The Art of Cultural Fusion: A Conversation with Gitte Bog
The art world is a small world. As we move through it, it tends to shrink more and more. This was made clear when I found myself in conversation with Danish artist Gitte Bog. She was in town for two days completing two ongoing projects with parts that started in Chicago more than a year ago. Curious about her request for a sign that read, “I am looking for participants for two art projects relating to Chicago”, and her request for permission to sit at a table in the lobby of the Chicago Cultural Center, I asked her about her projects. While she described the one which was done for last year’s Vers10n Fest at the Zhou B Art Center, I realized that I had participated in it. My wrapper with its shot-in-the-dark translation of a Danish word into English was floating in the sea of colorful wrappers that she had collected over the years. Centered around language, taste and things lost in translation, the candies project is a perfect illustration of what is at …