Newcity Chicago March 2020

50 DESIGNERS OF THE MOMENT

Poured Architecture Sergio Prego on Miguel Fisac February 11–April 25, 2020 Artist Sergio Prego, inspired by the late Spanish architect Miguel Fisac’s Graham Foundation innovative architecture and construction Madlener House, 4 W Burton Place techniques, explores the possibility Free Admission to the Exhibition and synchronicity of materials and Gallery and Bookshop Hours: processes across architecture and visual Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. art through a new site-specific series of www.grahamfoundation.org sculptures and drawings. Curated by Carlos Copertone, Patxi Eguíluz, and Iker Gil. Additional support provided by a grant through the Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE) from Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), Madrid. Image: Edificio de usos sociales para las Hermanas Hospitalarias del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (social use building for the Hospital Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), Madrid, designed by Miguel Fisac, 1984. Photo: Carlos Copertone

ARTS CULTURE MARCH 2020 ART 10 Weinberg/Newton situates art 40 in our post-truth era...................................................................... Nick Cave and Bob Faust facilitate a new future DANCE Who's shaping Disciplines unite 45 Chicago now? in the vision of Qudus Onikeku..................................................... 14 DESIGN Could Be Architecture 47 transforms the McCormick House ............................................... DINING & DRINKING Porto opens up, 49 with cans of conservas.................................................................. FILM The quest 51 for strangeness ............................................................................. LIT Scoop Jackson's 54 got game ....................................................................................... MUSIC Why Sinéad O’Connor’s 57 still worth paying attention to ....................................................... S TA G E A passing of the baton 60 at Lyric Opera ............................................................................... REVIEWS A selection of our 63 MARCH 2020 Newcity latest critical weigh-ins................................................................. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL Teen Dream's life moves on....................................................................................... 66 3

THE A of miles of human hair OF MATT Left to Right: gu wenda, united nations: american code, 2019, Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA. Shi Hui, Float, 2000/2007/2013/2020, Installation view, Wrightwood 659, 2020.

ALLURE of floating rocks TER THE ALLURE OF MATTER Material Art from China Through May 3rd at the Smart Museum on Chicago’s South Side and at Wrightwood 659 on the North Side. Featuring monumental artworks created from radically unconventional materials. The Allure of Matter presents 45 works by 27 leading Chinese contemporary artists. theallureofmatter.org

Newcity MARCH 2020 Seven times a year we publish our “Leaders of Chicago Culture”— this month, we present the Design 50. In creating these lists, we strive to manifest a community of culture in text and images. We're often asked how we do it. Our process is a blend of art and science, or at least alchemy. We start with foundational knowledge gained through our constant presence as editors, critics and journalists in the communities we cover. Then we add to this knowledge and encourage a greater engagement of the community we're covering by reaching out to a long list of its current leaders, of past list honorees, of sure-to-be- future subjects and others in between and ask for their input. Who is on their radar? Who do we need to know about that we might not know? And so on. And then our editors, in this case Vasia Rigou, work with their writers on the difficult task of distilling it all into a cohesive whole, one that displays a community where it might otherwise not be seen. The photo shoot is where this community comes to three-dimensional life when we take pictures of fifty or so people in two three-hour sessions. It's rapid and efficient and always results in a robust serendipity of en- counters, as old friends bump into each other as they're coming and going, and new friends meet for the first time, quickly sharing life-and- art essentials, along with contact details and Instagram handles. All of this community building via photography is facilitated by a host, usually the work space of our respective “of the Moment” leaders. In this case Nick Cave and Bob Faust graciously opened their new multi-disci- plinary space, called Facility, to us. It's not only home to all of their creative endeavors, but it's also a \"creative hub for other artists, artisans, designers and architects.\" In other words, a community. When outsiders inquire about Chicago's creative life, it's the word that defines us above all else. Community. 6

This exhibition is organized by the Art Institute of Chicago; the Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais, Paris; and the Lead Corporate Sponsor OPENS MARCH 7 Musée du Louvre. Lead support for El Greco: Ambition and Defiance is generously provided by an anonymous donor. Major support is contributed by the Rhoades Fund–Julius Lewis Exhibitions Fund, Shawn M. Donnelley and Christopher M. Kelly, El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos). The Assumption of and Margot Levin Schiff and the Harold Schiff Foundation. Additional funding is provided by the Jack and Peggy Crowe Fund, the Virgin (detail), 1577–79. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Barbara and James MacGinnitie, the Prince Charitable Trusts, and Penelope and Robert Steiner. Members of the Exhibitions Nancy Atwood Sprague in memory of Albert Arnold Sprague. Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum’s operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Exhibitions Trust includes an anonymous donor; Neil Bluhm and the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation; Jay Franke and David Herro; Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr.; Kenneth Griffin; Caryn and King Harris, The Harris Family Foundation; Josef and Margot Lakonishok; Robert M. and Diane v.S. Levy; Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff; Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel; Anne and Chris Reyes; Cari and Michael J. Sacks; and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

VASIA RIGOU (Design editor and writer/editor, “Design 50” and “Designers of the Moment”) ON THE COVER Releasing our annual roster of the fifty most influential creatives in the Chicago design world Bob Faust and Nick Cave is no easy feat, but Vasia thinks this is a good thing. “It is proof that collective impact is a on location at Facility marathon,” she says, “that progress happens along the way and positive change is right Cover Photo Nathan Keay around the corner. As we kick o the next decade of creativity it’s a good time to remember Cover Design Dan Streeting that great design can change the world. The future is here.\" Vol. 35, No. 1401 NATHAN KEAY (Photographer, Cover, “Designers of the Moment” and “Design 50”) photographs Chicago’s art and design world, along with musicians, beautifully designed PUBLISHERS objects and paintings. nathankeay.com Brian & Jan Hieggelke Associate Publisher Mike Hartnett OLIVIA CANNY (Writer, “Design 50”) is a writer and section editor at F Newsmagazine, EDITORIAL and a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor Brian Hieggelke Managing Editor Jan Hieggelke BRITTANY GARRETT (Writer, “Design 50”) is a Chicago-based writer, editor and designer Art Editor Kerry Cardoza particularly interested in local independent art scenes. She has appeared in other publications Dance Editor Sharon Hoyer including American Book Review, Indianapolis Monthly and Archives Humor Magazine. Design Editor Vasia Rigou Dining and Drinking Editor ISA GIALLORENZO (Writer, “Design 50”) is a Brazilian who has lived in Chicago since 2009. David Hammond She runs a street-style blog called Chicago Looks and believes this is one of the most stylish— Film Editor Ray Pride and kindest—towns on the planet. Her four-year-old son takes a lot of her time, but she still Lit Editor Tara Betts tries to showcase her favorite local designers whenever she has a chance.  Music Editor Robert Rodi CAT STRAIN (Writer, “Design 50”) is a writer and HEA aficionado, has an MA in Arts eater Editor Kevin Greene Journalism and BA in Art History so, she usually has an opinion about something. ART & DESIGN Senior Designers Fletcher Martin, DAN STREETING and BILLY WERCH designed this issue of Newcity. Dan is a designer, Dan Streeting , Billy Werch illustrator and educator based in the Chicago area but originally from Detroit. Billy is a Designers Jim Maciukenas, Chicago designer with one leg in publishing and one in the music business. Stephanie Plenner MARKETING JUNE 2019 Marketing Manager Todd Hieggelke OPERATIONS WHO REALLY BOOKS IN CHICAGO General Manager Jan Hieggelke + EVE EWING Distribution Nick Bachmann, Adam Desantis, Preston Klik, Perfect Visions: Feb 2020 Quinn Nicholson Eleven Leaders on How the Twenties One copy of current issue free at select locations. Additional copies, including back issues up to one DTTHIHSEECCBSOIEUVTNRYEEFRAATCHEWillRoarinChicago year, may be ordered at Newcity.com/subscribe. Copyright 2020, New City Communications, Inc. Newcity_Feb_2020_final.indd 1 1/19/20 10:06 PM All Rights Reserved. May 2019 March 2018 Newcity assumes no responsibility to return unsolicited editorial or graphic material. All BreAarktiosutst rights in letters and unsolicited editorial or graphic material will be treated as unconditionally Newcity MARCH 2020 + Designer of the Moment assigned for publication and copyright purposes and subject to comment editorially. Nothing may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. Newcity is published by Newcity Communications, Inc. 47 West Polk, Suite 100-223, Chicago, IL 60605 Visit NewcityNetwork.com for advertising and editorial information. Newcity_May2019_coverFinal.indd 1 4/14/19 1:52 PM Newcity_NOV_BOC_FOB-3.indd 1 10/15/18 1:55 AM Subscribe at Newcity.com/subscribe 8

Logan Center Family Saturday: Children’s Bookathon Sat, Mar 7 2-4pm FREE Enjoy your favorite children’s books and stories. Create new tales of your own as we explore the magic of being transported to other worlds. arts.uchicago.edu/familysaturdays Logan Center Appropriate for families with 773.702.ARTS for the Arts children ages 2-12. Registration is 915 E 60th St encouraged. Free parking in lot at LoganCenterCommunityArts 60th and Drexel.

Beyond the library space, the studio is bus- tling. “The studio can fluctuate—we now have six people in here but we’ve had thirty, depending on the project. We also rearrange the space and move things around a lot,” Cave says. Taking different forms—a gallery, a design studio, a mini-factory, a common space with big-leafed plants lined up that bring the outside in—Facility has always been a transdisciplinary space, Cave says. “If it has to be in clay it has to be in clay. We can't be so bogged down in one medium that's gonna answer all the damn questions— and artists don’t do that anymore.”  2020 DESIGNERS OF THE MOMENT Cave’s energy is contagious. “There's a world out there and it's interesting how peo- ple forget that and they stay in these silos and they function within boundaries, you know? And that's why it’s so important for young people or whoever to know that the moment you get outside of that familiar com- fort zone, and into a different place or time or space or city, you see life differently.”  Newcity MARCH 2020 HERE TO With that in mind they decided to combine their studios and to move Cave’s Studio, by V A S I A R I G O U Faust Associates and $oundsuit$hop into a photos by N A T H A N K E A Y single space. “We said, why don't we take that idea to this new initiative and really plant Walking into the Facility library space you realize that it is all about nesting—burrow- it in Chicago?” says Faust. “So we named ing into a comfy spot and luxuriating in coziness. There’s a massive bookcase with the building Facility, which clearly has that books of all shapes and sizes, many of which are organized by color, creating small connotation to the old art-world Andy War- bright corners. There are chunky art books, whose commanding presence is hard to hol idea, but more importantly calling it Fa- disregard. There are spots deliberately left empty. And there are small sculptures cility, we were talking about its role as facil- throughout. A small wooden ladder leans on one side, climbing up the higher shelves. itating others,” he says. “The other thing The walls surrounding the space feature original artwork mixed with vintage treasures, that's super-cool and you notice it with every creating unexpected aesthetic combinations and as the mid-century-modern vibe is one of the titles of the shows that we've been palpable, one thing comes to mind: to curl up with a cup of coffee in one hand and a doing, is that they all have a double reading— book—any book—in the other. Nick Cave describes Facility as a stress-free studio. so you have facility as the place, you have “When you enter the building, we want there to be a warmness right when you come facility as to facilitate and you also have the in,” he says. He and Bob Faust, his partner in work and in life, have put a lot of thought idea that movement is such a big part of the into every detail. “Walking in, you would never know what’s behind those walls. You work. Dance is such a big part of the work would never know that people live upstairs,” Cave says. “That's all very important. It’s and at the core of all of that is a dancer's fa- like creativity is protected and the space becomes a sacred space. It’s important to us cility or the body—and so it has these three to maintain that.” kinds of reads within the name of the build- ing and that's where that comes from.” “Nick’s practice always had community in- volvement to some degree. And so the whole idea is to use this space as a place of oppor- tunity to these people that you see that are extraordinary that haven't had the break,” Faust says. “It’s the main hub that has sta- tioned and settled itself in Chicago, but at the same time connects to the global world,” adds Cave, who considers himself fortunate to be able to work in this vast world. (“I go into it eyes wide open but, you know, boots on the ground,” he says.) Chicago “already is this thing—the place where inventors live and so many things have been invented, I mean, historically and right now, too, this is where there's really interesting things being made in all of the design disciplines, in the art world and everything,” says Faust, who’s 10

MARCH 2020 Newcity 11

Newcity MARCH 2020 been thinking a lot about the city as a fertile says of Cave. “A lot of times, there's a fear ing—it’s downstairs but we got to go to work— ground for experimentation mostly because that if you give up some of that platform, it and we have to be very present in terms of of that Midwest mentality. “Here, you can might take away from how your own work is keeping all operations up and running. But present something and fail and Chicago still received. But Nick’s work is so strong and then we'll come up here to eat, hang out, wants to see your next go but in New York so solid, that he's able to be super-generous. chill—I can walk away from the studio in an you present, you fail, you’re done,” he says. What that does for other artists is amazing— instant, he can walk away in an instant and it’s an opportunity to make your work in and we can just hang out.” Cave sees New York as a distraction. “Here around this other work, with the only stipu- I can get quiet and getting quiet allows me lation being that you need to push yourself “In the same respect, it also never is gone or to come face-to-face with a lot of truth and to do something that you're not so comfort- turned off because we love what we do, and so I wouldn't change it. I like being here and able with.” so we might be out doing something that I like everyone knowing that I am here and has nothing related to work, and then you that we are here, but we're working out there. Nobody is immune to that enthusiastic col- see something that's inspiring, and we both Chicago is a fabulous place to be,” he says. laboration vibe—not even the founders them- can go directly to why that's important, or “And having quiet is where the most exciting selves. “We're so used to being on a comput- why that's interesting, or why that can make work takes place, right? That's when you er monitor constantly, so when you turn a difference in the next project, and that's make leaps in your work,” says Faust, adding around and you’re literally adjacent to the stu- fun, and that only happens because we're that one has to put roots somewhere—to dio assistants hand-stitching, you feel the en- working adjacent to each other all the time, have groundedness in order to be able to ergy of making and that changes the way you and so, by osmosis, you're fully aware of what establish connections and have people feel think—it is profound, that change,” says Faust. the other person is doing,” says Faust in a connected to you. He feels blessed to be working with Cave single breath. Yes, they're always working these past years, as he’s been able to make but only in the sense that they’re always That is where Facility exists: in the blurred work and get it out in a bigger and louder way, looking for new ways of thinking and looking line between quiet and art world’s “global- which is exciting. “See, I said that about you,” at stuff, they explain. “We're surrounded by ness.” “It’s all about possibility. Facility is that he playfully adds, and we all laugh. But Cave art 24/7 so that's all that's important—to be revolving door—nothing’s permanent, noth- is fast to admit that he doesn’t even need to living in your destiny,” says Cave.  ing will ever be permanent, and so [the ques- think about the design around his work. “It's tion is] how do you keep it revolving, how do always flawless because this one will be On Thursday, April 2, the Chicago Artists you keep yourself relevant, how do you cre- ramping up to the next level,” he says. Coalition holds its forty-fifth anniversary ate possibilities and at the same time allow benefit, honoring artists Nick Cave and others to approach it however they choose? Cave and Faust live just upstairs in an apart- Bob Faust. Tickets at https://chicagoartists- That's what we're interested in,” Cave says. ment that’s equal parts homey and minimal, coalition.org/get-involved/annual-benefit and, unsurprisingly, filled with art. The key to To turn their vision into reality, they’re keep- achieve work-life balance? Respect, they From April 3-12, Navy Pier hosts a new, ing busy building their scholarship fund. agree. “I respect his space, I respect his stu- free public art installation by Nick Cave Cave stresses the impact of what that kind dio and, vice-versa, he respects mine as well,” entitled “The Let Go.” Details at https:// of support offers to an individual. “I remem- says Cave. “We come to work every morn- navypier.org/event/nick-cave-the-let-go/ ber when I won my little first award,” he says. “It's like everything is possible at that moment. It gives you the green light to step into it even further.” They’re also working with the next generation of Chicago creatives. “We have been doing workshops at different universi- ties; we've been brought in to talk about col- laboration,” says Faust. “Collaboration is about vulnerability, and so that's what we've been going in and doing: we’re getting dif- ferent disciplines of students in the same room, pairing them up, and saying, ‘really get to know this person, what did they do, what is their expertise, what is their point of view and really listen to that and how does that change your work?’” The most important part? “We want all of them in the room. Everyone. Across all dis- ciplines—from the arts, to theater to music to dance to writing,” says Cave, stressing each word. “Because let me tell you some- thing: at the end of the day they're always in the room. We can’t have this tunnel vision— we have to open ourselves up.” Faust be- lieves that “when you're as confident in your work and the world is looking at your work in that kind of way it allows him as an artist to be more generous with his platform,” he 12

Calling All Creative oF©fCHarCCehnihhisidcccrwiaaaogrgcgtoohho-HHiiHssBotHtliuooerssritesyc,sa1oliMr9uSn5ys1o.geciuPMehtCm,uoy,toslHolpeeuebdubyrlciitcsBimihlhl-oeBdHln,eeosdnsriiconrhg.bCCefoolloureretctei2so0y1n.4, Thinkers and Makers all rights reserved. Adult Continuing Education courses for new and experienced artists and designers. Flex your creativity and connect to a new community at a world-class institution. Register Now saic.edu/ace Art, design, and writing courses for adults, teens, and kids. SAIC CONTINUING STUDIES | saic.edu/ace | [email protected] | 312.629.6170 EDITEHDITH FARFNASRWNOSWROTRHT'SH’S COUCNOTURNYTRHYOHUOSUESE TMhaerFcahrns3w1o–rNthMToHhvaeoeruFcmsaehr,nb1s34ew51ro2–r02Nth9RoHi,vvo2eeru0msRe2o,b0a1d4e,5rP2l20an9Ro,iv, 2IeLr06R20o05a4d5, Plano, IL 60545 For more information visit farnsworthhouse.org

14 Newcity MARCH 2020

This year’s Design 50 highlights Chicago’s cre- atives—those who give us boundary-pushing work, immersive experiences and all-around impeccable design across all realms. But in the light of the new decade we also posed an import- ant question: What’s next for the trans-disci- plinary ever-evolving Chicago design scene? Their informed predictions, guesses, thoughts and ideas reflect some widely held desires, hopes and fears for where the design world is headed. It is also further proof that those fifty creatives are without a doubt among the city’s shining stars—the ones to bring in high hopes, hard work and positive change. Here’s what the landscape of design will look like in 2020 according to the fifty most innovative Chicago designers. VASIA RIGOU Design was written by V A S I A R I G O U MARCH 2020 Newcity with additional contributions by O L I V I A C A N N Y , B R I T T A N Y G A R R E T T , I S A G I A L L O R E N Z O and C A T S T R A I N . All photos by N A T H A N K E A Y on location at Facility. 15

4 — PETRA BACHMAIER & SEAN GALLERO VIRGIL NICK 2 3 AMANDA ABLOH CAVE WILLIAMS 1 BOB An artist who trained as an architect, FAUST Bridgeport-based Amanda Williams claims OFF-WHITE; her rightful place in both worlds. Walking LOUIS VUITTON FACILITY the fine line between art and architecture, she creates boundary-pushing work that What is there to say about Virgil Abloh This year’s “Designers of the Moment,” Nick investigates color, race, space and commu- that hasn’t already been said? The Chicago Cave and Bob Faust are about the community. nity as well as the social issues that a ect kid turned designer, artist, DJ, founder of Facility, a new multidisciplinary art space, our city. An example: her “Color(ed) Theory” Milan-based label O -White and Louis Vuit- was brought to life a little more than a year project found her painting eight abandoned ton creative director is now world-famous ago by Cave, the interdisciplinary artist and houses in bold colors in an e ort to make for more than bringing vintage and streetwear educator, and Faust, his design-focused per- one think: What color is urban? What color into the high-fashion spotlight. It feels like sonal and professional partner to do just that: is gentrification? What color is privilege? there’s nothing he can’t—or won’t—do and facilitate collaboration between Chicago that everything he touches turns into trend- creatives. Part studio, part gallery, part living PETRA 4 setting gold. Existing at the intersection of space, Facility is a little bit of everything, but BACHMAIER fashion, design, music and architecture mainly an incubator—space for creatives Newcity MARCH 2020 informs his worldview and his creative ideas, across all realms, much like its founders. And SEAN which is why he’s making waves across all if the name Facility gives you Andy Warhol GALLERO realms—whether his latest runway show, his Factory vibes, you’re right. But Faust needs 2019 retrospective at the Museum of Con- you to dig deeper—into the idea of peo- LUFTWERK temporary Art or his much-anticipated state- ple-centered engagement for everyone. ment-heavy IKEA collection, MARKERAD, They took over the Mies van der Rohe-de- that had thousands of people line up for the signed Farnsworth House, turning it into an drop outside the stores across the world. 16

5 — SHANI CROWE otherworldly space—their light-based art in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale with for Solange Knowles' iconic bedazzled halo intervention in collaboration with Iker Gill \"Thrival Geographies (In My Mind I See a hair for a “Saturday Night Live” performance. that incorporated laser beams to explore the Line)\"—which was displayed at Wrightwood \"Braiding isn't the only medium I use in my geometries that connect the structure to the 659 gallery last year. Her work has been fea- artistic practice,\" Crowe says. \"But it's import- natural landscape was the talk of the design tured in multiple galleries and museums, ant for me to give honor to my experience and world this past year. They went on to Millen- including The Broad in Los Angeles, the all that it has given me. Hair is an important nium Park, where their work, “Requiem: A Museum of Contemporary African and Dias- part of black and African culture. It's a means White Wanderer” reveals the connection poran Art (MoCADA) in Brooklyn and the through which we express ourselves and, between climate change and sea-level rise. Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand unfortunately, is one of the most policed Inspired by Larsen-C, a 120-mile long crack Rapids. On television, she was responsible aspects of our appearance.\" along the Antarctic ice shelf that broke into a trillion-ton iceberg in 2017, Luftwerk show- 6 — SUNG JANG cased a three-day sound installation at the Pritzker Pavilion with composer and impro- viser Katherine Young. Carefully studying light, color and perception, Petra Bachmaier and Sean Gallero have spent over a decade producing site-specific interventions in response to architecture and public spaces. Their experience-based installations are highly immersive, their ideas always fresh and unexpected and there’s only one thing for the Chicago design folk left to do: wait to see what they come up with next. SHANI 5 MARCH 2020 Newcity CROWE BRAID ARTIST South Side braiding artist Shani Crowe has come a long way since learning how to braid as a child: among her accomplishments, she was selected to represent the United States 17

8 — DOCK 6 COLLECTIVE (A N D R E W K E P H A R T, C A R S O N M A D D O X, SCOTT A. PATTERSON, SETH DEYSACH, DAN SULLIVAN, ZAK ROSE) SUNG he emphasizes “the idea of the designer as BRAD 6 JANG an agency for connecting and synthesizing LYNCH ideas.” In his studio, Jang builds abstract SUNG JANG LABOR ATORY; forms and furniture with objects that he calls 7 JEN PARK UIC INDUSTRIAL “Mobi,” a modular form with conceptual roots. DESIGN PROGRAM “The Mobi experiment initially did not start BRININSTOOL + LYNCH with an interest in modularity. I was more Industrial designer Sung Jang works at interested in the perceptual e ect of scale Brininstool + Lynch has spent the past three the intersection of fine arts and technical and complexity in objects created by repe- decades striving for an “evolution of Chicago problem-solving. As a university professor, tition.” After seventeen years in Chicago, Jang Modernism.” While Brad Lynch co-founded feels a deep respect for the city’s rich indus- the firm, Jen Park joined the team in 2019. “It’s trial history. a great fit primarily because our values align both with design and culture of the firm,” says 7 — BRAD LYNCH & JEN PARK Park, who brings bright prospects to the firm with diversity, equity and inclusion, at the center of her career. Lynch says that whatever the future holds, his team strives to design “in a way that is as equitable and environmen- tally conscious as it is beautiful.” DOCK 6 8 COLLECTIVE Newcity MARCH 2020 “Chicago has always been an incubator of talent and opportunity,” says Dan Sullivan of Navillus WoodWorks. “Our location, relative a ordability, and high concentration of edu- cational institutions ensure that it will remain a regional draw and international icon. Con- tinued relevance will depend on our ability to empower our large immigrant population and revitalize the parts of the city that have 18

10 — ANN LUI been left behind as we settle into the twen- he says, keeping busy with upcoming Dock Seth Deysach, Andrew Kephart, Carson ty-first century,” he adds before diving into 6 projects including a large-scale outdoor Maddox, Dan Sullivan and Zak Rose that his future projects. “Currently Navillus has sculpture for Edra Soto, building the interior started this venture to market designs to a teamed up with Dock 6 partners to build all for Ever (the visionaries behind the acclaimed larger audience, nationally and beyond. One of the workstations and conference tables restaurant Grace), and launching the Dock to keep an eye on? “The thirteenth edition for the new offices of Skidmore Owings & 6 Collection at Central Standard, Chicago’s of Dock 6 Design & Art featuring curated art Merrill—this is a big project and an incredible newest furniture, object and design show in and design objects shown throughout our opportunity; literally providing the platforms early June. He explains the Dock 6 Collection fifty-thousand-square-foot facility in the on which much of the world’s great architec- is a collection of original furniture designed Cragin neighborhood is coming up this June,” ture will be designed for decades to come,” by five of the Dock 6 Collective principals: he says. 9 — PAUL PREISSNER PAUL 9 PREISSNER PAUL ANDERSEN CUR ATORS, U.S. PAVILION FOR THE 2020 VENICE BIENNALE Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner will MARCH 2020 Newcity curate the U.S. Pavilion for the 2020 Venice Biennale this May. Andersen, director of the Independent Architecture firm and clinical associate professor of architecture at UIC, will, alongside Preissner, an associate pro- fessor of architecture at UIC, essentially turn the pavilion into a construction site. With “American Framing,” an installation that inves- tigates \"the conditions and consequences of American wood-framed construction” the two Pauls respond to the Biennale Architet- tura's theme, “How Will We Live Together?” 19

11 — DANIEL O V E R B E Y, NORMAN TEAGUE & KWABENA ANKOBIAH Newcity MARCH 2020 ANN NORMAN Teague, lead designer and founder of Norman LUI TEAGUE Teague design studios, educator and co-founder of blkHaUS, a Chicago-based, 10 WITH socially focused design studio the name of which was inspired by the bauhaus. “Design FUTURE FIRM DANIEL is HOT and I think people are planning new OVERBEY things in new disciplines that require the Ann Lui, professor, architect and co- hands and the mind. New value added to founder of Future Firm, a minority- and wom- KWABENA craft and respected maker positIons will pop en-owned design research practice, is a 11 ANKOBIAH up and stay up,” he says. “I see art and design leader in radical equity. Future Firm aims to as an essentIal piece in reviving our lack of create spaces where folks can come together. NORMAN TEAGUE DESIGN, equity, but also being the cultural hub that Lui hopes that the future of design will be UIC, BLKHAUS Chicago is known to be.” Known for using “the same weird mix of loss and opportunity, design as an agent for change and as a mech- uneven growth and moments for change— “Chicago's design scene is on fire and the anism to uplift and transform marginal com- some of which all of us will miss entirely but light of Chicago Architecture Biennial has munities, Teague is excited for new and a few of which will grow to change us all in added optics on the fact that design justices innovatIve spaces. “I'm excited about young ways we don’t expect.” have a ton of changemakers from parts of leaders taking charge and using their talents the city that rarely gets light,” says Norman for jusIce,” he says. Case in point: Teague works alongside Daniel Overbey and Kwabena Ankobiah—who he introduces as two brilliant and driven young designers of color. Overbey and Ankobiah are investIgat- Ing the ways in which they fit into the bigger 20

38 — TIMOTHY BREEN 13 — NICK BUTCHER & NADINE NAKANISHI scheme of design and how they can apply black and brown narratives in the history of TIM the skills taken from studying design at design as well as to promote design's rele- PARSONS Columbia College Chicago and UIC, respec- vance to contemporary communities of color tively. Reminiscent of their time together at in order to can thrive and be seated at the 12 the studio, “thinking and sketching and build- tables of power influencing contemporary ing and organizing together with beautIful urban and social design. “It’s awesome to JESCSHIACARLES- outcomes,” Teague stresses the importance think about work that respects the neighbor- WORTH of striving to instigate greater inclusion of hood I come from,” he says. 12 — JESSICA CHARLESWORTH & TIM PARSONS PARSONS & CHARLESWORTH MARCH 2020 Newcity Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth founded their art and design studio to explore how object design can play a greater cultural role in the exploration of subjects such as climate change, personal survival and hap- piness. Bringing together objects, exhibitions, texts and images, Parsons & Charlesworth became just that. “We’re hopeful that the landscape of design will continue to expand its borders and embrace a broader range of practices,” says Parsons, looking to Chicago’s design future. “We are working on a large- scale installation for the seventeenth Venice Architecture Biennale that opens in May 2020,” he says. “This extends our ‘Catalog for the Post-Human’ project—a satirical art- work that comments on the ethical implica- tions of human enhancement in relation to the future of work.” 21

NICK 13 BUTCHER NADINE NAKANISHI SONNENZIMMER 15 — BRIAN VITALE & TODD HEISER ity of that experience is largely the deciding 18 — RENATA GRAW factor of whether or not a person has alle- “We’re splitting our time, as usual, between giance to the brand. It ultimately facilitates self-initiated projects—books, exhibitions, gallery experience, and, more than anything, a greater experience than advertising; dig- performances—and commissioned work for it’s fun and accessible.” Of Chicago’s design ital experiences are a doorway into partic- clients—more books, music packaging, future, Eichenseer, ever forward-thinking, ipating with a brand but also a whole net- murals. We hope to keep muddying the says: “Digital experiences are becoming work within that brand that weaves aesthetic waters between the art and design industries, more and more seamless with our physical interest, moral interest and social interest,” finding self-realization in service, and service experiences. Digital is no longer considered he says. “As one of Chicago’s leaders in the in self-realization,” says Nick Butcher, one an add-on to the physical engagement design scene, we shape these types of expe- part of the Sonnenzimmer duo. “We are work- someone has with a brand but a require- riences with the global clients we work with ing on a self-published and co-financed ment—every pop-up shop, retail location, that will later inform the larger landscape monograph of our work since 2006, via Kick- and brand activation has some digital com- of design.” starter,” adds Nadine Nakanishi. The duo ponent that integrates with that moment. hope that Sonnenzimmer can help artists Digital has become a necessary conduit for envision a working studio that takes confi- people to interact with brands, and the qual- dence in self-identification and expression. “We all can find more freedom and solutions in bending back the confinements of com- modification,” she says. “It took us being around a lot of different molds until we could find our own shape we wanted to make. We hope that by being in the art ecology of our city, not waiting for things to be handed to us, but by self-organization, service and vision, we can be a positive force for solutions in finding workplaces for people who need space in dreams, working with their hands, and being themselves.” CHRIS EICHENSEER 14 SOMEODDPILOT Newcity MARCH 2020 “The Someoddpilot team is in the midst 14 — of writing and designing our first studio CHRIS EICHENSEER monograph that draws out our history and progression from a two-person record label that started in 1999 to a booming design agency of thirty people and countless cli- ents,” says founder Chris Eichenseer. But they haven’t forgotten their local roots. “Pub- lic Works, our experimental gallery space, is important to us and the local community as it is a hub for critical exchange, a space to engage with art outside of the traditional 22

MARGOT HARRINGTON 17 PITCH DESIGN UNION 17 — Sleek designs, crisp lines, bold colors. MARGOT HARRINGTON Margot Harrington’s Pitch Design Union takes a client’s graphic ideas, amps them up, TODD pany Holly Hunt has made leaps in the fifteen and throws them back to the world in a way HEISER years that Joannah Kornak has been leading that won’t be overlooked. Recent projects the team alongside Holly. Kornak's oeuvre include contributions to Bitch Magazine, and BRIAN as an interior designer includes collabora- working with environmentally focused com- VITALE tions with Armani and Gucci and a sultry panies. The company understands branding showhouse design for the Showtime series and design is more than the initial impact. “I 15 “Californication.” Of the design scene of the want to see people put their money where GENSLER city, Kornak is optimistic. “We have great their mouth is,” Harrington says about talent here and there are no limitations to upcoming design. “With the election this year, the future of Chicago’s design landscape.” there’s a lot of talk around politics, and I’d love to see people thinking more critically about that and how their small choices can make big or small change.” RENATA 18 GRAW THE NORMAL STUDIO “This idea that we are starting a new decade gives us permission to break with old ideas and experiment with new ones,” 16 — JOANNAH KORNAK Co-managing directors of Gensler’s Chi- cago office, Todd Heiser and Brian Vitale have made strides in the architecture indus- try. While both worked on the five-story neo- Gothic Gratz Center at Fourth Presbyterian Church off of the Magnificent Mile, their personal approaches are different. Todd’s leadership comes from experience in work- place strategies as Brian strives to “find the poetic in the everyday.” Together, their proj- ects, and Gensler as a whole, represent a breadth of technique and possibility. JOANNAH MARCH 2020 Newcity KORNAK 16 HOLLY HUNT From its humble beginnings as a small showroom in the Merchandise Mart, custom furniture and home furnishings design com- 23

19 — BRANDON BREAUX says Renata Graw. “I am excited to see how BRANDON audience and what moves the culture, as he the year—and the decade ahead—pans out.” 19 BREAUX puts it. His primary goal? To produce creative The founder of The Normal Studio, she also solutions, with authentic sensibility and an co-founded the award-winning Plural, served Brandon Breaux describes his creative undeniable aesthetic. Mission accomplished. as vice-president of AIGA Chicago and taught experience as comprised of painting, sculp- graphic design at the University of Illinois at ture, web, video, print and interactive projects. ANNA Chicago. But her multidisciplinary design Widely known as the artist behind all three CERNIGLIA practice has always been inclusive and col- of Chance the Rapper’s album covers, Breaux laborative. “There is one particular project I has an understanding of what inspires an 20 am working on that is super committed to inclusive design, and I think this is something JOHALLA PROJECTS we should all be striving for: to provide rich experiences to our fellow humans.” “Times are changing and people expect more than what they traditionally see. Artists 20 — ANNA CERNIGLIA and designers are more independent and taking more risks which means new things Newcity MARCH 2020 are being made outside the box—which I think is exciting,” says Anna Cerniglia, who founded Johalla Projects as a venue for emerging and mid-career artists. Executing large-scale art installations, staging murals, curating event programming, building private collections and shaping the atmospheres of locations through art acquisition and design, Cerniglia is always up to something—from art consulting to creative partnerships with institutions like the Chicago Athletic Asso- ciation, Fashion Outlets of Chicago, Hoxton Hotel, Soho House Chicago, Pitchfork and Ace Hotel. “I’m working on a few projects where we are incorporating and featuring artists into new developments. I recently 24



22 — JENNIFER MAHANAY turned my space into an arts programming JENNIFER art and design in Chicago and New York. “At space for people in the creative industry to 22 MAHANAY Wright, we’ve merged with another auction openly chat about their practice. One of the house on the East Coast. Right now we are programs I’m excited about is a legality work- WRIGHT AUCTIONS scaling our processes—this is the art direc- shop with a copyright lawyer. Also I’m on a tion of photography, branding systems, dig- board for a new furniture fair happening Jennifer Mahanay finds thrills in design, ital storytelling. It’s exciting and satisfying to during NeoCon, which will show o progres- from fostering the biggest ideas down to the see how we can stretch our bespoke creative sive, emerging designs,” she says. But tiniest details. “Making beautiful things is a solutions into another environment, another through it all her mission remains laser-fo- passion—collaborating with other creatives brand, and a growing audience.” What’s cused: to create collaborations that give is a privilege,” says the art director of Wright, coming up? “Being an election year, we’ll see artist platforms to live, exhibit and perform the preeminent auction house for modern a lot of designers responding to the political within and outside of traditional gallery con- and social issues that are on all our minds,” texts by converting unconventional spaces she says. “We’re fired up!” into alternative venues for exhibiting art throughout the city— from a storefront, to a building developments, to a mall. JENNA BLAZEVICH 21 VICHCRAFT Newcity MARCH 2020 The woman behind branding design stu- 21 — dio and product line Vichcraft wears many JENNA hats. As a designer, letterer, calligrapher and BLAZEVICH educator, Jenna Blazevich applies her mul- tidisciplinary skills to helping big-name cor- porate brands and independent small busi- nesses create a unique visual identity. But above it all, she’s first and foremost an unapologetic feminist artist. A great example? Her “Girls to the Front” slogan—of Riot Grrrl fame—can be hand-embroidered onto the back of denim jackets, prints, patches, skate- boards—you name it. 26

DEE CLEMENTS STUDIO HERRON 24 23 — “This is an exciting year for design in Chi- EMILY cago,” says Dee Clements. She’s referring to WINTER the new independent design show Central Standard, taking place in June at Morgan Manufacturing in the West Loop. “It’s an excellent opportunity for Chicago designers to showcase their work here at home, rather than having to travel to New York, Milan or France for the big design shows,” she says. “An event of this nature is really needed in the Midwest to showcase designers from our region. We have such an incredible array of emerging and established talent—from designers really focused on the quotidian, to designers making collectible pieces or specu- lative work.” As for upcoming plans, the founder of Studio Herron, a textile and fur- EMILY 27 — CHERYL TOWLER WEESE WINTER 29 — TOM LAPLANTE 23 MARCH 2020 Newcity THE WEAVING MILL “I see more meaningful collaborations in 2020,” says Emily Winter, who’s noticed a trend among her peers of working artist/ designers toward working together in more expansive ways. “The world of an indepen- dent designer can be at times solitary, and the challenges of being self-directed and self-motivated can be daunting. Working together provides a really exciting external stimuli and inspiration, and an accountability to the working process,” she says. “I don't feel that the conversation is about competi- tion. There's an understanding that the path of making things in this economy and culture is a challenge, and that everybody's individ- ual successes move the proverbial revolution forward.” Winter is working on developing a more expansive line of TWM home textiles, as well as fabric by the yard. She also strives to strengthen the textiles education program- ming that TWM does with Envision Unlimited, bringing more design workshops and ideas into the classes they run for adults with devel- opmental disabilities. “Everybody has the capacity of having instincts and thoughts about color theory, graphic layouts, propor- tion, material choices,” she says. “Our classes are designed to help people take ownership of those decisions.” 27

something that's usually cost-prohibitive for independent designers on the coasts. When working small, there's more of an incentive for us to band together, and to value everyone working throughout our supply chain. Most of us do not o shore our work, so we depend on the cutters and stitchers in this city to help make our work, and we truly value their labor because we work alongside one another and oftentimes cut and sew our own work, too,” Hayes says. “In addition to the long history of labor movements in Chicago, this interdependence is part of why Chicago has been a leader in the world of slow and ethical fashion. I believe we'll continue to lead this movement in 2020 and we will ben- efit from the attention being paid to ethical and independent fashion in general.” PAOLA AGUIRRE SERRANO 26 25 — JAMIE HAYES BORDERLESS niture design studio at the intersection of art, many ways more welcoming, and the DIY Under the leadership of Paola Aguirre design and craft, says: “My studio is working nature forces us to be more creative with our Serrano, Borderless, an urban design and on a collection of new vessels and sculptural business models,” she says. “Many of us have research practice is all about the power of objets d'art that we are really excited about. our own studios and production facilities, community. Putting design and community It's a new direction that will fold into the stu- organization at the forefront, her work dio, while a bit of a departure from our usual 26 — PAOLA AGUIRRE SERRANO ethos of functional design pieces for the home, this new work focuses on nuance in craft and ornament.” Newcity MARCH 2020 JAMIE HAYES 25 PRODUCTION MODE Jamie Hayes is working on a collaboration of hand-painted silk pieces by artist Leslie Baum, inspired by her plein air paintings, which launches in spring, finishing a collec- tion of wools made from naturally dyed yarn sourced from the Bii Dauu cooperative in Oaxaca and has just begun showing in New York. But Hayes’ goal is twofold: to build the ecosystem of designers and artists here in Chicago, but also to disseminate the work beyond our city. “More and more, fashion designers in Chicago are realizing that despite the challenges of being far from world fashion capitals, the environment here is in 28

involves creating interdisciplinary collabora- OF tive projects, addressing issues of social equity, shared resources and neighborhood These folks, or the roles they inhabit, are so well-established development. But true to the Borderless and foundational to the design world of Chicago that they are brand’s name, it extends well beyond that. Her latest achievement took place during always near the top of the list. the Chicago Architecture Biennial as she was called to reimagine the future of closed CAROL ROSS KARA schools in the Bronzeville community. The outcome? Borderless worked with architects, BARNEY MANN teachers and local volunteers alike and man- aged to transform the grounds of Anthony ROSS BARNEY ARCHITECTS KARA MANN Overton Elementary School, which closed in 2013, into a space for artistic expression. JEANNE JASON GANG PICKLEMAN CHERYL TOWLER STUDIO GANG JNL DESIGN WEESE 27 THEASTER DAWN GATES HANCOCK STUDIO BLUE REBUILD FOUNDATION FIREBELLY DESIGN “We are grateful to have the opportunity to work primarily with cultural and educational IKER MARIO institutions and other organizations that serve GIL PINTO the public—this work can include books, exhi- bition graphics, identities, interactive design, MAS STUDIO M2057 printed communications and environmental graphic design,” says Cheryl Towler Weese, DAWN JOHN RONAN Studio Blue founder and associate professor HANCOCK and director of graduate studies in graphic design at UIC. “I’m inspired by the fierce love FIREBELLY DESIGN JOHN RONAN ARCHITECTS for making and experimentation and the deep intelligence of the students I teach and by my MATTHEW RICK colleagues in the studio and at school,” she HOFFMAN VALICENTI says. Her positive energy is contagious—so is her sense of Chicago pride. “I’m a commit- YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL ted citizen and am honored to have the oppor- tunity to contribute to the city’s cultural land- scape. While Chicagoans are loath to swagger or exude a sense of superiority, I see our city as a design center that is less interested in following trends, and more interested in a sense of authenticity and depth, than those on the coasts.” MEGHAN LORENZ 28 CODY JOHN HUDSON VINCI CITIES IN DUST Meghan Lorenz has a specific design STRUGGLE INC. VINCI HAMP ARCHITECTS MARCH 2020 Newcity style—it’s precise, it’s minimal, one could even say it has a touch of a di erent era. The HELMUT SCOTT designer calls it “the moment when the 1990s JAHN WILSON imitated the 1960s.” Cities in Dust jewelry— rings, necklaces, bracelets, cu links and JAHN MINIMAL earrings—all feel so unique that once you 29

familiarize yourself with the work you’ll start noticing it everywhere in the city: from other people’s fingers and hands, to Lorenz’s pop-up shop at Chicago’s Renegade Craft Fair, to the MCA Store, to their latest hangout spot: the back room of Humboldt House, where Cities in Dust presents a collection of jewelry, accessories, objects and art books curated by Lorenz that makes it hard to walk out empty-handed. TOM LAPLANTE TRANSIT TEES 29 When you think of transit-themed original 28 — artwork and all sorts of merch—t-shirts, mugs, MEGHAN pins and magnets, home goods, even pet LORENZ apparel—Transit Tees comes to mind. But this year, the boutique and design studio with stores in Wicker Park and Andersonville, went a step further: they created an El-in- spired board game and Tom LaPlante, senior art director and lead designer, led the team behind it. “For a game like this, the natural starting place is the transit map. When we 31 — began play-testing, we would play using an DAVID actual map of the system as the board,” he SALKIN says, explaining the designs and redesigns that go into the board game-making process. Newcity MARCH 2020 “Public transportation is a great asset to any city,” he says. “It allows anyone to connect to communities that they might not otherwise have access to, or never even thought of visiting before. We want to show everyone that riding the train is lots of fun, even if it takes you somewhere you didn’t expect it to.” ANIA 30 JAWORSKA UIC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE Exploring the connections between art and architecture, Ania Jaworska’s work takes on bold simple forms, humor and commen- tary, as well as conceptual, historical and cultural references. Jaworska’s series of fur- niture purposefully exists on the blurred line between the conceptual and the functional. As the architect and educator—she is a clin- ical assistant professor at the UIC School of Architecture—says, “I like to think that my work is simultaneously simple and complex, familiar and unfamiliar, funny and serious.” 30

2020 HONOREES DESIGN NICK CAVE + BOB FAUST COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2020 Interdisciplinary ILLUSTRATION Entrepreneurial GRAPHIC DESIGN Collaborative INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE Emerging SHAPE WHAT’S NEXT colum.edu/design VIP Event AFTER-PARTY VIP tickets $350 After-party tickets $70 Attire: Be Bright. Be Bold. ART ENCOUNTER SPRING GALA 2020 DJs by: Fig Media KALEIDOSCOPE KNOLL SHOWROOM IN FULTON MARKET Honoring Lynne Warren For tickets visit: chicagoartistscoalition.org Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Thursday, May 7, 2020 Greenhouse Loft ARTENCOUNTER.ORG ART TOURS TRAVEL COMMUNITY OUTREACH MURALS MANY WAYS TO SEE

32 — NORA MATTINGLY & PETE OYLER DAVID connections, and our city’s essential position ity and other public design realms. “Site-spe- 31 SALKIN in the development of modernist design lan- cific surface design is an undervalued and guages. “I hope Chicago architects and e icient tool for the creation of special, mem- DAVID SALKIN CREATIVE designers continue to explore the freedom orable spaces,” he says. and optimism of modernism, relying less on David Salkin is enjoying the recent wave irony and immateriality,” he says. Meanwhile, PETE of appreciation of the Bauhaus-Chicago Salkin continues to work on custom rugs and OYLER wall coverings, hoping that this year brings opportunities of larger scale and reach, to provide complex and engaging site-specific patterns and compositions to civic, hospital- 35 — JACOB LINDGREN NORA & PAUL ZDON MATTINGLY Newcity MARCH 2020 32 ASSEMBLY DESIGN With approaches described as “interdisci- plinary in spirit and process,” Pete Oyler and Nora Mattingly of Assembly Design create more than just furniture—they create intimate moments out of the everyday object. Their practice combines the traditional with the unexpected. According to Assembly Design’s website, “The more we can know and under- stand about materials, processes and tech- niques, the more creative power we have.” 32

33 — ALLISON NEWMEYER & STEWART HICKS STEWART tive, which operates in both Chicago and JACOB HICKS New Orleans. With individual attention given LINDGREN to the personality of each client, the Norman PAUL ALLISON Kelley studio recently showcased this inti- 33 NEWMEYER macy as they provided the interactive back- 35 ZDON drop for Brendan Fernandez’s ballet exhi- PLATFORM D E S I G N W I T H C O M P A N Y  bition for the Whitney Biennial. With a mission to reexamine architecture and What do the Chicago Art Book Fair, the The Design With Company (Dw/Co) is all design, Kelley believes the future holds con- London Centre for Book Arts, the Domains about reading between the lines. Midwest sideration for what has already been estab- journals and the UIC United Faculty poster natives Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer lished. “I hope we take a closer look at the spelunk the depths of contemporary and found or the existing as opposed to perpet- historical lore. From these depths, their ual innovation or invention. There’s such a designs collage spaces that can be unreal rich history to Chicago; it’s great to see that or real, boring or surreal. Their practice is an history used in the present.” homage to what they love, taking the domes- tic spirit of their home and putting on a show. 43 — DAVID SIEREN CARRIE MARCH 2020 Newcity NORMAN THOMAS KELLEY 34 NORMAN KELLEY “Everything is personal and everything is intimate,” Thomas Kelley says of his and Carrie Norman’s work from their collabora- 33

36 — ELIZABETH “Buildings are transforming into artwork, MARGULIS designers are winning competitions, interac- tive installations are coming to life; the city is finally starting to unite with established brands and a platform is growing for new brands to be launched. Creatives being able to express their imagination for the world to see has never been so real here. We are no longer the under- dogs, the light is being shined on us.” Margu- lis, who also serves as chief marketing o icer at nano amplified sparkling hemp water, Hush Aqua, is all about the big vision. To top it all o , with a personality as big as her wardrobe— as she puts it—a warm smile and a killer out- fit, she is sure to leave an impression—much like her hair. CHINHUA LIN HOLLY HUNT 37 have in common? Platform, the Chicago- pattern and fabric in an e ort to set new stan- A Master in Designed Objects, designer based graphic design studio of Jacob Lindgren dards for style, one photo shoot at a time. Chinhua Lin holds degrees from the School and Paul Zdon, tending to their visual identity “2020 is the year for visionaries; more collab- of the Art Institute of Chicago and a bache- (think website, posters, program, exhibition orations, more sustainability, and more growth. lor’s degree in industrial design. Her most signage) and publishing needs. Their distinc- Chicago designers are pushing the boundar- recent work, an aluminum stool, took the art tive minimalistic aesthetic is palpable through- ies  beyond modern styles and paving their world’s breath away. A take on a “burr puzzle,” out their work in any medium. Bold primary way in the contemporary world,” she says. in which the object must be put together a colors and strong typefaces collide with sim- certain way to maintain connection, Lin’s ple black-and-white patterns, creating playful 37 — CHINHUA LIN desire is to promote human empathy with combinations and memorable graphics that objects, and how that sensation is translated stick in the mind long after the conversation into behavior. wraps up. For a young studio, this is a sign that Platform is on the right path. As for its founders, they keep learning by keeping up with the next pressing demand. “In the near future, we mostly hope to stay afloat. Working in a way that's sustainable and healthy for us is, unsurprisingly, not very lucrative at the moment,” the founders say. “The best we can do is use our practice as a model to encourage our peers to do the same.” Newcity MARCH 2020 ELIZABETH MARGULIS 36 BIG HAIR BIG CITY Elizabeth Margulis has really big hair, just as her brand implies. An artist, a commercial and editorial stylist and an overall creative force of nature, she brings insights and expe- riences from multicultural surroundings—see London, Paris and Moscow—into her work creating unexpected combinations of color, 34

illustration.\" This includes working for multiple iconic brands such as Ferragamo, Louis Vuit- ton and Prada. Steiner's bread-and-butter comes from illustrating guests at events, and making illustrations from photos clients send her. She also creates branding and logo proj- ects. She says the illustration business is not as hard as it seems: \"Chicago is a wonderful market for fashion illustration. We have major retail flagships down Michigan Avenue and Oak Street that host events all the time. There’s a ton of interest in the fashion industry here and the creative community is extremely sup- portive.\" In supporting beginners herself, she advises: \"Draw as much as you can, share your work, and don’t get discouraged by com- paring yourself to other artists. There are many paths to turning illustration into a career.\" TIMOTHY 41 — ANNA 38 BREEN ALEXANDRIA WILLS 40 HOVET FIELD OF GRASS KRISTINE HOVET FASHION STUDIO STEINER “Privately shared experience has a reaf- Anna Hovet has been a constant and highly firming power,” says Tim Breen, “something 39 productive fixture on the local fashion scene that we move with through time, images and for over a decade. With the experience of her objects we return to, the lingering e ects of \"I started sharing my fashion sketches on own athleisure line behind her, she runs Hovet a live performance. There are hundreds of Instagram a few years ago while also working Fashion Studio, a creative workspace to edu- physical items we touch every day that are full-time for a corporate retailer,” says Kristine cate emerging fashion designers and hobby- worth our attention. It’s inspiring to see Steiner, adding “clients began reaching out ists in all things fashion-related. \"We have an friends and colleagues focus on these kinds to commission projects and hire me for events. incredible team of Chicago fashion designers of micro-expressions. Making things that are Eventually, I had enough business that I was who teach classes, do business consulting exceptionally unique for no good reason.” able to leave my job and focus full-time on and help clients who are starting fashion lines,\" Existing in the art, design and music worlds she says. \"I love working using my knowledge all at once, Breen has collaborated with art- and Chicago connections to help talented ists, record labels, publishers, developers designers [build] their businesses.\" She and regional makers for decades to do that. encourages her pupils to create \"something He also founded Field of Grass, a Chica- special or niche, not just pretty clothes.\" Hovet go-based design company that takes on print is also a programming director at the Chicago and multimedia projects. “We have a stack Fashion Incubator, where she once was an of records we designed coming out this year, a ton of new beer labels, and an archival book 40 — ANNA HOVET project. I’m also excited about the results of last year’s experiments in animation and live MARCH 2020 Newcity projection,” he says. Breen served as art director for the sculptural performance with Jaime Fennelly (aka Mind Over Mirrors) at the MCA Chicago in 2018. Among his great- est recognitions? Two Grammy nominations for his design work with the Numero Group. “The journey continues,” he says. 35

39 — KRISTINE STEINER is also at the core of their work, since Ball 48 — MARY ELEANOR WALLACE facilitates discussions and workshops focus- ing on queerness, self-exploration and self-ac- artist-in-residence, and a fashion illustration LEAH 42 ceptance. Amongst those is a sought-after instructor at the School of the Art Institute, BALL Erotic Plate Painting class, where Ball encour- which she graduated from in 2007. ages participants to use \"materials sourced Pleasure. That's what Leah Ball's work is from feminist erotica and porn, personal pho- ALEXANDRIA all about. Their ceramic wares depicting an tos and selfies, images from nature, space, 41 WILLS image of someone pleasuring themselves is the ocean, and poems to compose unique a big hit in their line—a beautiful collection of depictions of acts of ritual pleasure—our own Alexandria Wills makes shoes from scratch. pipes, vases, mugs and plates that are guar- erotic language,\" they say. \"I like to demystify “All shoes are made by my own two hands in anteed conversation starters. Conversation the creative process and give people tools Chicago with traditional shoe-making tech- and stories from my own research to show niques,” she says, explaining that she works how valuable creative expression is to the with clients to design unique wearable art that human mind and co-existence.” is comfortable, stylish and quality-made. “Shoes and foot health a ect so many parts of DAVID 43 your body and people are starting to take that SIEREN into consideration when choosing what shoes to wear,” she says. “I also see greater con- ONE DESIGN COMPANY; sciousness toward sustainability. More and AIGA CHICAGO CHAPTER more people are questioning where the things they buy come from, who made them, what “I see our community breaking down silos materials were used, how far it traveled to get of traditional discipline and practice to to them.” Wills also hosts shoemaking events embrace the truly multidisciplinary approach,” and creative meetups, bringing her craft closer says David Sieren. At the o ices of One to the people at a time when fast fashion is Design Company, an ever-evolving design taking over the world. “I enjoy sharing my consultancy, Sieren leads creative teams as knowledge and the joy of making with the managing director of design and strategy. As Chicago community,” she says. “I love watch- co-president of AIGA Chicago Chapter, Sie- ing my students walk away with the biggest ren works to further development in the smiles on their faces as they try on shoes they design community through organizing work- made with their own hands, for the first time. shops, podcasts and distributing awards to It is priceless.” But Wills doesn’t stop with the city’s top designers. Sieren also serves shoes. Next to mules, sneakers, boots and on the board of the newly incorporated Chi- lace-ups, you will find tote bags, fanny packs, cago Design Week, set for June 2020. even pillows. Whether you pop by to shop her custom designs or to attend one of her work- 42 — LEAH BALL shops, one thing is for certain: her Logan Newcity MARCH 2020 Square studio is an experience all its own. 36

JACKSON CAVANAUGH 44 OKAY TYPE Reverse engineering is at the heart of Jackson Cavanaugh’s typeface design. “I like to take expressive and interesting ideas and see what happens when I strip away as much as possible. Sometimes there’s just enough personality left over to find my sweet spot.” His foundry-studio’s namesake, “Okay,” is an extra- bold typeface born of Cavanaugh’s process of reimagining. He shares the Okay Type studio with only felines, but he speaks highly of his peers. “Chicago has a lot of great designers just doing their thing. Head down, cranking out amazing work. I’d love to see more collaborations, especially across disciplines.” GABRIELLA 45 MEYER DENIMCRATIC 44 — JACKSON It all started with a senior thesis at the University of Michi- CAVANAUGH gan: Gabriella Meyer designed a conceptual art installation commenting on the democratization of blue jeans. Despite the 37 critics who demeaned her work as \"fashion, not art,\" Meyer got media attention when she had newspaper stories about sexual harassment in the workplace laser-etched in denim. The cap- sule collection, entitled \"We Wear the Pants,\" was featured in a lengthy article in The New York Times. Now with her brand Denimcratic, founded in 2017, Meyer continues to apply socially conscious practices, using handpicked recycled materials and keeping production small. \"It's important to consider the envi- ronment and climate we find ourselves in when choosing what we buy and wear,\" she says. The self-taught designer prides herself on creating statement pieces that are all produced locally in Chicago. BILL MARCH 2020 Newcity TELLMANN COLLIN 46 SMITH ACTIVE ALLOYS Designers and fabricators Bill Tellmann and Collin Smith take on architectural elements, furniture, lighting and other equipment in their custom design, build carpentry and art studio. “We have made our careers and business out of understanding how to work with metal. Because of this we are equipped to make extraordinary objects, vehicles and structures out of all kinds of metal,” the Active Alloys founders say. “If a part doesn't exist, we make it. If a new mechanism is required, we invent it. We engineer critical pathways until a product is complete. We learn by doing.”

45 — GABRIELLA MEYER SHANNON 47 DOWNEY BADASS CROSS STITCH “I've spent the past fifteen years in Chicago Tusk focuses on locally made pieces that CASEY contributing, learning and building community. support independent small businesses. 49 LURIE I love this city,” says Shannon Downey, who In her part boutique, part gallery space, blends politics, activism and art into projects Mary Eleanor Wallace unwinds from her CASEY LURIE STUDIO that are meant to inspire others to take action, day job as a nurse at a community health think, discuss, engage with democracy and clinic on Chicago’s West Side. Diving into Casey Lurie has returned to artistic roots, their community, and to find a balance creative collaborations with artists and ditching the reliance on digital techniques between digital and analogue. In a word: craf- designers around the city, she even indulges and focusing on the raw simplicity of design. tivism. O to change the world one cross- herself making ceramics, jewelry pieces and Producing furniture and objects that combine stitch at a time, Downey will hit the road for wearable pieces such as denim jackets— the industrial with detailed craftsmanship, a year to take her community art projects on which puts Tusk on your list of reasons to do his upcoming projects include sunglass tour to the rest of the country. As for the future? your shopping in the ever-evolving Logan designs for Japanese eyewear industries to “Chicago is going to be an epicenter for climate Square neighborhood. chair and tables made locally at Lawndale refugees in the near future,” she says, hoping Forge. This collaboration between indepen- that the design community will focus on build- 47 — SHANNON DOWNEY dent artists and a variety of manufacturers ing community and resilience to prepare makes Casey optimistic about future design Chicagoans for the inevitable future. trends. “Chicago has this amazing community of small-scale manufacturers—I think it has MARY something to do with being in the Midwest.” ELEANOR His excitement also manifests in the growing community of designers and thinkers in the WALLACE area. “I feel like there are more designers 48T U S K staying in Chicago. Students come from all over and they don’t go o to New York or to Bringing together a highly curated selec- L.A. or wherever. They’re staying here and tion of clothing, prints and design objects,- there’s a younger energy now.” JONAH 50 TAKAGI Newcity MARCH 2020 Jonah Takagi, formerly a touring musician, founded Atelier Takagi in 2010. His attention to both form and function is evident in his objects as minimalism meets performance. From household items to furniture and even art installations, his work begs to be consid- ered up close and intimately examined for its gentle details and a seamless transition from art to object and back again. 38

American Whiskey Affair Over ninety whiskies from all over the world. Whiskey-friendly bites from executive chef David Gebhardt will support the boozy journey at Untitled Supper Club on March 25 rts & Culture

Art \"Um Radio,\" Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson/Photo: Kyle Flubacker The Tenuity of Truth co-director. “Then as I got to working with the artists and being in dialogue with them, it Weinberg/Newton Exhibition Situates Art in Our Post-Factual Era became really clear to me that while we’re talking about the media specifically, the scope By Kerry Cardoza of the exhibition expanded to also include notions of storytelling and listening. There’s Newcity MARCH 2020 Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” concern about the facile dissemination of false these layers, almost like an onion, so we’re the international word of the year for 2016. information online. going from news to just how we communicate This was particularly apt; it was the year of the with each other.” UK’s Brexit referendum and our own divisive These concepts were on the minds of the presidential election. Since then, \"post-truth,\" team at Weinberg/Newton gallery, as they  Weinberg/Newton, a non-commercial gallery which the dictionary defines as “relating to or planned their 2020 exhibitions, another that collaborates with nonprofit organizations denoting circumstances in which objective election year where emotions are running high to produce exhibitions on social justice issues, facts are less influential in shaping public and facts are hard to parse. partnered with WBEZ on the group show, opinion than appeals to emotion and personal “Return to the Everywhere.” Artists could belief,” has become only more relevant. The “I wanted to think through these really big access WBEZ’s archives as they thought term is analogous to that of “fake news,” topics: truth, fact versus fiction, objectivity, through their contributions. which exists as both a scare tactic and bias, belief,” says Kasia Houlihan, the gallery’s Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson delved deeply into the archives for “Um Radio,” an interactive, modified radio that doesn’t transmit radio 40

ART TOP 5 signals, but instead broadcasts collaged Chicago and a song by Black Panther Party 1 Estoy Bien. Monique Meloche. Local WBEZ audio tracks made up of interstitial, member Elaine Brown, “End of Silence.” powerhouse Candida Alvarez's first Chicago solo exhibition mostly nonverbal sounds. Working with “What I hope people take away from it is to offers vibrant abstract paintings inspired by the beauty and WBEZ’s media archivist Justine Tobiasz, rethink how riots have been talked about and resilience of Puerto Rico. Through March 21 Anderson located a range of voices and programs: high-pitched, low-pitched, laughs, also to think about how history is recorded in 2 Dance, Dance, Dance. music,” Woods says. “I do think that art can Circle Contemporary. sobs, stories of fantasy and harsh reality. As This expansive group exhibition be a form of, or a means toward liberation, represents more than two visitors turn the dial to hear the different dozen artists who use music as and I don't think it has been separate from any their muse, from musician \"stations,” they can reference a handmade Sadie Laska to superfan Bill social movements. It’s always been there.” Lilly. Through March 27 book by the artist, which offers contextual 3 The Discovery of What information on each track. A 2018 “Morning it Means to be Brazilian. Shift” show plays in the aftermath of Laquan “Relations,” a video by Milwaukee-based artist Mariane Ibrahim. Five Jesse McLean, takes a more playful stab at contemporary black Brazilian McDonald’s murder. A show from 1993 artists reflect on the country's discusses the neo-Nazi movement in Germany. our media landscape. Originally conceived in colonial history, breaking down On a broadcast from 1996, guests reflect on 2010, the two-minute video uses the trope of cultural stereotypes and then-President Bill Clinton comparing his wife the spinning newspaper, often used in movies defining their own futures. to Eleanor Roosevelt. A “Wild Room” episode, as a transition to the next scene or to signal Through March 21 something is particularly momentous. Here, also from 1996, offers audio snippets of the 4 The Allure of Matter: clashes between police and protesters outside the spinning newspaper gets bigger and Material Art from China. bigger on the screen, never coming to a stop, Wrightwood 659. Concurrent the 1968 Democratic National Convention. exhibitions at the Smart Anderson’s choices reflect the cyclical nature to hypnotic effect. Museum and Wrightwood 659 explore works by contemporary of news. “When I made this piece, it was a very different Chinese artists who focus on the materiality of art making. “I think that there’s maybe a perpetual political time. I was still really concerned with Through May 2 state of panic and crisis,” Anderson says. how news reaches us and what that means, 5 Luis A. Sahagun: Both Eagle and Serpent. “It feels like there’s also patterns of abuse of and the kind of state of fear that we can be Chicago Cultural Center. Luis Sahagun displays his signature power. There’s one track that sounds like kept in,” McLean says. “But I do think, yes, sculptural assemblages, often made using construction static but it’s actually rioting after the 1968 now the piece is probably much more relevant. materials, which aim to create new narratives of resilience for Democratic Convention, where it was just There’s such an active, outward distrust of Latinx immigrants. Through April 26 complete police brutality. It feels like patterns journalism.” are truth, basically. Listening to all of these The ever-spinning newspaper makes it episodes from the eighties and nineties, for impossible for the viewer to actually consume me it was sort of medicinal for putting right the news. It cleverly mimics the twenty-four- now into perspective. It's important to keep hour news cycle of cable news and social track of history.” media. “It’s something that reflects a kind of Anderson’s is one of several sound art works anxiety that we feel, having a habitual relationship to consuming journalism and in the exhibition. Local artist and DJ Sadie Woods created a historical soundscape for her news,” McLean says. It’s akin to watching your work, “It Was A Rebellion.” The seventy-min- Twitter feed automatically refresh itself every ute audio piece is installed in the corner of the few moments. It’s impossible to catch up. gallery; visitors can listen via two sets of Houlihan hopes this work inspires visitors to cordless headphones. The track listing is think more critically about the information they available nearby. The piece was originally created in 2018, to coincide with the fifty-year consume and to realize their own agency as consumers. It’s a theme that permeates these anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s works. Whose stories get told? How is assassination and the protests it set off. information presented? How do we know “I created a sound collage, or soundscape, to what’s true? tell a story about the riots as rebellions, and also looking at how history has been recorded “I think taking messages in the media for granted is almost as dangerous as the comfort in sound and in music,” Woods says. MARCH 2020 Newcity of ignoring realities different from our own The selection of audio that Woods chose experience,” Anderson says. “Working on this draws from an oft-repeated phrase of King’s: project made me think a lot about the “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Woods necessity of storytelling —stories of truth and stories of fantasy. We need both, and we need has long been interested in how riots are to know which is which.” talked about, and whose perspectives are reflected in media coverage. Tracks include King’s final speech, where he says that “the \"The Return to Everywhere,\" is on view at Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 688 North greatness of America is the right to protest,” Milwaukee, through April 4. a 1968 CBS broadcast on the riots in 41

EXHIBITIONS THE ARTS CLUB OF CHICAGO GRAHAM FOUNDATION 201 East Ontario Street 4 W. Burton Place 312 787 3997 312 787 4071 [email protected] / www.artsclubchicago.org [email protected] / www.grahamfoundation.org Tues–Fri 11-6, Sat 11-3 Wed–Sat 11-6 Through April 6 Garden Project | Bernard Williams: February 11–April 25 Poured Architecture: Sergio Prego The Black Tractor Project on Miguel Fisac March 19–May 22 Jennie C. Jones: Constant Structure GRAY THE BLOCK MUSEUM OF ART Richard Gray Gallery, Hancock: 875 N. Michigan Avenue, 38th Floor At Northwestern University Mon–Fri 10-5:30, Sat by appointment 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL Gray Warehouse: 2044 W. Carroll Avenue 847 491 4000 By appointment [email protected] / www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu 312 642 8877 Tues, Sat–Sun 10-5, Wed–Fri 10-8, Mon closed [email protected] / www.richardgraygallery.com January 21–April 5 Modernisms: Iranian, Turkish, and Indian Highlights Please contact gallery for more information. from NYU’s Abby Grey Collection KAVI GUPTA GALLERY January 21–April 19 Terence Gower: Ciudad Moderna Kavi Gupta | Washington Blvd., 835 W. Washington Boulevard CARL HAMMER GALLERY Tues–Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5 Kavi Gupta | Elizabeth St., 219 N. Elizabeth Street 740 N. Wells Street Thurs–Fri 10-6, Sat 11-5 312 266 8512 312 432 0708 [email protected] / www.carlhammergallery.com [email protected] / www.kavigupta.com Tues–Sat 11-5:30 Through April 4th Tony Tasset: The Weight March 6–April 25 Crawling from the Wreckage: (Kavi Gupta | Elizabeth St.) C.J. Pyle - New Drawings DEPAUL ART MUSEUM LOGAN CENTER EXHIBITIONS At DePaul University At the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts 935 W. Fullerton Avenue 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 773 325 7506 773 702 2787 [email protected] / artmuseum.depaul.edu [email protected] / arts.uchicago.edu/logan/gallery Mon–Tues closed, Wed–Thurs 11-7, Fri–Sun 11-5 Tues–Sat 9-9, Sun 11-9, Mon closed January 24–March 8 Harold Mendez: The years now Closed for installation February 24–March 19 Opening March 19 The World to Come: Art in the Age of the Anthropocene

MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERY THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY 451 N. Paulina Street At the University of Chicago 312 243 2129 5811 S. Ellis Ave., Cobb Hall, 4th Floor [email protected] / www.moniquemeloche.com 773 702 8670 Tues–Sat 11-6 [email protected] / www.renaissancesociety.org February 1–March 21 Candida Alvarez: Estoy Bien Tues–Wed, Fri 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Sat–Sun 12-5 January 11–March 29 Silke Otto-Knapp: In the waiting room MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY At Columbia College Chicago 1711 W. Chicago Avenue 600 S. Michigan Avenue 312 455 1990 312 663 5554 [email protected] / www.rhoffmangallery.com [email protected] / www.mocp.org Tues–Fri 10-5:30, Sat 11-5:30 Mon–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5 Through March 28 Nathaniel Mary Quinn: Soil, Seed, and Rain January 16–March 29 In Real Life SMART MUSEUM OF ART THE NEUBAUER COLLEGIUM FOR CULTURE AND SOCIETY At the University of Chicago 5550 S. Greenwood Avenue At the University of Chicago 773 702 0200 5701 South Woodlawn Avenue [email protected] / www.smartmuseum.uchicago.edu 773 795 2329 Tues–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sun 10-5 [email protected] / neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu February 7–May 3 The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China Mon–Fri 9-5, First Saturdays 12-4 March 12–August 21 Apsáalooke Women and Warriors (co-presented with Wrightwood 659): theallureofmatter.org POETRY FOUNDATION WRIGHTWOOD 659 61 W. Superior Street 659 W. Wrightwood Avenue 312 787 7070 773 437 6601 [email protected] / www.poetryfoundation.org [email protected] / wrightwood659.org Mon–Fri 11-4 Through May 2: Thurs–Fri 12-8, Sat 10-7 (Reserved ticket required) Saturday, March 21 11-4 February 7–May 2 The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China January 9–April 30 A.R. Ammons: Watercolors (co-presented with Smart Museum of Art): theallureofmatter.org ZHOU B ART CENTER 1029 W. 35th Street 773 523 0200 [email protected] / www.zhoubartcenter.com Mon–Sat 10-5 March 2–April 2 Membranes of Perception

Jennie C. Jones: Constant Structure March 19 – May 22 Newcity MARCH 2020 artsclubchicago.org January 24 apsáalooke Logan Center Gallery • Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts • 915 E 60th St Chicago IL 60637 Harold Mendez Women and Warriors — Mar 12–Aug 21 THE YEARS John Santoro Let’s Talk About the Weather arts.uchicago.edu/logan/gallery March 21–May 2, 2020 El Niño, 24 x 24 inches, 2019 NOW McCORMICK GALLERY 44 March 8 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL 60607 www.thomasmccormick.com

Dance DANCE TOP 5 The Africologne premiere of \"Spirit Child.\" Photo: Marie Koehler. 1 American Ballet Theatre. Auditorium Theatre. Misty The Material, The Copeland, James Whiteside Technological, The and stars from the U.S.'s most Spiritual, The Ancestral prominent ballet company appear in a mixed-rep program. Disciplines Unite in the Vision of Qudus Onikeku March 19-22 By Sharon Hoyer 2 Spirit Child. Dance Center of Columbia Qudus Onikeku is a visionary. The in Chicago. Onikeku discussed in a phone College. Choreographer MARCH 2020 Newcity Nigerian-based choreographer has call the performance, entitled “Spirit Child,” Qudus Onikeku makes his U.S. collaborated with countless artists and his work beyond the stage, and his debut with a meditation on thinkers worldwide, touring extensively with expansive, inclusive approach to tackling the overlap between physical, his QDance Company to more than fifty the biggest questions we face. spiritual and ancestral planes. countries, touching communities with a March 13 & 14 philosophy that unites creative and social I’m curious about a phrase you use to practices to answer large-scale, systemic describe danceGATHERING. You say 3 Alvin Ailey American problems. He created danceGATHERING in that it’s anti-disciplinary. Could you Dance Theater. 2017, an annual event that draws creative expand on that? Auditorium Theatre. Includes a minds from around the globe to Lagos for The last several years we compartmental- slew of Chicago premieres two weeks of inspired cooperation. Onikeku ized knowledge in discipline forms. I have a from renown choreographers is just now making his U.S. debut, in a short feeling that the problems we are facing are Aszure Barton, Ronald K. run at the Dance Center of Columbia beyond what one discipline, isolating itself, Brown and Donald Byrd. College this March. Luckily for us, Onye can solve. What would happen if we bring March 4-8 Ozuzu, former director of the Dance Center, people who are very different in their connected with Onikeku in Lagos (and intellectual upbringing? That is to say, the 4 Decadance/Chicago. co-curated danceGATHERING the last two way an architect has been trained and Harris Theater. Hubbard years), and invited him to teach and perform nurtured is different than how a dancer has Street Dance Chicago remounts this crowd-pleasing evening of excerpts choreographed by the great Ohad Narahin. March 12, 14 & 15 5 Winning Works. MCA. Recipients of the Joffrey Ballet's award for emerging choreographers of color show- case new work on the MCA stage. March 20-22 45

been trained and nurtured, in how to They have their way of aggregating the I’m interested in pointing us back. D understand space and time. Same for a world. The way cities use energy and the poet: we are attacking the same thing, with way energy shows up in different ways. Let me give an example: voodoo, that different tools. What would happen if we put These are the things I’m excited about. people can send you a bad omen, they can problems we want to solve at the center There are these things about cryptocurrency, alter your state of well-being through rituals. and not pay too much attention to the about mega-data, I’m excited about what The best way for me to explain what disciplines? The problem of memory: how can they become in the hands of young happens there is what’s happening now in does a poet deal with that? How does a people, or people who are into spiritual the big data industry. People now have chemical engineer deal with that? How does practices. So we take these away from the access to your data; everything you’ve done a historian deal with that? What they hands of scientists and into the hands of online since the beginning of the internet is produce comes out of an active collabora- people who don’t always have access. And now stored. When Amazon wants to sell tion. Then we are not focusing on our how we can solve problems. you something they have access to your discipline, but using all the energy together. information and use it to alter what you buy, Talk a little about the upcoming who you vote for. This in uences your How is this approach manifested in performance of “Spirit Child.\" \"Spirit spiritual state. QDance Center? Child\" is inspired by the main charac- I was thinking about how to move our work as ter in Nigerian author Ben Okri’s What Ben Okri said that’s interesting is how artists away from art works and toward the Booker Prize-winning novel, \"The to bring together the physical, spiritual and practice of art. How do we bring all the logic Famished Road.\" What in Okri’s novel ancestral spaces. He was the rst writer and ideas into a situation whereby we are spoke to you? who was able to bring it into popular choreographing to a particular situation or The rst thing was not the book. I’ve been literature. The main character is a boy who problem in a given context? If I want to use engaging in the idea of Afrofuturism for the had access to physical and spiritual planes. improvisation as a tool of performance, what last few years. In the United States we’re He managed to convince the people in the are the ways we create a space where people prone to talk about Black Panthers and physical world that he had renounced the are being activated? Not just in a theatrical such, which is a mainstream idea of Afrofu- spiritual space but he hadn’t. For me, this space, but in the context of a city. We use turism. In Africa, we have urgent matters. was a way to reconcile as an artist, other forms of engagement, not just the I’m looking at African spirituality and someone who moves between worlds, economic motor of touring and playing gigs. history. We look at time as not being linear, making work in Africa, in Europe. so the new ideas of augmented reality, You talk about rhythms being central we’ve been doing this long ago. How do The Dance Center of Columbia College, to your work. Not just musical we use your idea of new technology to 1306 South Michigan, (312)369-8330. rhythms, but overarching ones, the explain what we’ve been trying to say all Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14 at rhythms of cities. this while? This virtual reality goggle, these 7:30pm. $30 general admission, $24 Rhythms, the rhythms of young people, the augmented reality glasses: people think it’s seniors, $10 students. Tickets at dance. rhythm of cities, the rhythm of technologies. going to take them to a different space. colum.edu. Newcity MARCH 2020 Photo: Marie Koehler QUDUS ONIKEKU Spirit Child March 13–14, 2020 7:30 p.m. U.S. premiere Go to dance.colum.edu for more information. 46

Design DESIGN TOP 5 Joseph Altshuler and Zack Morrison, \"Could Be Architecture: McCormick AfterParti\" at the Elmhurst Art Museum 1 Could Be Architecture: McCormick AfterParti. A Party Along Elmhurst Art Museum. The the Parti McCormick House turns into a home filled with bright colors, Could Be Architecture Transforms the McCormick House movement, light, activity and conversation. Through April 12 By Vasia Rigou 2 In Real Life. Museum Can you imagine lounging in the McCor- Newcity design editor Vasia Rigou to shed light of Contemporary MARCH 2020 Newcity mick House living room, hanging out with your on the Elmhurst Museum's McCormick Photography. Explore the friends playing a game of chess or putting on AfterParti exhibition that has the Mies van der relationship between humans a puppet show in the children’s playroom? Rohe home turned into a frosted candyland— and technology at an exhibition How about sneaking into the kitchen looking complete with bright pink curtains and mint that negotiates the real-world for treats? Well, now you can do all that green furniture. impact of computer vision and courtesy of Joseph Altshuler and Zack artificial intelligence. Through Morrison, who are bringing their playful design First things first: Can you talk about the March 29 approach into the 1952 historic landmark. title, \"McCormick AfterParti\"? The duo behind the design practice Could Be “Parti” refers to the basic diagram for an 3 Great Ideas of Architecture—who are also architectural architectural design. This installation Humanity 2020. designers, educators, curators and writers— celebrates Mies van der Rohe’s floor plan for Design Museum of Chicago. talks about their ideas and practices with the historic McCormick House by arraying Chicago Public School students respond with creative ideas that cross disciplines and cultures. Through April 19 4 Bauhaus Chicago: Design in the City. Art Institute of Chicago. Highlighting Bauhaus’ influence in the city of Chicago in light of the German school’s centenary. Through April 26 5 Chicago Artisan Market. Morgan MFG. A market filled with art, fashion, home goods, food and beyond that supports lcoal small businesses. March 8, 10am-4pm 47

curtains and interpretive furnishings along the exaggerated and playful counterpoint to the poke through them, we hope the installation locations of the house’s original wall partitions. The furnishings invite audience International Style material palette of the engages audiences to similarly question the interactions and prompt participatory events throughout the run of the installation—it existing house. The minty green furnishings values within their own domestic spaces. hosts a party along the parti. and bright pink curtain partitions complement Your design approach is focused on What kinds of boundaries do you feel you’re pushing in your effort to turn the and question the modern, neutral palette of creating “seriously playful spaces, things McCormick House into a home? Our installation demonstrates a totally dark wood floors, clear glass, white-painted and happenings that celebrate what your normative approach to restage the walls and programmatic functions of the original house. steel and honey-colored wood panels that world could be.” What do you hope the However, in its current state, the McCormick House operates somewhere between a make up the existing building. We hope that viewer will take away from this exhibition? historical home (as a museum piece) and a contemporary gallery space. Our project our installation’s juicy color qualities—think Candy. Really, we hope viewers will take away challenges both identities. By “completing” the incomplete or removed components of the watermelon-mint agua fresca!—will tempt and enjoy small, tasty confections offered from house, the installation invites visitors to experience the space as a type of historical visitors to linger a little longer within this the “sink fixtures” within our reenacted reenactment. At the same time, the shapely attitude of the feature furnishing pieces entices midwinter oasis of funky furniture pieces. kitchen-counter installation. In a broader sense, visitors to literally sit on, play atop and eat from the gallery content and questions the often What was the biggest challenge you we hope that visitors will question the physical hands-off expectations of an art exhibition. had to face bringing this exhibition to and behavioral qualities that they may take for Can you talk about the importance of color in your work? life within a historical space? granted about their own houses and homes— We see color—specifically bold and vibrant color—as an immediate signifier of joy. We Our biggest challenge is grappling with and including furniture, color, shape and intimacy, position immersive, super-graphic fields of color to shape space and provoke character. making accessible meaning and pleasure out of and the overlap of all of these domestic Specifically within McCormick AfterParti, the the complexity of histories represented by the ingredients. choice of and use of color provides an building. Like so many other architects, we What are you most excited about? admire Mies van der Rohe’s canonical We're particularly excited to give license to contributions to the advent of modern architecture. At the McCormick House, we’re visitors to inhabit a significant Mies van der Rohe-designed space in unexpectedly playful, inspired by the modernist approach to modularity, adaptability and clarity. At the same hands-on and irreverent ways. Steel-and-glass modernist architecture often exudes a pristine, time, seventy years later, we believe that it remains important to question the values and polite and perfectionist quality that we hope politics embedded within its design, including our installation will challenge by inviting people the stark architectural separation between an to get a bit goofy and make themselves at adults’ wing and a children’s and servants’ wing. home, whether it involves lying down on a bed, playing with puppets in the playroom or Our installation challenged us and challenges sneaking a treat in the kitchen. others to negotiate admiration and critique simultaneously. By reenacting the missing original walls, but then undermining their bound- \"Could Be Architecture: McCormick AfterParti\" aries by positioning colorful furnishings that at the Elmhurst Art Museum through April 12 C O L L A B O R AT I V E PREMARITAL | FAMILY DIVORCE | MEDIATION CHICAGO CONVENIENT & EVANSTON CHICAGO OFFICE Newcity MARCH 2020 847-733-0933 Strategic support, creative guidance, [email protected] effective leadership: these are the qualities we offer our BrigitteBell.com clients as they work through their challenges. BrigitteSchmidtBellPC 48

D&rDininkiinngg Uni Toast, photo Ethan Jollie Porto Opens Up— Conservas are not cheap. A 3.9-ounce tin of and Dresses Up— La Brújula tuna can sometimes be found for Cans of Conservas twenty dollars or so on Amazon. Selling super-high-quality conservas is an expen- By David Hammond sive proposition, so Alonso and his team have worked to develop an efficient and “It’s absolutely crazy,” says Daniel déclassé. These cans are filled with economical supply. “We’ve been going to MARCH 2020 Newcity Alonso, co-founder and managing partner conservas, tins of preserved fish and the individual cities in Galicia and Portugal, at Bonhomme Hospitality Group, which seafood that line the walls of Porto, a working with the fishermen, working with the handles restaurants like Beatnik, Black Bull restaurant devoted to the cuisine of fishmongers and establishing a direct-pur- and Porto. “If you were to print out our Portugal and the Spanish region of Galicia. chase relationship. What kills you on business plan and present it to your seafood is the price. The more hands that it college economics professor, they’d laugh “We wanted to bring the very best to goes through, the higher the product cost, you out of the classroom. It’s even risky to Chicago,” Alonso says, “and that means and everyone needs their cut. This is a do a seafood-only restaurant in parts of conservas, [a method that] started long practice as old as the Phoenicians. We want Spain or Portugal. If you talk about doing a ago so that people could have fish the very best product, but we don’t want to restaurant like that in Chicago, you’re past year-round. When the seafood is fresh, you price ourselves out of the Chicago market. crazy. But we wanted to take a chance.” enjoy it fresh, but in Galicia and Portugal, So we’ve established relationships, and you have only two-to-three months to we’re working directly with the port. We’ve Alonso is talking about the recently opened enjoy fresh seafood. So how do you even been playing matchmaker with local Porto (1600 West Chicago), which serves stretch that out? Through preservation of companies in Chicago and with the almost exclusively fish and seafood. In the fish.” producers in Spain. We say, ‘Let’s be mid-January, there were only two pork reasonable, folks. We know the price of this offerings. And here’s another risky choice: But conservas are more than simply seafood at the port, and we realize what you much of the fish and seafood comes in preserved fish, says Alonso. “What they’re need to make a living, but we’ve created cans, and for many years in this country, putting in the cans is finer quality than you this market, so let’s work together to get this canned food has been considered, um, will find anywhere.” extraordinary seafood to Chicago.’” Porto does serve exceptional fresh seafood, specifically turbot and the rarely seen John Dory, but even the canned food is further crafted by executive chef Marcos Campos. Along the Atlantic coast of 49

Newcity MARCH 2020 DINING & DRINKING France, Spain and Portugal, it’s not density, body and multiple dimensions of TOP 5 uncommon to see restaurants serving flavor. At Porto, Campos adds touches that sardines and other fish right out of the can. make these mussels—as well as many 1 Women Winemakers Alonso and Campos are aiming to do more other conservas—even more delicious and Tasting Event. Le Sud. than that. interesting. Using an escabeche espuma Woman-owned Le Sud hosts a (foam) with a slight acidic bite to balance sommelier-led tasting of wines Many of us had our first bite of seaweed in the deep flavor of the mussel, Campos by leading female winemakers a Japanese restaurant, and it was probably says that in Spain, “I find the escabeche a in Europe and Latin America. wrapped around a roll of some sort. Alonso little heavy with vinegar and oil. I wanted to March 4 believes that Tokyo and Portugal are find a super-light way to make escabeche, similar: both are on the ocean and both so that you’d enjoy it more. And eat more 2 Sherry School. Bar have huge seaports and lots of seafood. In of them!” Biscay. Bar Biscay’s Portugal, the seaport in Vigo is the source beverage team will help you for many of Porto’s conservas and Another dish that knocked us out was drink your way through many seaweed. Porto gets shipments of fresh Navajas & Espárragos, a beautiful little dish styles of fortified wine, including seaweed twice each week, and when we of razor clams and white asparagus, Fino, Oloroso, Amontillado and visited, they had seven kinds of seaweed in codium seaweed “guac” and a dab of Pedro Ximénez. March 15 their kitchen. The seaweed, says Campos, caviar. So simple, so elegant. This was our “is what we used to eat. In Galicia, it’s an first taste of codium seaweed, technically 3 American Whiskey Affair. everyday item, maybe not fancy enough to the only fresh ingredient in this dish. Untitled Supper Club. Over be in a restaurant. But the flavor, the smell, Conservas, as an integral part of Atlantic ninety whiskies from all over the it brings me back to when I’d be in the coast food culture, are harvested in a world. Whiskey-friendly bites Spanish seafood markets with the eco-friendly manner that yields a tastier from executive chef David fishermen. When I came to work at Porto, I product. Says Alonso, “Razor clams, most Gebhardt will support the boozy realized I needed to find ingredients that of the time, are vacuum-fished; there’s a journey. March 25 say ‘Galicia’ to me.” guy down there dragging the vacuum across the seabed. You’re scooping up 4 Cognac and Blues One innovative Porto dish that shows off razor clams, but you’re also scooping up a Tasting Party. City Winery. the pure oceanic depth of seaweed taste is bunch of sand. If you eat a lot of shellfish, Listen to mellow blues harp and the Pasta Do Mar, which contains seaweed you’ve come across a bite of sand, and guitar while sipping France’s “spaghetti” (fettucine-like ribbons of the that ruins the experience. La Brújula sends most famous brandy. March 27 aquatic vegetable) in a creamy “carbonara” down guys in scuba gear who hand-har- sauce that uses smoked mussels rather vest the razor clams one-by-one. And they 5 Ramen Fest 2020. Time than smoked bacon. This gluten-free pasta will take only the razor clams of a certain Out Market. Chef Bill Kim is full of flavor, and the strands of seaweed size,” which ensures that populations will brings together over twenty are naturally al dente. “I’ve never seen a survive and that there will be razor clams A-list Chicago chefs, including dish like this in Spain,” says Campos, “and for years to come. Abe Conlon, Brian Fischer and usually, in Spain, they eat this seaweed Thai Dan, to show the potential cold, like in a salad. But Chicago is a city A key advantage of eating at Porto’s big of the world’s most beloved that loves pasta, and we wanted to make a wraparound bar is that the design is soup. March 29 pasta dish that had all the ingredients intended to facilitate conversation between coming from the sea.” chefs and diners—which means, as a diner, 50 you might learn something as you eat. The ingredients at Porto are traditional, Campos served us a plate of Jamón many centuries old; the preparations are Ibérico the costly meat of the Black Iberian 2020. This approach works well in Chicago, pig. In the past, I’d jump on Jamón Ibérico though perhaps less so in Europe. “Many like a hobo on a ham sandwich: big people in Galicia just want traditional cuisine. mistake. “Put the ham on your tongue,” They want well-done traditional food, and instructed Campos. “Hold it there for a little they’re not open to trying something new. and let it start to melt before you chew it.” For Porto, I wanted to do something new, The difference in flavor was immense. as I do with the conservas. In Galicia, they just open the can and eat. They don’t use As we enjoyed more dishes of conservas, conservas to build other dishes. To me, Campos suggested that at home, even conservas deserve more respect.” from a can of King Oscar sardines, we should save the oil infused with fish About mussels, I had almost given up on essence. “We save all the oils that we get them. Having far had too many bowls of from, for instance, the sardine and vapid, stringy mussels that were only as mackerel conservas. You have so much satisfying as the sauce they were cooked umami in there. We’re making an XO sauce in, I didn’t see the point. But then I tried of it, but at home you can use the oil for one the mussels at Porto in the Mejillones salad dressing.” Escabeche. These mussels, also from Alonso’s Brújula trading partners, were Excellent advice, and an example of how oceans apart from the sad varieties of this going to Porto is part of any culinary sea creature we’ve eaten many times continuing education, as well as an absolutely stateside. These canned mussels had delicious place to spend an evening.