gallery Chicago (1800 W 18th St, 1R)
Free
Fri, May 5, 6-10pm
Spring Thing ’17
Greenleaf Art Center (1806 W Greenleaf Ave)
Free
Fri, May 5, 7-10pm
Michael Slack: We’re All Weirdos, We’re All Wonderful
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery (2780 N Lincoln Ave)
Free
Sat, May 6, 10am
Chicago Free Black Women’s Library Pop-up
Stony Island Arts Bank (6760 S Stony Island Ave)
Free
Sat, May 6, 5pm
Wild Garlic
Ignition Project Space (3839 W Grand Av)
Free
Sat, May 6, 11am-12:45pm
Manifest Decks: Bringing Intention to Fruition w/Words, Images and Symbols
Rootwork Gallery (645 W 18th St)
$7
Sat, May 6, 2-7pm
BLACK To Pilsen
Plus Gallery Chicago (1800 W 18th St, 1R)
Free
Sat, May 6, 6-10pm
Word to Mother: Forgot How To Fly
Vertical Gallery (1016 N Western Ave)
Free
Sat, May 6, 6:30-8pm
Candida Alvarez and Dawoud Bey in Conversation: New York in the 80s
Part of the exhibition Candida Alvarez: Here, on view through August 6.
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater (78 E Washington St)
Free
Sat, May 6, 7pm-12am
Stoop Dreams
Ageless Arts Tattoo & Body Piercing Studios (2407 S Kedzie Ave)
Free
Sat, May 6, 7pm-12am
Universal Love
Heaven Gallery (1550 N Milwaukee Ave)
$5
Mon, May 8, 6pm
Bethany Collins Lecture
Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St)
Free
Wed, May 10, 6pm
Lecture in Photography: Charlotte Cotton
Mana Contemporary Chicago (2233 S Throop St)
Free
Thurs, May 11, 6:30-9pm
Action Books Live
Sector 2337 (2337 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 11, 7-8pm
Gabourey Sidibe: This is Just My Face
Francis W. Parker School (2233 N Clark St)
$10-15
Fri + Sat, May 12-13
Little Village #IncreaseThePeace Campout
St Agnes of Bohemia Church (2651 S. Central Park. Ave)
Free
Fri, May 12, 6pm
Standards Variance
Public Access (3306 W. North Ave.)
Free
Fri, May 12, 6pm
PIEZO
Demo Projects (732 N 4th St, Springfield, IL)
Free
*Featured as part of our Regional partnerships.
Fri, May 12, 6:30-9pm
Protest Archives: Angela Davis Fegan + Lisa Vinebaum
Sector 2337 (2337 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Fri, May 12, 7:30-9pm
Morgan Parker with Jamila Woods, Nate Marshall and José Olivarez
Women & Children First Bookstore (5233 N Clark St)
Free
Sat, May 13, 6pm
The Dangerous Professors
2055 W Cermak Rd.
Free
Sat, May 13, 4-6pm
ChicaGO24: Street Art and Graffiti Tour
Galerie F (2145 N Milwaukee Ave)
Free
Sat, May 13, 7-11pm
2017 Crystal Ball
Chicago Art Department (1932 S Halsted St)
$25-1,000
Sat, May 13-15
Lake Walk With Balas & Wax
Threewalls (Lincoln Park: Sheridan Rd & Ardmore Ave)
Free
Sun, May 14, 3pm
Adam Farcus: Protest Song
Project 1612 (1612 West Margaret Ave., Peoria, IL)
Free
*Featured as part of our Regional partnerships.
Sun, May 14, 5-6pm
Palestinian Comics: Stories from the homeland to the diaspora
Build Coffee (6100 S Blackstone Ave)
Free
May 14-29
Chicago Home Theater Festival
Homes throughout Chicago
Free-$65
Thurs, May 18, 6-10pm
Public Newsroom #18: Timuel Black on the Art of Oral History
Build Coffee (6100 S Blackstone Ave)
Free
Thurs, May 18, 7-10pm
CAC’s Annual Benefit: Work In Progress
Venue One Chicago (1044 W Randolph St)
$50-250
Fri, May 19, 7:30pm
Ayako Kato: Swathe (the Rage of Kasane)
Links Hall (3111 N Western Ave)
$10-15
May 20-21
Body + Camera Festival
Mana Contemporary Chicago (2233 S Throop St)
Free
Sat, May 20, 6pm
Dear Diary
Peanut Gallery (902 N. California ave)
Free
Sat, May 20, 3-5pm
Nappy: 20th Anniversary Screening of a pioneering documentary
Rootwork Gallery (645 W 18th Street)
Free
Sat + Sun, May 20 + 21st
Body and Camera Festival
Mana Contemporary (2233 S Throop St)
Free
Thurs, May 25, 6-8pm
Little Sister: An Afro-Temporal Solo-Play
DePaul Art Museum (935 W Fullerton Ave)
Free
Fri, May 26, 6-9pm
In Your Head
Chicago Artists Coalition (217 N Carpenter St)
Free
Fri, May 26, 7-10pm
The Luna Blues Machine
18th Street Brewery (5417 Oakley Ave, Hammond, IN)
Free
Sat, May 27
Cauleen Smith: Human_3.0 Reading List
The Art Institute of Chicago (111 S Michigan Ave)
Free with museum admission
Fri, May 28, 6-9pm
Underground Comedy Night at WORLDPLAY
Produce Model Gallery (1007 W 19th St, Ste 1)
Free
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Featured Image by Terry R. Myers for Candida Alvarez’s exhibition Here, currently on view at the Chicago Cultural Center through August 6th.
