There are only 24 usable hours in every day. You could spend at least 23.5 of those hours looking at art this weekend and not see it all. Even with the dozens of events happening, here are the hand-picked selections from all of us at Sixty Inches From Center. If you want more, be sure to check out the links at the bottom to the guides we follow.
FRIDAY || June 24, 2011
Where is Where: AIDO and Fashion Graduate Exhibition
This weekend is the last chance you have to see the works of recent MFA graduates from the Fashion and Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects departments of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Free and open to the public, the show is a great opportunity to look the future of design.
Sullivan Galleries
33 S. State St., 7th floor
11am – 6pm
Free
Dance Dorchester
The Dr. Wax Collection + The Dorchester Project = A great way to spend your Friday night. Not only will you be able to dance the night away to the curated playlist of the DJ-in-residence Ayana Contreras, but you will also get to explore the collection of rescued books, the original slides of University of Chicago’s art history department and how rescued materials are shaping this space to be an extraordinary architectural and cultural treasure of Chicago. (If you don’t know about the Dorchester Project, check out this great article in the Chicago Reader.)
Dorchester Projects
6916 S. Dorchester
7pm – 10pm
Free (BYOB and BYOF to share)
PLUGGED OUT: new works by Salvador Jiménez Flores
This experimental mixed-media installation highlights the reliance of modern humanity on technological innovations. In this digital age, we have become wholly dependent on devices that can be plugged in. Our jobs, our social lives and even our food production—all aspects of our existence rely on technology. We are so intertwined with our iPhones and Androids it is as though we are becoming like them. This hardwiring of our hearts and minds will surely rob us of our humanity.
Antena
1765 S. Laflin St.
6pm – 10pm
Free
CTRL // new works by MICHAEL SIRIANNI
CTRL is an experiment in webcam culture, S&M and art making. Participants offer submission. Sirianni offers direction. Together they negotiate the limits of their virtual interactions, as shown in this new collection of photographs and videos. Erotics and aesthetics compete in hard-on clad collaborations.
Johalla Projects
1561 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd Floor
7pm – 10pm
Free
Clown Soldier as ‘The Human Cannon Ball’: A Living Person Shot Through Space With Violent Velocity from the Mouth of a Monster Cannon
Clown Soldier is an explosion of absurdity wheat-pasted onto a wall near you. Plunging into the outer depths of the concrete jungle, firing a juxtaposition of images and landing in the urban street art scene. The incongruity inside the images reflects the incongruity outside the images: art in and of the urban landscape. The artist is interested in chance and the role chance plays in his work. Cut up and re-appropriation is the ever-present theme. His style is both easily recognizable and beyond the purview of recognizable narrative.
Pawn Works
1050 N. Damen Ave
7pm – 11pm
Free
Cut, Bit and Curious: New work by Rebekka Federle, Julia Vodrey Hendrickson, and Liz Wolf
Spudnik describes it best: “Cut, Bit and Curious presents new work by three artists working with little more than paper, press and blade. The artists utilize traditional practice as a means to play with the process and perception of visual narrative. Pairing ephemera with contemporary context, the densely composed group of work seeks a balance between poetic and whimsical themes with surreal and melancholic harmony.” Check out the latest show at Spudnik and you may conjure up your inner printmaker.
Spudnik Press Cooperative
1821 W Hubbard, Suite 302
7pm – 9pm
Free
Lantern Fly Sex Cure: New Insect Drawings by Lauren Levato
A collection of new drawings from “bug-lady” Lauren Levato – longhorn and stag beetles, butterflies, and the lantern fly too! Learn what the lantern fly sex cure is. There will be a special screening of The Three Organizations of L.R. Levato, a collaborative film by Chris Hefner, featuring Lauren’s three collections (including insects), poet Dave Snyder, professional interlocutor Megan Larmer, and soundscapist Tommy Jansen.
Firecats Projects
2124 N. Damen
7pm – 10pm
Free
SATURDAY || June 25, 2011
ACRE Block Party
It was an amazing year for ACRE and as the inaugural series of residencies and exhibitions come to a close (the final exhibit being Running Room at A+D Gallery), what better way to celebrate than with a block party? No cover, free stuff, cheap drinks and art (of course). Starting at 6pm there will be performances by Golden Birthday, Pooper, and Pizza Dog. Also, work will be available for purchase from Alex Chitty, Ben Driggs, Scott Fortino, Jenny Kendler, Irena Knezevic, Kyla Rafert, Jennifer Ray, Daniel Shea, Anna Shteynshleyger, Victor Yañez-Lazcano and Scott Whipkey.
ACRE Projects
1913 W 17th Street
12pm – 8pm
Free
Babies. Babies. No Babies. (armpit)
With a title like “Babies. Babies. No Babies. (armpit)”, this is surely a must-see show. Cameron Crawford employs materials from mint floss to wing nuts to create his elaborate installation pieces. Crawford recently had a show at New Capital in Chicago and if you missed it, be sure to attend the opening of his newest exhibition.
Peregrineprogram
500 W. Cermak Rd., #727
5pm – 8pm
Free
Di Una Sola Notte
Indulge your senses fully in an artistically erotic experience, featuring live nude body painting, classic vintage short films, photography, and brilliant work from Brittany Steiner, Gabriel Karaganis, Ginger Peach, Isis Rose, Arturo Lopez, Richard Bloomfield, Ivan Garcia, Shea Cahill, Eva Maria Villalobos, Muyassar Kurdi, Yada Chava, and Carrie Moonchild Thomas.
RGB Lounge
1420 N. Milwaukee Ave.
7pm – 11pm
Free
Hecho en Casa/Homemade: Home Remedy Workshops
This event marks the final in the Home Remedy Workshop Series. For Culinary & Medical Uses of House Plants artist Vanessa Smith will forage for beautiful plants among the weeds of Chicago, and bring them into the project space incrementally to become house plants. She will give a tour of them to the visitors, touching on their history, culinary and medical uses. Then, at 1pm, James Kubie will lead the workshop Southern Folk Medicine/Herbal Candies, which explores how to make herbal candies used in traditional southern folk medicine.
Cobalt Studio
1950 W. 21st St Storefront
11am – 4pm
Free
SUNDAY || June 26, 2011
Facets Multi-Media presents PRIVATE CENTURY
Close your weekend right–grab a drink and a flick this Sunday night at Maria’s for the second in an eight-part film screening of Private Century, which tells the stories of Czech citizens through a mix of early to mid twentieth century home movies, still photographs, letters, and diaries.
Maria’s Packaged Goods & Community Bar
960 W 31st St.
5pm – 8pm
Free
//THERE’S ALWAYS MORE//
