Newcity Chicago December 2017

December 2017THEDESIGNED OBJECTSISSUE

MAKE MAKE MAKE MAKEMAKE MAKE MAKE MAKEMAKE MAKE MAKE MAKEMAKE MAKE MAKE MAKENEW NEW NEWNEW NEW NEWNEW NEW NEWHISTORY HISTORYHISTORY HISTORYHISTORY HISTORYExhibitions, events, performancesand more by over 140 leading architectsand artists from over 20 countriesPresenting Founding Presenting Biennial Sponsor Sponsor Partner Sponsors Samuel M. and Ann S. Menco Foundation

9.16.2017 – 1.07.2018 Chicago Cultural Center chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org Image: Installation view of Vertical City, 2017. Photo by Steve HallExperience transformative architectureand design from around the worldFree and Open to the PublicEdlis-Neeson Joe and Rika Foundation Mansueto Media A&D Trade MediaPartners Partner

2017–2018 Schedule Logan Center Family Saturdays Sat, Dec 2, 2-4:30pm Famlanthropy: Ways of Giving Join us for fabulous and fun family programs on the first Saturday of each month Sat, Jan 6, 2-4:30pm October 2017–June 2018! Visions of Peace: Past, Explore your child’s artistic curiosity with hands- Present and Future on art workshops designed to stimulate creativity Sat, Feb 3, 2-4:30pm and play. Workshops designed around engagingSouthside Legends: Untold Stories themes are led by local artists, art organizations, and Sat, Mar 3, 2-4:30pm Animation and Imagination UChicago students. Sat, Apr 7, 2-4:30pm These interdisciplinary workshops are exciting for Kidpreneurs: Children Making the entire family, offering activities from music to Creativity into Business Sat, May 5, 2-4:30pm arts and crafts for youth ages 2-12. Come learn Sweet Home UChicago something new and bring friends! Sat, Jun 2, 2-4:30pm Going Global: Exploring Appropriate for families with children ages 2-12. Registration is encouraged at tickets.uchicago.edu Creative Traditions MORE INFORMATION *Themes may be subject to change. Call the Logan Center Box Office at 773.702.ARTS or visit arts.uchicago.edu/loganfamilysaturdays. Free admission and free parking in the lot on 60th and Drexel.LOGAN CENTER 915 E 60TH ST AT DREXEL AVE Logan Center Family Saturdays programming is made possible through the support of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, Michael and Patricia Klowden, and friends of the Logan Center, as well as partnerships with local and national arts organizations and performing artists.

NewcityDecember 2017ContentsO Little Town of Bethlehem, Palestine Arts & CultureWe checked in, and checked out, Banksy’s new hotel Art9 A spirited defense of Jeff KoonsDesigned Objects 44CHGO DSGN DO 2017 DanceGuest editor Rick Valicenti sets the tone Going Deeper: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater mines pain, healing andMarket Makers spiritualityTaking a look at Volume Gallery 49The Design TradeThe story of Richard Wright Designand his auction house Propaganda and its revolutionary design at The Art InstituteDesigners and their objectsAnia Jaworska 51Crucial Detail / Martin KastnerLake + Wells / Mark Kinsley and Tamera Leigh Staten Dining & DrinkingParsons & Charlesworth / Tim Parsons and Jessica What to try after mezcalCharlesworthSung Jang Laboratory / Sung Jang 53The Gift of Designed Objects FilmA holiday guide for the most discerning giver A deep dive into “The Shape of Water”15 - 41 55 Lit DECEMBER 2017 Newcity Jamie Freveletti discusses “Blood Run” 58 Music Todd Rundgren and Rufus Wainwright’s elastic masculinity 61 Stage The state of DIY theater in Chicago 64 Life Is Beautiful Teen Dream, Not home for Christmas 66 5

Newcity DECEMBER 2017 EDITOR’S LETTER Though I’ve known designer extraordinaire Rick Valicenti for a long time, it was not until he curated the exhibition “CHGO DSGN: Recent Object and Graphic Design” at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2014 that I, and probably many others, realized the impressive magnitude of our city’s design culture, at least beyond its well-deserved and celebrated role as a world architectural capital. From furniture to logos to package creation to the conceptual, our town is an epicenter of applied creativity, and with this annual edition, we celebrate the future legacy of all that. Fortunately, we have, for the second year in a row, Valicenti himself stepping in as guest editor for this issue. Rick and his cohort at Thirst design studios, especially Anna Mort, undertook the whole process, from choosing stories, coordinating with photographers and attending photo shoots, to curating the selection of designers to feature and the array of objects to include. And then they designed the entire thing, including the cover. Wow. It’s an interesting bit of serendipity that the other feature in this issue was written and photographed by Tanner Woodford, the founder of the Chicago Design Museum. (And designed by our regular lead designer, Fletcher Martin.) Tanner traveled to the Middle East to check out Banksy’s new hotel, and through his story, we traveled along. It’s equally serendipitous that the hotel is situated in Bethlehem, the town at the center of the Christmas story that is the dominant economic and cultural engine of this time of the year. Though the accompanying forces of materialism and cultural dominance can overwhelm us (not to mention all those calories!), in the spirit of what’s best about this season, we’d like to take the opportunity to thank the readers, the contributors, the advertisers and the all-around friends of Newcity for such a positive response in every sense to our transition into the magazine world this year. Have a wonderful holiday season and we’ll see you in January! BRIAN HIEGGELKE 6

N O, YOU’RE WEIRD!JOHN FLUEVOG SHOES 15 39-41 N MILWAUKEE AVE 7 73 ·7 72·198 3 FLUEVOG .COM

Contributors VASIA RIGOU (“The Design Trade”) is a ON THE COVER native of Greece who is now a Chicago- Photo: Ross Floyd RICK VALICENTI (Guest Editor), based art critic and pop culture along with his design collaborator, journalist, largely on the subjects of Vol. 32, No. 1374 ANNA MORT, edited and designed the contemporary art, design and fashion. An Designed Objects section and cover. alum of the Arts Journalism graduate PUBLISHERS Valicenti has led the Thirst design studio program at the School of The Art Institute Brian & Jan Hieggelke since its founding in 1989 and has of Chicago, she received a BA in English Associate Publisher Mike Hartnett established himself as one of the most Literature, in her native Athens, a MA in visionary designers in the country, Media, in the UK and studied foreign EDITORIAL winning the 2011 National Design Award languages–English, Spanish and German. Editor Brian Hieggelke from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Managing Editor Jan Hieggelke Design Museum. NATHAN KEAY (Photos, “Market Makers”) Art Editor Elliot Reichert is a Chicago-based photographer Dance Editor Sharon Hoyer specializing in portraits, especially Assistant Dance Editor Irene Hsiao musicians, and objects. Dining and Drinking Editor David Hammond TANNER WOODFORD (“O Little Town of MONICA KASS-ROGERS (Photos, Film Editor Ray Pride Bethlehem, Palestine”) is founder, “The Design Trade”) is a Chicago-based Lit Editor Toni Nealie executive director and bartender of the writer and photographer and artist with a Music Editor Robert Rodi Chicago Design Museum. He teaches at passion for letterpress printing. She runs Theater Editor Kevin Greene the School of the Art Institute of Chicago the food-memories blog, Lost Recipes Contributing Writers Isa Giallorenzo, and makes Iterative Work. As a designer, Found. Aaron Hunt, Alex Huntsberger, Hugh Iglarsh, educator and entrepreneur, he has Chris Miller, Dennis Polkow, Vasia Rigou, taught, lectured and led workshops on PHILIP BERGER (“Market Makers”) Loy Webb, Michael Workman design issues, social change and design writes frequently about design and history in classrooms and at conferences. architecture for Newcity and dabbles in ART & DESIGN the law on the side. Senior Designers Kady Dennell, MJ Hieggelke, Fletcher Martin CHAMBER OPERA CHICAGO PRESENTS Designers Sean Leary, Jim Maciukenas, Stephanie Plenner, Dan Streeting, Billy WerchNewcity DECEMBER 2017 Celebrate the 12th anniversary “This is one of of this beloved annual production! those truly rare MARKETING family works that Marketing Manager Todd Hieggelke December 10 & 17 is immediately Both Sundays at 3:00pm accessible on every OPERATIONS level—and yet is General Manager Jan Hieggelke The Royal George Theatre still meaningful to Distribution Nick Bachmann, 1641 North Halsted Street, Chicago the most seasoned Adam Desantis, Preston Klik, • Sung in English with orchestra, featuring dancers opera-goers.” Quinn Nicholson, Matt Russell from Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater • Original direction by Francis Menotti, –Dennis Polkow, Newcity Stage One copy of current issue free. Additional copies, based on his father’s original 1951 staging. including back issues up to one year, may be • Opening with a new adaptation of Victoria Bond's ordered. Copyright 2017, New City one-act family opera, The Miracle of Light! Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Directed by Kyle Dougan. Newcity assumes no responsibility to return unsolicited editorial or graphic material. All rights in letters and unsolicited editorial or graphic material will be treated as unconditionally 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. TICKETS ($10-$20): 312-988-9000 www.chamberoperachicago.org 8

0LittleTownof Bethlehem,Palestine CheckinginatBanksy’s THEWALLEDOFFHOTEL

By Tanner Woodford All images by Tanner Woodford Earlier this year, anonymous street Compelling points. Like every Banksy a vibrant neighborhood, surrounded by artist and political activist Banksy project, the hotel appeared in the middle nightlife and architecture in the opened a pop-up art hotel in the West of the night, without permission granted International Style—a Bauhaus-inspired Bank, just on the other side of a security or notice given, delivering a pithy, if not approach brought by German Jewish checkpoint in Bethlehem, Palestine. The blunt statement most appropriate for its architects who immigrated to Palestine hotel’s website lists common questions, location. after the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s. two of which had crossed my mind, With about twelve hours in the city of “Why open a hotel there? What’s wrong Reflecting on a long flight home, it seems lines, I tried to sleep off the jet lag before with Shoreditch?” obvious that the Walled Off Hotel is grabbing an Americano and sprinting The answer : Banksy’s most important work to date. through the city to take in as much as “This place is the centre of the possible. At noon, the Walled Off Hotel universe—every time God comes to Before unpacking that sentiment (or my collected us in a cab. Our driver was kind earth it seems to happen near here. suitcase), I need to provide a little and talkative, providing context on the The architecture and landscape are context. When I was invited to spend a journey and a warm welcome. We asked stunning, the food delicious and the few nights in the Middle East by if he had chauffeured any celebrities. He current situation remarkable and Christopher Jobson (Colossal), I couldn’t recall any specific names, before touching. This is a place of immense hesitated, asking for a week to consider flashing a selfie of himself with Morgan spiritual and political significance— the offer. Only marginally aware of the Freeman. The voice of God appearing on and very good falafel.” complicated and dangerous Israeli- the trip to the city where Jesus was Palestinian conflict, I settled into hours of supposedly born was serendipitous at primary and secondary research, hoping worst. “He’s just a guy,” our driver to educate myself on contemporary confirmed about halfway through the events and to gain top-level one-hour commute. I wasn’t sure if he understanding of its history. I learned was referring to Jesus or Morgan about the ongoing refugee crisis, and Freeman. that Britain once held control of Palestine. I saw many pictures of police deploying When we saw the foreboding concrete tear gas and rubber bullets upon wall, I shifted uncomfortably. Its security protesters. The Israeli West Bank barrier checkpoint was protected by Israeli (the wall) is a military structure, built by soldiers armed with semiautomatic the Israeli government to enclose machine guns. I was not prepared for Palestine. Israel considers it a security what would happen next—a couple of barrier against terrorism while simple questions, followed by a smile, a Palestinians call it an apartheid wall. Further reading and discussions led to mixed emotions, as I oscillated between brazen confidence and cold feet. I remembered Chicago’s reputation for violence in national media in direct contrast to my actual experience of living safely in the city. I found further solace and comfort thumbing through Instagram posts and stories of everyday people who had visited.Newcity DECEMBER 2017 Without risk, there would be no reward. And I was eager to experience a part of the world I never thought I would have the opportunity to, and suspected Banksy had good intentions. We flew from Chicago to London, followed by a quick stop in Tel Aviv, Israel. There, we stayed for one night in10

nod, and an open hand signaling we “BANKS’S,” and were transported into a Time to check in. I received a key for my DECEMBER 2017 Newcitywere allowed to proceed through the lobby gallery filled with resolute original room, attached to a miniaturegate. It was surprisingly easy, and sadly, works with an obsessive attention to reproduction of the separation wallreminded me of the inherent privilege I detail. Of course, the subtly textured, turned into a fob. The lobby attendantreceive because of my passport, skin floral-patterned wallpaper was spray- directed us to a bookcase, and waved thecolor and sex. As we passed through the painted directly on the wall, revealed only fob in front of a marble statue of agate, I saw that the wall displays more by over-spraying on one of the prominent woman. Her breasts lit up, and thegraffiti than concrete. Every square inch outlet fixtures; the rest were intentionally bookcase opened, revealing a staircaseis layered with paint, color, typography brand new, clean white. Three oil to our rooms. The first thing Iand texture. This is in part due to the paintings clad with life rafts, buoys and encountered was a framed 1949 passagelocal Wall-Mart, a small store next to the life jackets hung above a mantle from Picasso that attempted to putWalled Off Hotel that sells paint, stencils containing a sculpture of a shipwrecked context around the experience we wereand ladder service for you to try your boat. A fireplace made from a pile of about to have. “We artists arehand at tagging the wall. Is it illegal, you separation-wall rubble atop a spinning indestructible; even in a prison, or in amay wonder? The response is that it’s orange emergency light provided faux concentration camp, I would be almightynot “not” legal, as the wall itself is illegal warmth. Guests from across the region in my own world of art, even if I had tounder international law, and putting art and world were staggered under CCTV paint my pictures with my wet tongue onon it is a form of nonviolent protest. security cameras mounted to taxidermy the dusty floor of my cell.” Walking up theWhen a substantially thoughtful piece is panels, found oil paintings covered with stairs, I found paintings burnt and rippedmade, it is left alone by other artists. This protective wire to obscure the imagery, a out of their frames, phrases like “dog,”creates a remarkably contrasted realistic sculpture of a black-and-white “rural landscape,” “picture of a horse,” andexperience, an open-air museum cat trying to eat a dove in a cage, and a “two dogs” stenciled directly on the wallcomprised of decades-old original concrete bust with soft cotton tear gas with an empty frame hanging over them,artworks by Banksy and his friends swirling around it. Having never seen an and a menagerie of British tableware, warpainted directly on the separation wall, original Banksy, the experience was a toys for children and living plants. It wassurrounded by thousands of amateur feast. more cozy than it sounds.experiments. The first substantial piecerocketed me home—a twenty-five-foot-tall realistic portrait of President Trumpby Melbourne-based Lush. Trump’s eyesare closed, his hand on the wall, with anexcerpt reading, “I’m going to build you abrother.”The hotel was less than one hundredyards away.Climbing out of the car, we weresurrounded by Walled Off staff. (Thehotel employs forty-eight Palestinians.) Ataxi driver dedicated to the location gaveus a business card, offering to take usanywhere, anytime. Another employeegrabbed our bags. As we walked past alifelike sculpture of a chimpanzee in adoorman’s uniform spilling clothing froma suitcases it’s carrying, another staffmember opened the door. “Welcome tothe Walled Off Hotel,” he said. “You’vemade it.”We walked through the doors, thenthrough a red velvet curtain under ahand-painted sign that read 11

The lights dimmed promptly at 8pm, followed by the concert. Though we were the only two guests—without a musician on site—we clapped at the end of the performance anyway. The staff laughed, then joined us. Cocktails included the Half Nelson, the Full Nelson and the Nelson From The Simpsons. emotion, original artworks, We booked two tours on the second day—one of the Aida Refugee Camp next On this side of the wall, the motion graphics, timelines to the hotel, and another of the old city of and objects contributed by Jerusalem. The tours were more moving, locals. The contents are revealing and enlightening than the hotel itself. In retrospect, it feels obvious that street art is heartbreaking. spread across seven small rooms. The most moving The Walled Off Hotel experience was a small, unassuming telephone the hotel is a way to directly experience the intense and horrific cruelness of the mounted to the wall. Upon decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. picking it up, a recording Adjacent to Rachel’s Tomb, the Aida Refugee Camp is comprised of about from an Israeli soldier informs you they 5,000 Palestinians forced to live in close quarters with no privacy and under strict have decided to demolish your home to curfew. On this side of the wall, the street art is heartbreaking, listing names of Banksy was officially designated as a build a section of wall. He gives you refugees killed in the camp with highly detailed portraits to memorialize them. British cultural icon in 2014, with people fifteen-to-thirty minutes to pack your The camp has two schools, one of which echoed with children’s laughter through around the world naming him in polls belongings. I was also moved by an its tall, barbed-wire-lined walls. The other contained a football field covered with a about who they most associated with U. image of a salesman holding a machine safety net so the kids have time to safely run away should rubber-coated steel K. culture. (The list also includes gun with a stuffed animal mounted to its bullets, stun grenades, or tear gas be deployed while they are playing. Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth II and The barrel. It was in a museum case Speaking of tear gas, thousands of used canisters littered the streets and rooftops Beatles.) As you might imagine, his containing promotional mints shaped like of the camp. They felt like gravel under my feet. Our tour guide picked up a original artwork is rare and, well, drones from a military-supply trade show. canister and brought it over. He wanted me to see with my own eyes that it was expensive. Locking yourself in a room The museum is free for locals and guests proudly labeled, “Made in the USA.” I wanted to apologize, but knew it wouldn’t with a lot of it feels surreal, to say the of the hotel and costs fifteen shekels help. When asked what the most important issue is, he answered without least. To deter theft, the hotel’s website (roughly $4) for other tourists. Of course, assures “any person found attempting to it exits through a gift shop, a nod to steal or deface hotel property will be Banksy’s 2010 documentary “Exit arrested, transported to the police station Through the Gift Shop.” I scored a Walled in Ramallah, and prosecuted to the full Off Hotel t-shirt boasting “The Worst extent of local law.” Though you would View in the World,” and more excitingly, a think that’s enough, there were still miniature wall section that was designed plenty of stories of tourists attempting to by Banksy and painted by Palestinians. A lift anything that moves. quick trek upstairs to the gallery revealedNewcity DECEMBER 2017 a wealth of original artwork made by the After settling in, washing up with soap best artists of Palestine. About half had specifying it was tested on orphans (not sold, some for tens of thousands of animals), and taking in a series of found dollars. Prints, posters and postcards and original paintings with glitches and with images from the show were unexpected additions, we checked out available in the museum’s gift shop. the downstairs museum and gallery. That night, we ate pizza in the lobby, The museum’s exhibition is revealing, serenaded by an automatic player piano thorough and fair, describing the programmed to play songs by Tom Waits,12 Israeli-Palestinian conflict with raw Flea, Massive Attack and Trent Reznor.

hesitation: water. The pipes that deliver owner of the to the area are two-inches thick and hotel. He rusted. They lose approximately thirty invited us to percent of the water that passes through dinner with him and what arrives is unclean and unsafe and his wife, an architect. They to drink. The Israeli military supposedly drove us through the city’s hills delivers clean water to the camp every and valleys, telling us stories of the ten days, which is then stored in plastic politicians, celebrities, Palestinians, tanks on the rooftops. Water delivery can Israelis, Americans and British that be used as leverage during things like had visited since its opening only a the Second Intifada, a Palestinian few months ago. He lives in the uprising against Israel. The longest same house he was born in. His stretch without a water delivery was forty father lives upstairs, his days. “What might cause it to stop grandfather used to live there, and his entirely?” our guide wondered. He told us cousins live next door. For him, the hotel of the so-called “skunk truck,” which has transformed people’s expectations of uses a water cannon to spray a foul- Bethlehem, a city he loves. When I asked smelling slurry of sewage and chemicals how long the hotel would be open, he said that he doesn’t think the locals willis Banksy’s most important work to date. ever allow it to close, as it communicates transparently about an unjustlythat leaves a weeks-long stench behind. describe them. Though the groups have complicated situation. DECEMBER 2017 NewcityWe exited the camp through a gate competing ideologies, they all feelcontaining a huge “key of return,” a ownership of the same physical I mentioned that the Walled Off Hotel is 13symbol of the homes they used to own. landmarks, an impossible situation with a Banksy’s most important work. This isThe gate was adjacent to a mural topic as sensitive as religion. As we not because the artwork inside iscommemorating hundreds of Palestinian walked throughout the interwoven and particularly compelling, although it is. It’schildren that had been killed in the connected churches, a priest more because the experience breedsconflict, beside a quote by Martin Luther approached me, pointed at my shorts, dialogue, opens eyes and asks visitors toKing, Jr.: “We must rapidly begin to shift told me bare legs are not allowed in the reevaluate their assumptions.from a thing-oriented society to a holy area, and scolded, “Cover yourself.”person-oriented society.” Our guide apologized, then continued his One of the questions on the hotel’s story, explaining that children are brought website asks, “Are you just making aThe morning tour was devastating. up to be fearful of and hate one another. profit from other people’s misery?” It As he was talking, an Israeli soldier answers: “The hotel is now anWalking through the old town of approached us to ask what we were independent local business. The aim is toJerusalem that afternoon, I felt so small discussing. Later, I learned he overheard break even and put any profits back intoand so privileged. Realizing how little I our guide being sympathetic toward local projects.” In order to bring peace tounderstood about our world was Palestine, and wanted to control the the Middle East, we’ve now tried buildingoverwhelming. I wondered if other narrative. Truthfully, he was describing a new hotel that employs dozens,tourists, residents and soldiers walking the conflict more broadly, which included exposure from the inimitable Banksy, andpast felt similarly. Though I knew multiple perspectives. We left the church, apparently, a visit from the one and onlybeforehand the situation was and found the oldest tattoo shop in the Morgan Freeman. What’s next?complicated, I was beguiled by the world, founded in 1300. It was fullynumber of cultures, churches and homes booked, so we got a coffee and athat sit atop one another. Modern kanafah instead.archaeologists have discovered dozensof layers of civilization going back Returning to the Walled Off Hotel after athousands of years. Religions are visit to the Wailing Wall, I was desperatesmashed together, sharing the same holy for a “Nelson From The Simpsons.”sites with different words and names to Halfway through my cocktail, I met the

BLANCHE TABLES MERCHANDISE MART SUITE 1428 312 661 1900

Midwest Modernism A techno-vision of the future with a dash of the past by Rick ValicentiFeatured: We are living in an extraordinary time—a threshold clutteredOgechi AnyanwuBrenda Bergen with people, places and things. To some, it may seem like a roomCraighton BermanBilly Sunday stuffed with too much past and not enough future. To others, itTanner BowmanJessica Charlesworth may recall the antiseptic waiting room in the film “2001: A SpaceAlex DoughertyFelicia Ferrone Odyssey,” where the moment’s nakedness seems to yearn for theLauren GallagherSarah Gardner cover of nostalgia. It’s unclear how far out into theBen HantootMatthew Hoffman future this threshold actually extends. At least for now, it seemsCody HudsonSung Jang like the design of objects is racing forward, taking with it a littleAnia JaworskaMartin Kastner of the past and a techno-vision of the future. Designers here inMark KinsleyJeneba Koroma the Midwest, like their colleagues around the planet, are stuckKovalLetherbee in the present tense, poking and fussing, fiddling and fuddling.Pete OylerTim Parsons While trying to make sense of it all, they leave meaning in theirRhine HallMichael Savona wake. Let me begin with this simple truth. DesignedTamera Leigh StatenMax Temkin objects embody the presence of people responsible for their con-Sam VinzClaire Warner ception and are imprinted with the stories of the people who wereBryce WilnerRichard Wright at the table or in the room at the times of their birth. Avatars.Cover photos by Ross Floyd Replicants. The sheer number of designed objectsCollaborative Art Direction by RVText set in Alright V2 by Jackson Cavanaugh clamoring for our attention may be obscene, but occasionally weOkay Type, ChicagoDesign by RV and Anna Mort/Thirst find ourselves face-to-face with things that we might love—with which we might actually have intimate sensual relationships. This is the bright side of consumerism. It’s intensely personal to take something into our hands, bring it up to our eyes, press it against our lips, absorb it with our ears, and ultimately take it right into our minds’ heart. What was once business, is now a love/hate relationship with things—objects. The designed object in some peculiar way commemorates us even as it represents an invasion of our personal space. This year’s selected objects and their stories highlight a midwestern sensibility—a Midwest Modernism insistence on appropriate materiality, meticulous craft, and motivated by a conceptual charm and wit. These objects unleash a version of now, yet hold the past in conscious regard. Oddly familiar objects reflect our lifestyle, our singular blip on the timeline, providing a wry and prolix commentary of who we are and who we might like to be; a chorus of personal voices immortalizing this conflicted moment. It may sound cliché, but there’s real magic in the air. It is not just some echoing, high-frequency radio signal broadcast from a delivery room far far away, but rather the calling of things worthy of our discerning attention. The following pages are but snapshots from the nursery, captioned with comments by the local parents and caregivers of these recently designed objects. 15

PORTRAIT BY MONICA KASS ROGERS, HISTORY MATTERS NEON BY JASON PICKLEMAN

THE DESIGN TRADE

The Design TradeHow Richard Wright created a world-class auction houseby Vasia RigouWhen Richard Wright was young he wanted to be a writer. But Southwest to California. And we started driving around andshortly after he went to college, things took an unexpected turn.“I knew I was a genius at the time, and I knew no one could teach buying stuff. It was crazy. It was the eighties! It was all flea mar-me anything so I thought I’d hitchhike cross-country,” Wrightsays. “I was out for a month. It was a disaster. I ran out of money kets and thrift stores.” Wright didn’t know muchin Mississippi,” he adds, smiling. “I soon figured out I wasn’t agenius. You know, writing is really hard.” He might have failed at about art or design at the time but he was willing to learn in anythis first quest but one thing was clear as day: The kid from Mainewas looking for adventure. He had no idea that years later the way possible. “I started buying stuff from the fifties because itChicago-based auction business bearing his name would becomea favorite among design connoisseurs and an international was inexpensive and I was drawn to it. I didn’t yet know if it wasleader in the world of modern design auction houses. Nor thatthis would be an adventure continued to this day. good design, but I didn’t like antiques per se, so I gravitatedHeadquartered in an elegant 40,000-square-foot building inChicago’s West Loop neighborhood, with a second, newer loca- toward that,” he says. “I remember that this girl’s father was antion on Madison Avenue in New York City, Wright has handledmore than 40,000 lots of twentieth and twenty-first century architect, and he was incredibly angry at me for having hisdesign since its founding in 2000. But unlike Christie’s, Sotheby’sand Phillips, the Wright space looks nothing like a traditional daughter out of college. One day he said to me, ‘Do you know whoauction house. After all, it’s only seventeen years old. The firstfloor includes a storage warehouse that looks like a mismatched Charles Eames is?’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t!’ ‘Oh God, you’reshowroom made in heaven. All design objects and furniture areavailable for preview, which, with very few exceptions, means such an idiot,’ he said. ‘If you’re gonna do this, at least learn.’ Sotouching, exploring, even sitting where appropriate. How a piecefeels is extremely important in the design world. Upstairs is the he pointed us the way.” For the next couple of yearsmain auction floor—a minimal open space with chairs perfectlylined up toward the podium. On the right-hand side is where they would spend all of their time either driving around trying tosome of the most competitive, head-to-head battles take place.Even in the event of short in-house attendance, as many as buy stuff (mostly vintage and postwar pieces) or going to librar-twenty phones may be buzzing in the room. The left side of theroom features a few pieces that will be auctioned. They look ies and looking up old magazines—there weren’t many books onmore like part of the decor. One wouldn’t be able to tell. the period yet. “It was great: We’d go into the library and we’d After his two most recent auctions concludedanother busy month, Wright reminisces about the early days, learn, then go around buying stuff,” he says. “Soon we discoveredwhen he first discovered the world of vintage through an oldgirlfriend. “It was 1985 when I first got exposed to it—first vin- we could set up at the 26th Street Flea Market in New York. Wetage clothing, and then the larger world of… a little bit of junk,”he says, smiling. “I was going to school and she was going to would drive there every two weeks. It was fun. We were in ourschool and I convinced her to drop out—she was three creditsaway from an art history degree at Boston University and I still twenties. It was all cash!” Some people are wired for storytellinghad two years to go because I had wasted all that time hitchhik-ing—so I said let’s do this, it’s going to be amazing, we’re going and Wright is one of them. “After I did that for a while, I openedto get rich! And she did it. And we bought a van. It was a Toyotaminivan we even stayed in for a famous six-month period of time, a little space at an antique mall. And then a little gallery,” heonly getting a hotel once a week, while traveling all through the continues. “But then we split up. She started her own gallery. I had my little shop. I was making a living but I wasn’t growing anymore. By that time it was the early nineties.” Beginning his career in the humblest of places, Wright always had a bigger vision. But it was at Oak Park’s Treadway-Toomey Auctions and their focus on modern design that he got the bug. “I had this piece and it was really expensive,” he says. “It just sat in my shop and nobody would buy it. I knew there was someone in Chicago that wanted it but they wouldn’t pay my price. So I decided to consign it at their auction. The same person sat in the audience and he bought it for more money than what I was ask- ing. And that was when the lightbulb went off! I was like, ‘What am I doing sitting here trying to sell to people? I can do this!’” When the person who started the modern auction left within a year, Wright stepped into the role. He worked there from 1993 to 1999. “That’s how I learned the auction trade,” he says, reminiscing of those first six years , when he would try to produce different auctions. They finally agreed to let him do one. “It was an Eames auction. I took a year to plan it, I found all this great furniture, I art-directed it and I worked with this really great graphic designer to make an auction catalogue that looked like no other auction catalogue,” he says. “And it went extremely18 Newcity December 2017

CLOCKWISE FROM TOPHarry BertoiaUntitled (Monumental Sonambient)from the Standard Oil Commission, 1975Josef AlbersStudy for Homage to the Square: Slate and Sky, 1961Frank GehryWinton Guest House, 1984-1987Wendell CastleEarly and Important Table, c. 1966Christopher WoolUntitled, 1989 19

well. It was a huge success. And that gave me a taste—it sort of sold consistently over the years, as well as serving as alaunched me.” But then a couple of things happened, as he says. broad-spectrum platform to promote design at-large. And after“I wanted to do it again. But they didn’t really believe in it. So I about thirty years in the business, Wright himself has too. Butleft and opened my own.” Wright Auction, in Fulton he still has big ideas. To him, continually learning and growing isMarket just five blocks from the current space, was born. “It key. “Design is for people that like to be engaged,” as he likes toreally started on a shoestring, with a tiny staff, one full-time guy say. “I want to continue to evolve—finding new ways of celebrat-that would help me bring in furniture and a freelance photogra- ing the art and design we handle motivates me,” he adds, explain-pher. I kind of did everything myself,” says Wright, explaining how ing his fascination with the design world. “One ofhe has developed a unique style. “We’re certainly not a tradi- the things I love about design is that there’s something verytional auction house,” he says. “We take things for consignment democratic about it. People are feeling it, touching it, using it.and we sell them, much like Christie’s and Sotheby’s, but we try Then, they give you their opinion,” Wright says. “But most peopleto do it our own way—one that has our personality. I wanted to will not look at a piece of art and tell you if they like it becausebe professional and creative—to try to do things differently and they’re intimidated. Maybe they don’t know who it’s by or arenot follow the models of the traditional auction houses which afraid they might sound ignorant. Design is different becausewere very conservative at that time.” First order people feel differently about their taste in it. That’s the reasonof business? The auction catalogue: pre-Wright, auction lot why these two markets are driven by two different things,” hedirectories were boring checklists disconnected from the crea- explains. He’s right. We tend to define ourselves by the objectstive nature of the featured objects. Post-Wright, catalogues we surround ourselves with in our intimate spaces. That’s whybecame highly editorialized, featured vivid imagery, and began, design touches us in a way that is more direct and accessible.more and more, to resemble high-end fashion or contempo- That’s why we’re so emotionally attached to possessions andrary-art coffee-table books. “The creation of the catalogue is why it’s so hard to get rid of them, even if we never use them. Andmy favorite part of the auction process,” says Wright. “It is pure that’s why the auction setting can be uncomfortable at times.as your singular focus is on making every lot look great.” This “It’s always a little high stress when the consigner is sittinginnovative breakthrough changed the image of the auction cat- there, staring at you,” says Wright, who, after years in the busi-alogue forever and established Wright as a house unafraid of ness, has seen it all. “I always tell people it’s really hard to watchbold risks and big ideas. Bringing graphic design to the auction the auction process if you’ve lived with the estates,” he says. “It’sworld was now part of their brand story. Wright so cold. It goes fast, there’s no explanation,” he adds. “It’s just,co-founded the business with his first wife, award-winning inte- next, next, next… and then it’s over, gone. It’s too emotional.”rior designer and major contributor to the design scene, Julie Auction houses might still be a vital and integralThoma Wright. Together, they were a force of nature. With their part of the market but the paradigm of buying and collecting hascombined vision, hard work and expertise, business thrived. “Our shifted as the market itself has changed. Everything is morefirst auction was $400,000 and that was good enough for me,” digital: collectors are an email away, lots can be sourced fromWright says about the early days. “We kept growing from there. anywhere in the world and auctions are live-streamed over theWe did another one in the fall. The first year we did two auctions. internet. But according to Wright, this, too, comes with its ownSecond year we did four or five. This year we’re going to do thir- set of challenges. “The pace of change has sped up over thety-five auctions,” he says. “The most successful auction I’ve ever years,” he says, stressing the fact that in the digital marketplaceconducted was $10 million. That was back in 2007, our best year everything moves so quickly. Technology might allow us to reachto date. We sold a house, we sold a car, we sold a couple of hun- a much broader audience, but this also means increased com-dred pieces. Things were really going crazy.” Except for one: this petition and, in some cases, really crazy inflated prices. “The vastwas the year of his wife’s passing. She was diagnosed with cancer amount of online options has lowered the quality,” he says,in 2004. “It was a terrible experience—a really strange discon- adding, that in the art world one can simply look at the auctionnect to have someone you love dying while the business you records. “Price databases aggregate detailed information onstarted together takes off.” The Chicago auction past and upcoming auction results that help understand andhouse has come a long way, playing a major role in establishing anticipate prices,” he says. “Design is a little more of a gut feel.”a market for twentieth-century modern design which Wright has Wright has always been fascinated by the20 Newcity December 2017

dynamics of auction. “These are thinly-traded assets,” he says. remorse,” when a client might be unhappy with a sale or realize“So much of what I sell is pretty much perceived value. I used to they might have overpaid. “We’ve all been there,” he says. “Wesay that I love design pieces that barely work because to me this know it from buying fashion: You go in and you make a choice butwas some sort of experiment. I see the idea and I love communi- the next day you put it on and you’re like ‘what the hell was Icating to the world the potential of that piece,” he says with a thinking?’ The same thing can happen when you buy a work ofsmile. ”Anyone can sell a gold bracelet. You measure it, you set art. One can easily get caught up in the romance of the auction.”the grams, it’s easy. And there’s a huge market. But I like a chal- Having experienced both sides of the auctionlenge.” This past February, Wright rose up to process over the years, Wright admits, “I get weirdly nervousanother challenge, presenting “Design in Motion: The Berkel when I’m going to bid. My heartbeat really goes up. And I’m com-Slicer Machine,” the first auction ever dedicated to vintage fly- petitive! I like to win,” he says. “But you have to be graceful whenwheel slicing machines, kitchen scales and ephemera. “I found you lose. That’s what I teach my boys. That’s the bigger strength.”this really awesome, vintage collection of meat slicers and I In 2013, Wright married Valerie Carberry. “My wife is an artthought ‘I really want to auction this,’” he says, adding, dealer,” he says, “I find it really important to be with someone,“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Meat slicers not in the industry per se, but who would understand. It’s greatworked!” But that’s not always the case. “I once did an auction to be able to share. This stuff is important to me.” Together theywith just one lot,” he says. “There was this crazy collection of have started an art collection—“It’s a passion. You get obsessedphotographs of these men, in the 1950s that were supposedly with it”—and they travel the world to recharge and find inspira-straight, and they went to this summer retreat and they dressed tion, and have a rule to shop together. “I don’t know how manyas women and they photographed each other.” He’s talking about couples share it but it’s really fun,” he says blaming his designthe Casa Susanna archive, an extravagant collection of 340 training for putting a creative twist on classic men’s style. “I’mimages found by collectors Robert Swope and Michel Hurst at a trying to balance contemporary sensibilities with vintage,” heManhattan flea market in 2004. “It was amazing,” says Wright, says, encapsulating his unique sense of art direction that“They published a book, and it got licensed for a Broadway play extends across all aspects of his life—from fashion choices, to[the Tony-nominated “Casa Valentina”], but it was anonymous auction catalogue design, to his artfully-curated live sales.and way too expensive,” he adds. “We did an installation in New Wright’s latest project is, unsurprisingly, anotherYork, we designed a beautiful catalogue—it was a super-chic challenge. “We’re doing the entire interior of a restaurant,” heproject and no one bought it. It just didn’t happen.” declares. Chef René Redzepi’s groundbreaking noma, in“It’s a really small, tiny world. And your reputation matters,” Copenhagen, named the world’s best restaurant four timesWright reflects on the auctioneering business. In an industry of before Redzepi closed it earlier this year, is auctioning off itspersonal relationships, tension, excitement and graceful yet interior furnishings, décor and tableware. The 500-lot auctionuncompromising battles where multimillion-dollar art and will include everything from hand-carved wooden cutlery anddesign works are secured by an anonymous phone bid or the ceramic dishes to knife sets, wall maps, taxidermy waxwings andsubtle wave of a paddle, Wright discovered something important site-specific sculptural installations. Even the custom twenty-about himself: “I like the grey area of life—the middle ground,” foot-long table from the restaurant’s private dining room andhe says. “At this level of auction you try to use silence, you have their wine list is fair game. “It’s a super-risky one. It could flop,to vary your pace, and then you try to add some drama. After a I’m telling you right now,” says Wright. But his eyeslong time you learn if somebody’s going to stop bidding or if they sparkle. Once again, Wright is up for the challenge. He has mademight bid one more time. Most people are really easy to read,” it close to the top of his trade but his need to continue evolvinghe adds. “And I always tell them to set a limit. Then you can go and pushing creative boundaries in the ever-shifting designover your limit but you have a reference point. For an auctioneer, world never diminishes. “Can you imagine, I used to set up at fleathe art of it is trying to find this price level that is fair to both markets? That’s how I started out, as a picker, as we say in thesides. The buyers want you to present work at a fair price and the business—someone who goes around hunting for things.sellers want you to get them the highest price possible. So you I’m actually really grateful that I’ve experienced the wholehave to navigate these two, because those two are opposed.” spectrum,” he says, adding, “that’s what I’m most proud of.” Wright talks about the rare case of “buyer’s 21

Architect and EducatorANIA JAWORSKA WHY do you design in Chicago? WHAT does this object say about you and your practice? do you gauge the success of an object? HOWAn advantage of living in Chicago is that it provides access to of their form. The furniture in the collection sets the stage fordiverse architecture, design and art communities. I teach at UIC, specific actions, arranges behaviors and defines new attitudes.where the architecture faculty is constantly exchanging ideas In my practice I use, challenge and reconfigure persistentlyproducing a stimulating environment that in return motivates known architectural (or design) elements, symbols, signs andme to produce more challenging work. I am also interested in simplistic geometric forms. I often use humor, and commentary,developing a skillset and knowledge of materials and fabri- and bring conceptual and cultural references to my work. I likecation techniques, which informs the work I produce. I enjoy to think that my work is simultaneously simple and complex,Chicago’s fabrication shops and people who are enthusiastic familiar and unfamiliar, funny and serious. A lotabout challenging projects. Another important factor is the of times a project is a result of a collaboration between a clientcollaboration with clients/ institutions/professionals who seek or fabricator, a budget and my own interests and conceptualunconventional ways of approaching design. Upon arriving in approach. The furniture in SET is composed of cylindrical formsChicago I was fortunate to be selected as a designer for a book- made of wooden pegs, plywood tubes and molded fiberglass. Allshop installation for Graham Foundation in Chicago. I recently of the pieces are finished with a mirror lacquer surface, whichhad a solo exhibition, “BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Ania required an intensive process. In SET, conceptual and spatialJaworska” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and impact is achieved through a reductive and deliberate use ofSET at Volume Gallery. Most recently, my practice received form, proportions, arrangements and surface. The conceptual,a recognition and I was a finalist for a 2017 MoMA PS1 Young formal and materiality explorations I set for this body of workArchitects Program. You can currently see an Entrance installa- are represented exactly and their function and impact in spacetion at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. SET is a successfully engages the person and a room.collection series of furniture that encompasses simplistic formsthat are exaggerated in such a way as to achieve authoritativeand imposing proportions. Individual units command the spacearound it and direct the body, making one conscious and aware22 Newcity December 2017

SET, Lacquered wood, aluminum 23AVAILABLE THROUGH VOLUME GALLERY

Founder, Sung Jang Laboratory and Assistant Professor, School of Design at UICSUNG JANG WHY do you design in Chicago? WHAT does this object say about you and your practice? do you gauge the success of an object? HOWI like Chicago. Sometimes I feel like its design industry could principles and investigating the process. In this project, mybe bigger and have stronger national and international pres- initial objective was to investigate the ideas of extravaganceence. Chicago’s design scene is small but very collegial. There is and elegance, the two polar components of abstract beauty. Ita certain sense of genuine interest in making good products and manifested in modular systems where complexity is achieved inhelping each other that I seldom witness in other major cities. the simplest way of expansion. After realizing this, I sought anDesigners here are more comrades than competitors. Despite appropriate application of this module system, which yielded inthe relatively moderate “design scene” for an international city, a number of various forms, scales and use. AsideChicago has a great brand image that is globally recognized. I from the typical measures such as market, audience reactionsdon’t have to explain where Chicago is, people from other parts and enthusiasm from critics and peers, I think a project is suc-of the world seem to know this place and have a positive image cessful if it is able to guide me to the next steps. If I learnedof it. For me, Chicago seems to offer a good balance between from the projects things I didn’t expect, I feel that the projectfamily and ambition. The speed at which Chicago moves is good is successful. In this regard, Mobi was a successful project. Itfor me. Cities like New York or Seoul move at a different speed, opened up a good range of next steps to explore, I met manyquite a bit faster than I can comfortably bear. I am not consumed new people through it and I learned much from the experience.by work in Chicago, I can also have a family. About Another fun thing I realized is that people seem to rememberhalf of my projects are client-centric industrial design, the this project by its name, which does not always happen. I learnedother half are experimental. This work, Mobi, shows the exper- to be accessible to various types of the audience through differ-imental space in between art and design that I find interest- ent mechanisms I built into the piece. It can be very esoteric if iting. The industrially made, mass-produced, injection-molded needs to be, but it can also be enjoyed by children.module units are made to satisfy curiosity, not necessarily fora prescribed utility. I enjoy the process of setting conceptual24 Newcity December 2017

Mobi, injection molded polypropylene 25AVAILABLE THROUGH VOLUME GALLERY IN FURNITURE INCARNATIONS FOR RESIDENTIAL SPACE OR AT MONUMENTAL SCALE FOR PUBLIC ART

Founders, Parsons & CharlesworthTIM PARSONS&JESSICA CHARLESWORTH WHY do you design in Chicago?WHAT does this object say about you and your practice? do you gauge the success of an object? HOWWe moved to Chicago to teach seven years ago and soon after, example, in one piece called “Ignored,” a tricycle is renderedwe decided we wanted to run a studio together. It’s fair to saywe have a love-hate relationship with Chicago as a “design city!” unusable by having a red adult’s shell chair seat bolted to itIt has been very good to us, in that we were fortunate to meetpeople from the major cultural institutions and they have been with its back to the handlebars. Another uses a stack of school-supportive of our work. Coming from London where the designscene is huge and diverse, Chicago’s scene is much smaller, and chair frames with book holders to hold a collection of books onconsequently we find ourselves mixing with people from theneighboring disciplines of art and architecture, which is healthy. school and city mismanagement and corruption. The third work Our aim as a studio is to use designed objects is a pair of wooden school chairs with their seats flipped over,to open up new possibilities, comment on issues of relevance,and not just provide utility in the traditional sense. In 2013, the revealing the Chicago Board of Education stencil text revealingcity of Chicago closed fifty public schools, almost all in low-in-come neighborhoods. The majority of the contents of these where and when they were made. Because we areschools—desks, tables, chairs, bookshelves—were bound forlandfill until Chicago-based artist John Preus diverted them into quite diverse in our output—we design objects for production,a donated vacant storefront on the South Side. John invited usand a wide range of artists, designers and architects to respond limited editions and one-offs, we write and create exhibitionsby making new work from them. The pieces form the exhibition“Infinite Games” on show through March 16, 2018 at Open House and installations—what success looks like differs from projectContemporary in Chicago. The project is a good example of thekind of project we like to work on, in that it provided an oppor- to project but there are common threads. We always aim totunity to use objects metaphorically as well as practically. For bring something original to the canon of design whether that’s a new typology of object or a scenario for an alternate way of living. Object design has a lot more potential for engaging people intellectually than it’s given credit for. For us a piece is successful if people spend time with it, form opinions about it, and if it provides a catalyst for further discussion. People don’t necessarily need to own the piece for this to happen. They can see it in an exhibition, a publication or online.26 Newcity December 2017

Educated, chrome plated steel chair frames with bookholders, paperbacks, silicon fake gum 27AVAILABLE THROUGH RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY AND FURTHER WORK CAN BE SEEN AT PARSONSCHARLESWORTH.COM

Founder, Crucial DetailMARTIN KASTNER WHY do you design in Chicago?WHAT does this object say about you and your practice? do you gauge the success of an object? HOW My wife, the photographer, Lara Kastner and I moved to Chicago to work on the Alinea book project in 2005. Since then, we’ve become a part of an amazing community, our kids were born here, it’s our home. Chicago has a lot to offer to the creative industry but the truth is that we stayed here because of the people we met here. This project is the result of a very close collaboration with Matt Peters, the chef representing the United States at Bocuse d’Or, probably the ultimate culinary competition. Collaboration tends to be the necessary key ingre- dient in all of my work. Clients in my mind are not passive, they are contributors, bringing their knowledge and perspective to the table. Many objects satisfy unintended goals and in that sense can be simultaneously successes and failures. Inevitably, our worlds are limited by our field of vision and the notion of a failure or success can be altered just by changing a vantage point. If we settle on the “expression of intent” defini- tion of design, then conveying the intent is a metric for gauging success. Does it deliver the intended experience whether rou- tine; aesthetic, or intellectual? On a very core level, objects are tools for experiences. Do they deliver those experiences?28 Newcity December 2017

Team USA Bocuse d’Or Platter, plated brass, bone china, aluminum, ABS, silicone 29

Founders, Lake + WellsMARK KINSLEY+TAMERA LEIGH STATEN WHY do you design in Chicago? WHAT does this object say about you and your practice? do you gauge the success of an object? HOWOur city itself seems to share this affinity for resonating con- brought to life—we bear this weight of creation with each object born from our husband-and-wife studio. Every piece must betrasts. We were both born and bred in the thriving modern iterated through the fires of our personal dichotomies, engineer and artist, male and female, function and form. The marriage ofmetropolis of Chicago, so proximal and connected to the quiet, these seeming dichotomies—machined and handmade, precise and imperfect, relevant and timeless—is the crux of our work andopen space of the surrounding midwest. And with these two our story. Our work is not a collection from individual designers; rather, each piece could only exist through the merging of willselements, we are empowered to connect to two very different and minds. There is no meeting in the middle, which fully pleases no side. Rather, it is the undertaking of discovering an elusiveworlds of artisans and manufacturers—exposing ourselves to line that orbits and encompasses both. Once a piece has found that line, we ask how it will age, materially and soulfully, throughgreater diversity of material and methodology. time. If we cannot imagine living with it in one-hundred years, we begin again.Jax embodies the poetic juxtaposition which drives and definesour work—the precarious merging of the unlikely into one sto-ried object. Pairing the machined with the handcrafted, Jaxreinterprets the traditional chandelier for that familiar and yetunplaceable future past, collectively reimagined time and againin the pages or frames of science fiction and fantasy. A modern,precision-machined, star-shaped hub powers hand-polished cutcrystals, connecting light, in endless modular configurations,like constellations with each prism throwing its own starbursts.A subtle chamfer crosses both materials, nodding to the arche-typal cuts of chandelier prisms. The final futurist form of eachchandelier system nods to a dreamt up intersection of architec-ture, light, power, time and space. As with every piece we create,Jax tells a story both in function and form. Notevery story should be told and not every idea is worthy of being30 Newcity December 2017

Jax, Precision machined aluminum with satin anodized finish, high-powered LEDs, hand-polished cut crystal in clear or smoke finish 31 AVAILABLE THROUGH LAKEANDWELLS.COM OR CHICAGO-BASED SHOWROOM HAUTE LIVING

MARKET MAKERSPORTRAIT BY NATHAN KEAY

Market Makers Volume Gallery is a Designed Object force in Chicago by Philip BergerReflections—the September exhibition at Chicago’s Volume mere utility or visual appeal. While contemporary design workGallery of work by the architecture firm Krueck + Sexton—will be can certainly be beautiful and useful, it doesn’t have to be. Butgone by the time you read this, but you can get a good sense of it has to represent an idea. The most interesting contemporaryit by looking at the video on the K+S website. As work is “more concerned with concept, material study or prob-the video attests, the gallery installation—with its mirrored lem solving in design than ever before,” says Claire Warner, whofloors and walls surrounding the pieces exhibited—was, at least runs the gallery with business partner Sam Vinz. Volume, Warnerto a design geek, thrill-inducing. The mirrored surfaces captured says, “shows work that is not production work—which simplythe extreme reflectivity of the chairs’ highly polished metal means it is the result of experimentation and pushing the bound-frames and multiplied the sinuous fluidity of the forms, much aries of one’s practice and the discipline of design.”like gems in a jewel box. Their hypermodernist, high-tech-ma- What’s helped advance the contemporary design market mostchine aesthetic is still stunningly futuristic thirty years after is the tremendous interest in design work from historical eras.their initial design. While eminently utilitarian, these are highly In the last quarter of the twentieth century, collectors emergedrefined products of collaboration between seasoned design for a wide spectrum of design works: from European Art Nouveau,talent and expert fabricators. Architect-designed the English Arts & Crafts and American, the work of Louisfurniture has been common since the beginning of the twentieth Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, through Bauhaus andcentury, but the K+S designed chairs are more than mere furni- International style pieces from Mies van der Rohe and Corbusierture. They are brilliantly devised, expertly executed artworks. to the explosion of demand for mid-century French and ItalianArtworks, of course, that you can sit in. The earthy design and the still-fervent interest in American design of theceramic pieces by Anders Ruhwald—the show that preceded same period. And if you’ve followed this development at all, theReflections at Volume—seem to have little in common with the story inevitably leads to the Chicago auction house Wright,high-gloss luxury of the K+S chairs. Yet taken together, the which today is arguably, the most influential force in the second-exhibitions offer a strong indicator of how, in its reasonably ary market for modern design work. Not at allshort history, Volume has become a significant force in the coincidentally, Wright figures prominently in the genesis ofcontemporary design arena—both as market makers and market Volume Gallery itself. Both its principals worked there, Warnermovers, helping simultaneously to develop that market and for several years and Vinz for a mere fourteen days before theydefine it. The presence of the K+S chairs and both were laid off in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis thatRuhwald’s constructions in Volume’s exhibition schedule sug- severely damaged the art market. At the time, they barely knewgest the evolution of how we view art and, certainly, design. one another, but reconnected in 2010 through Jonathan Nesci,Today our understanding of “art” extends well beyond the tra- now a rising design star, but once a laborer in Wright’s restora-ditional media of painting, works on paper and various forms of tion area during Warner and Vinz’s tenure. Each of them hadsculpture. Innovations in media and technique have further separately approached Nesci about opening a gallery with anblurred the divisions of contemporary “fine art”—usually items inaugural show of his work, so he connected them and that’sthat stand on their own as artistic creations to be appreciated precisely what happened. Buzz about the enter-for their aesthetic and intellectual value; and “craft”—usually prise was good from the start, and the gallery was fortunate tothree-dimensional objects that have a functional purpose: fur- gain almost immediate credibility, when Wallpaper magazine gotniture, ceramic and glass vessels, jewelry, textiles. the idea to write a story about it although it hadn’t even opened.Contemporary design works often engage several of these “We really had to scramble to live up to the advance word,“ saysdisciplines, and occasionally more. It’s a continuously expanding Vinz. Since March 2010, when it took over Andrewfield of artwork that is developing new audiences and new oppor- Rafacz’s gallery space to mount its show of Nesci’s metal tables,tunities for designers. Like many artistic movements, a lot of the seating and case goods, Volume has evolved into a major playeractivity is centered on the coasts. But Volume has managed to in the contemporary design world, providing a platform for anmake a significant mark in and from the heartland.The best impressive roster of influential contemporary designers—fromcontemporary design objects possess qualities that transcend Chicago locals like Nesci (who has relocated to Columbus, Newcity December 2017 33

↓ Jonathan Muecke LWS (Low Wooden Shape), white oak Thaddeus Wolfe Assemblage, blown glass Anders Ruhwald Glasur-stykke #3, glazed earthenware34

Indiana) and Felicia Ferrone, co-director of UIC’s graduate surrogates.” His goal, he says, is “to connect my mind with theirdesign program, to national and international design figures like mind and hands.” Another Volume artist,Thaddeus Wolfe and Jonathan Muecke, as well as collective Minneapolis-based Matt Olson, says his approach to distributingproducers like Rich Brilliant Willing, Snarkitecture and Norman his work is almost defiantly non-standard. “The market is notKelley; it’s also shown objects designed by important architects something central to how we bring a project to life,” he says.like Krueck + Sexton and Aranda\Lasch. More than ROLU—Olson’s now-disbanded studio practiceanything, Volume and its cohort—New York galleries like R & whose banner he exhibited under at Volume—“limited me to theCompany and Carpenters Workshop Gallery—have helped fuel fabrication abilities of the studio,” he explains. It started out asawareness of and demand for this kind of work, in itself creating a “quest for an organic business model,” he says. “Even thoughopportunities for designers, who find a wider range of business I wasn’t building the work, I watched it being built every day.” Itmodels than ever before. While people have many was “not just a fabrication thing, but more about bringing thedifferent motivations for studying design, Helen Maria Nugent work to life.” But ultimately he felt it just wasn’t sustainable.explains that “not every designer wants to be a gallery designer” Olson is now operating independently as Officeand show works through a place like Volume. At SAIC, says of Int.\Est.\Ext. (from the screenwriter’s instructions forNugent, “the DO program was committed to expanding our ideas “Interior Establishing Exterior,” styled OOI\E\E and pronouncedof what a designer is. Interaction design is the term we use now like the French word “oui”) and his latest work leans toward theto recognize that the field of design blurs between areas”: wildly conceptual and non-commercial. Consider his “Donaldgraphics, technology, experience. It’s an approach she says is Judd Birdseed” furniture: Based on Judd designs, it’s rendered“applicable to the complexity of objects that we are designing in a medium composed of birdseed suspended in a glu-today.” Nugent suggests that the most important cose-based matrix. There’s a great backstory that connects thething about the DO program—and probably any design program— work to a librarian at the Walker Art Center who had a collectionis that it helps students develop their own point of view. While of bird’s nests; the pieces are intended to sit outside and disap-she acknowledges that many design graduates will go on to pear over time. He admits it’s not for everyone. “I continue to sitactual jobs in the corporate world, “People are entrepreneurs.” in a pretty odd space with respect to galleries and collectors—she says. “That’s where the world is now.” Few the work not meant to be used in the way that most furniture is.”designers exemplify this entrepreneurial model like Jonathan Maybe not, but it’s of a piece with other workNesci, who, at thirty-eight, is increasingly influential for his work Volume shows, like the gallery’s 2013 exhibition of Wrong Chairs,as well as for his professional acumen. “Not too long ago,” he by the architectural collaborative Norman Kelley, a collection ofsays, “furniture designers had one path to having their work aggressively nonfunctional variations on the classic Windsorproduced: getting a job with a furniture company.” But he’s chair. The show made an impact on Chicago design guru Danaenthusiastic about the avenues the expanding market has Arnett for “creating discourse around the formal conventionsopened up. While he continues to show experimental, editioned of design. It was as much about a conversation created as awork through Volume and other galleries, he produces his own result of that exhibition, as the work itself. That rebelliousline of furniture that he sells to designers and architects. deeper sense of inquiry or debate is essential,” he says. “You Nesci sees the emerging alternative channels for don’t see it enough in the design community.” Thedesign work as “part of a cultural shift—not unlike the craft beer ephemeral nature of Olson’s Judd pieces and the provocativemarket and the make-sell online platforms. We are all partici- subversion of the Norman Kelley work pose interesting counter-pating in the proliferation of social networks and crowd-sourced points to the sophisticated elegance of Krueck + Sexton’s chairs.businesses.” With respect to the schism between But they, too, have great backstories—and creators who haveart and craft, Nesci has definite ideas about craft, and it’s not always been avatars of experimentation. K+S hasn’t had as highabout the actual making of the objects. Even though he doesn’t a profile as many architecture firms with similar tenures (it wasbuild his work himself, he considers himself a maker; he calls the established as Krueck & Olson in 1976, renamed K+S in 1991,circuit of fabricators with whom he collaborates his “craft when Mark Sexton joined Ron Krueck as a partner). But it’s Newcity December 2017 35

consistently produced a portfolio of high-art architecture, which, shop shows an adroitly curated selection of objects with aregrettably, is not for everyone, either. Its most prominent works concentration on work by twentieth-century Italian and Frenchin Chicago: Crown Fountain (for which it just won the Chicago designers who haven’t oversaturated the American market. ButAIA Ten Year Award), the Spertus Institute and Hubbard Street she’s personally a great believer in contemporary designers,Dance Center. In the late 1980s, the firm gained and bought one of the first pieces from Jonathan Nesci’s firstattention for a series of ultra-luxe residential interiors projects. Volume show in 2010. “Jonathan was very pur-The throne-like Chicago chair and the armless dining chair in the poseful,” she says. “He had a vision and wanted to be in a ‘designReflections exhibit were used in multiple jobs, but the Lounge gallery’ and that’s what he did. But we believed in his work andchair was never produced. Offering limited editions of the thought he was really going places.” In buying early, she admitschairs—which remain astonishingly futuristic in appearance— she was partially motivated by the notion that “this guy is gonnaacknowledge their place in Chicago’s cultural history and also be important, so I want to have an early prototype.”its legacy of architectural design. The prototypes for the edi- Colman thinks it’s important to show contemporary pieces in hertions shown at Volume in the fall were fabricated by Tesko, the store along with historical work because they can see a similar-same Norridge metal shop that made the originals. ity in motivation over all the periods: “a recognition of people“We never thought of them as anything but elements of architec- doing something with materials—an intention particular to theirture and space,” says Sexton. “It wasn’t until we pulled them out, moment in time, their politics and environment.” Mixing designfree of elemental identity, they took on something of their own.” history with the present makes perfect sense to her: “It’s like While he and design partner Krueck are thrilled an art collector who has Picassos and buys Cattelan and Koons.”that this opportunity presented itself, Sexton doesn’t expect the With so much fine work in so many categoriesDO projects to supplant the firm’s architecture work. “Making on the market, building a collector base is never easy. Whilepieces like this is daunting—it’s exceedingly difficult and expen- designers are taking advantage of the ease and reach of modernsive.” Dana Arnett’s firm VSA Partners is what platforms like Instagram and Facebook in individual marketingused to be called a graphic design firm, but like many in the vehicles, some Volume audience development efforts are moreindustry, Arnett shuns labels. “It’s about a larger definition of personal and old school. Their aim is to build a version of thedesign,” he says. “Big D—focusing on human-centered activity centuries-old tradition of artistic patronage. “We approachwhere outcomes can be spread across many forms and func- it in a similar way as building the market for our designers, ittions.” He thinks the market for contemporary designed objects requires trust and strong relationships with everyone we workis an important part of that definition. “Volume has tapped into with,” says Vinz. It boils down to the distinction between a buyer,what’s happening in the world now,” he says, “the breaking down someone who may be “consumed with the investment and quickof boundaries based on media and methodology. We will con- salability of work,” and a patron, who cares about “building thetinue to see all kinds of new media enter into the realm of fine career and supporting the individual behind the work,” commit-art and design—a level of intrigue that will continue to stimulate ting to acquiring not just one piece by a creator “but severalthe art market.” The emerging practitioners who through different moments in their career.” Muchgrew up as digital natives don’t think about boundaries, he says. of the audience for contemporary design, like the audience for“They have a whole new toolbox and challenge the limits every contemporary art, simply isn’t in Chicago, so Volume appearsday.” The proliferation of design work on the mar- regularly at the important design fairs—Design Miami and FOGket suggests the demand is there. But identifying and reaching in San Francisco. Yet Vinz and Warner believe in Chicago. “Beingout to new collectors—young people with the wherewithal to in Chicago is a huge asset for many reasons, mostly becausecollect art—is increasingly challenging. Lifestyle analysts have you can experiment more here,” says Warner. “We do not haveconvinced us that young people aren’t interested in acquiring the overhead that we would working in New York, so we canthings, they want to acquire experiences. So if they do want to show more experimental work and slowly grow the market. Thebuy things, they want things that have some meaning attached higher the overhead the more expensive the work you needto them. Deborah Colman’s Pavilion Antiques to show. It does not leave room for contemporaries to grow. In Chicago, we can show work that can appeal to any level of buyer.”36 Newcity December 2017

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ANNOUNCING! The Art of Seating is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, in collaboration with the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C.Designed by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), Manufactured by Knoll Associates, New York City, NY, Large Diamond Lounge Chair, c. 1952 Photo by Michael Koryta and Andrew VanStyn, Director of Acquisitions, Conservation and PhotographyAn Arts Marketplace Arts Incubator 301 E Garfield BlvdSat. Sun. Chicago, IL 6063712/9 – 12/10 @CTA Green Line Garfield stop12pm – 5pm www.vendsandvibes.comVends + Vibes is a two-day winter marketplace of unique handmadeproducts made primarily by South Side artists and creativeentrepreneurs.Buy local this holiday season. Enjoy sounds by DJs Duane Powelland Selah Say, and get your photo taken with Brother Nick. Creativeactivities for children and adults at four locations along historicGarfield Boulevard: Arts Incubator, BING Reading Room, CurrencyExchange Café, and the KLEO Community Family Life Center.VendsVibes2017-NewCity-Dec-HalfPgAd.indd 1 11/9/17 3:47 PM

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ArtNewcity DECEMBER 2017 The Missionary's ART TOP 5 Jeff Koons, \"Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Dr. JK Silver Series),\" 1985, glass, steel, distilled water,Position sodium chloride reagent, and three basketballs; 60 ½ × 48 ¾ × 13 ¼ inches /Photo: Nathan Keay 1 April Martin and Ruby T. In Defense of Jeff Koons Roots & Culture. Don't miss this duo that promises to \"revel in By B. David Zarley the femme-y architectural accessories of blinds, curtains and Let's get real here: you're going to see an since 1985; and an artist whose works have rugs as sites of intervention, awful lot of Jeff Koons at the Museum of broken individual living-artist auction records movement and penetration. Contemporary Art during their fiftieth-anniversa- twice. A metal balloon dog for $58.4 million. ry exhibition, and if you dare to not hate, trash, Infuriating, isn't it? 2 Elaine Rubenoff. Randy mock it—or even, shock!, if you enjoy it—I must Alexander Gallery. Rubenoff tell you, you are putting yourself at risk. They Too basic, more importantly too base, too loud transforms luscious flora into will come for you, eye-teeth and tongues and fun and campy and ham-fistedly charged— gorgeous, floor-to-ceiling paintings. sharpened, the critics and gate-keepers, old gavaged, even—with Freudian-style sexuality, ww brahmins and young hot-bloods alike. and most damning of all, with none of the typical art-world cynicism behind it! No 3 25 Years. Carrie Secrist But I have beautiful news for you! It's okay to detachment, precious little subversion, no Gallery. Celebrate Secrist's like Jeff Koons. He wants you to like him! He antagonism, not even a coquettish little wink silver anniversary with new works yearns to open up the world of Art with a capital here or there! No, Koons always comes riding by gallery favorites.. “A,” the frightening one, to every single person in like a missionary, black tie and white-button- he possibly can. His big top, salesman persona up billowing, riding in to rescue you, the 4 John Pittman. Regards. is no fake, no gimmick. He is shockingly and consumer of art, from the insecurities bred by Over a decade since his last earnestly honest. In fact, that is his greatest your own culture, your own tastes, your own solo show, Pittman's quality, the unbroken thread running through his visual identity. And like all evangelicals, he has paintings-cum-sculpture still practice. faith in this idea; and, like all of the faithful, he is delight and beguile. truly, deeply, sincere. There is a lot of animosity out there surround- 5 Deborah Handler. 65Grand. ing Koons. His detractors see his works—after Sincerity, that most uncool of affectations, runs See ceramic sculptures that all, they are inescapably everywhere—but they through Koons' practice like an especially stout are not your mom's flower vases. do not see their merits; they peer into the spine. It is the key to comprehending his works, perfect mirrored surfaces of “Rabbit,” but they the thread that binds them all together, and, for do not see themselves reflected in them. His our purposes, the great granter of relief that we art is easy to write off; his goodwill too thick to absolutely delight in, as so many have, his possibly be true. colorful mirrored surfaces and pop surreal paintings like the Madison Avenue nightmares But he means what he says. Visual art is often a that they are. He truly wants you to enjoy his conceptually complex domain, and Koons is work; he wants you to feel, as most artists do, refreshingly free of mental rigor. He awes with but he wants it eagerly, and he will destroy his scale and perfection, not mental gymnastics. art, his finances, himself for your approval. Is it He has been exhibiting at a noticeable any wonder that one of his masterpieces is a magnitude since the late 1970s; been a force giant floral puppy? Read the major profiles on44

Jackie Saccoccio Logan Center Gallery • Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts • 915 E 60th St Chicago IL 60637 BROWN PEOPLE November 10 ARE THESpectral Hole arts.uchicago.edu/logan/galleryChris GarofaloPRECIOUS FRAGMENTS exquisitelongingDECEMBER 15, 2017–JANUARY 27, 2018RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS:FRID AY, D E CE MB E R 1 5 , 5 – 7 :3 0 P MART BASEL MIAMI BEACH WRENS IN THE January 7DECEMBER 7–10, 2017 PARKING LOTBOOTH G7118 NORTH PEORIA STREETCHICAGO ILLINOIS 60607WWW. R HOF F MAN G A L L E RY.C O MEXAMINE THE RADICAL POTENTIAL Admission is always free.OF THE EVERYDAY AT THE SMART All are welcome. Revolution Every Day through January 28, 2018 lya PavlovichMakarychev, Every Cook Must Learn to Govern the State.—Lenin, 1925, Lithograph on paper, Ne boltai! Collection. Emmanuel Pratt Radical [Re]Constructions through Spring 2018 Emmanuel Pratt, installation view of Radical Jayna Zweiman [Re]Constructions, 2017. Welcome Blanket through December 17, 2017Smart Museum of Art | The University of Chicago5550 S. Greenwood Avenue | Chicago, IL 60637smartmuseum.uchicago.edu

Koons, by Ingrid Sischy in Vanity Fair (twice!), expensive “banal” that will last his career—less these are Koons at his height, the perfect for example, or Calvin Tomkins' piece for The as biting social commentary than as a con ation of technical perfection, American New Yorker, and the fact that Koons believes celebration of their beauty. He creates a industrialist ambition, soul-bearing, easy- deeply in pretty much everything he has ever mesmerizing spectacle of basketballs oating parsed messages, good looking, and the said—and everything he has ever made— perfectly suspended in a sh tank of water— viewer themselves, oftentimes literally in comes shining through like the re ection off a there, peeking over the art-historical horizon, is re ection in the works. chromed, oversized Venus of Willendorf. a shark in formaldehyde—and sells these intricate, complicated and perishable marvels Love him or hate him, it would be dif cult to“I decided that he was on the level and that he of physics with an instruction manual on how talk about, revel in, and critique contemporary had virtually no sense of humor, about his work to refresh it, like a common appliance! art today without Koons in the conversation, or anything else,” Tomkins concluded while hence his importance in this survey of fty weighing if Koons' salesman-cum-motivational While Koons' work retains many of the years of being contemporary. Those who do speaker vibe was schtick, a put-on, or just the elements of Pop art, that earlier genre, as not take him seriously beware: No one takes artist himself. Sischy drew similar conclusions. Tomkins noted, had enough irony to keep it art more seriously, with a bleeding sacred heart From the precedents set by Dali and Warhol, cool. Whereas Warhol and Lichtenstein saw on his sleeve, than Jeff Koons, and he wants Koons, Sischy wrote, developed a persona as not only art but subversion and schadenfreude you to love it, seriously, too. This evangelical“a kind of art salesman, mischievous yet also in their re-appropriation of popular imagery, streak, and the sincerity that drives it, is both achingly sincere.” and whereas Duchamp's readymades sprung what feeds the widespread, frothing detest for from the irreverence of Dada, Koons applies Koons—it must be a con, a put on, right?— Don't trust the journalists? Then take it from a similar methods with the saccharine, wide- and makes his works so compelling. They man who spent time with Koons in that least eyed and unquestioned belief that these engender powerful emotions, regardless of sincere of industries: nance. I once inter- images are really beautiful, no quali er or what those feelings are, because they are viewed the artist Andy Moses, who worked affectation necessary. A melli uous sincerity meant to do so. They are inclusive in their with Koons on Wall Street and attests that pours over his work and hardens like a candy advances, inviting you to join them; porn even that cobra-hearted culture could not shell, causing everything in his canon to gleam shaped by love, withering desire for his child in diminish his candor. Moses even called me like a freshly licked lollipop. One of his most child's playthings built to last forever; a rabbit back after our interview to reiterate that groundbreaking works, part of the MCA's as heavy and as light as the air we breathe. Koons is “totally invested in everything that he permanent collection, is often compared to the does, in a deeply personal way.” smooth, perfect forms of master Modernist Won't you accept the invitation? All of these, sculptor Constantin Brancusi, but it's a and all of Koons, are sincerely yours. Deeply, personally invested, wide eyes and stainless steel version of a cheap in atable open heart! Can you think of an attitude that rabbit toy. The rabbit, the enormously shiny See works by Jeff Koons and many could more handily turn off the art world? Two balloon dogs, the immense puppies made of others through April 1, 2018 in the perfect examples are on display at the MCA owers, monumental mounds of alumi- ftieth-anniversary exhibition “We Are Here” right now. A young Koons lights up vacuums— num-cast Play-Doh, Hellenic sculptures at the Museum of Contemporary Art, here, already, is the taste for the ironically nestling front-lawn-kitsch gazing balls—all of 220 East Chicago. Take Care September 15, 2017 – January 13, 2018 The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills Thursday, December 7, 6 – 8 PM Please join us for a discussion and book signing with David Ansell, author of The Death Gap and Board President of the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force Weinberg/Newton Gallery 300 W Superior Street, Suite 203 Chicago, IL 60654 312 529 5090 weinbergnewtongallery.com Hours Mon – Sat 10 AM – 5 PM

EXHIBITIONSANDREW BAE GALLERY LINDA WARREN PROJECTS300 W. Superior Street 327 N. Aberdeen, Ste. 151312 335 8601 312 432 [email protected] / www.andrewbaegallery.com [email protected] / www.lindawarrenprojects.comTues-Sat 10-6 Tues–Sat 11-5 or by private appointmentNovember 3–December 16 Leeah Joo: Knots and Loose Ends November 11–January 13 Gallery X & Y - Peter Drake: Re-picture November 11–January 13 Gallery O - Loretta Bourque: sliversBLOCK MUSEUM OF ART LOGAN CENTER EXHIBITIONSAt Northwestern University40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL At the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts847 291 4000 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL [email protected] / www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu 773 702 2787Tues, Sat–Sun 10-5, Wed–Fri 10-8, Mon closed [email protected] / www.arts.uchicago.eduClosed for the Holidays December 22–January 8 Tues–Sat 9-9, Sun 11-9, Mon closedSeptember 12–December 10 Carrie Mae Weems: Ritual and Revolution November 10–January 7, 2018 Brown People Are the WrensSeptember 23–December 10 “Looking Life Right Straight in the Face:” in the Parking Lot The Art of Purvis YoungSeptember 23–March 11, 2018 William Blake and The Age of Aquarius MONIQUE MELOCHE GALLERYCARL HAMMER GALLERY 2154 W. Division Street 773 252 0299740 N. Wells Street [email protected] / www.moniquemeloche.com312 266 8512 Tues–Sat [email protected] / www.carlhammergallery.com November 11–December 23 Carrie Schneider: Moon DrawingsTues–Fri 11-6, Sat 11-5 December 6–10 UNTITLED Miami: Ebony G. Patterson,November 3–December 29 Neil Goodman: Twists and Turns - Carrie Schneider, and Amy Sherald New sculpture works Through January 2018 Karen Reimer: Droughtscape (on the wall) Through January 2018 Amanda Williams (off the wall)DEPAUL ART MUSEUM THE MUSEUM OFAt DePaul University CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY935 W. Fullerton Avenue773 325 7506 At Columbia College [email protected] / museums.depaul.edu 600 S. Michigan AvenueMon-Tues closed, Wed–Thurs 11-7, Fri–Sun 11-5 312 663 5554September 7–December 10 Ângela Ferreira: Zip Zap and Zumbi [email protected] / www.mocp.orgSeptember 7–December 10 Senga Nengudi: Improvisational Gestures Mon–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5 October 12–December 22 Disruptive Perspectives

THE NEUBAUER COLLEGIUM RICHARD GRAY GALLERYFOR CULTURE AND SOCIETY Richard Gray Gallery, Hancock: 875 N. Michigan Avenue, 38th FloorAt the University of Chicago Mon–Fri 10-5:30, Sat 11-55701 S. Woodlawn Avenue Gray Warehouse: 2044 W. Carroll Avenue773 795 2329 Wed–Sat [email protected] / www.neubauercollegium.uchicago.edu 312 642 8877Mon–Fri 11-5, Sat–Sun closed [email protected] / www.richardgraygallery.comSeptember 12–January 26 Terence Gower: Havana Case Study Winter 2017 Gallery Selections (Richard Gray Gallery,THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY Gray Warehouse by appointment only)At the University of Chicago SCHINGOETHE CENTER5811 S. Ellis Ave., Cobb Hall, 4th Floor773 702 8670 of Aurora [email protected] / www.renaissancesociety.org 1315 Prairie Street, Aurora, ILTues–Fri 10-5, Sat–Sun 12-5 630 844 7843November 18–January 28, 2018 Alejandro Cesarco: Song [email protected] / www.aurora.edu/museum Mon 10-4, Tues 10-7, Wed–Fri 10-4RHONA HOFFMAN GALLERY September 28–December 13 Strange Weather: Nathalie Miebach118 N. Peoria Street SMART MUSEUM OF ART312 455 [email protected] / www.rhoffmangallery.com At the University of ChicagoTues–Fri 10-5:30, Sat 11-5:30 5550 S. Greenwood AvenueOctober 21–December 9 David Schutter: Night Work 773 702 0200October 27–December 9 Jacob Hashimoto: The Dark Isn’t [email protected] / www.smartmuseum.uchicago.edu Tues–Wed 10-5, Thurs 10-8, Fri–Sun 10-5 The Thing To Worry About Through January 28 Revolution Every DayDecember 15–January 27, 2018 Jackie Saccoccio: Spectral Hole Through December 17 The Hysterical MaterialDecember 15–January 27, 2018 Chris Garofalo: PRECIOUS Through Spring 2018 Emmanuel Pratt: Radical [Re]Constructions FRAGMENTS exquisite longing

Dance Going Deeper DANCE TOP 5 Deeply Rooted Dance Theater 1 Minimalism and Me. MCA mines pain, healing and spirituality Stage. Legendary in Fana Tshabalala's INDUMBA choreographer Twyla Tharp reflects on the creation of twenty of her By Sharon Hoyer works from the late 1960s in a program created especially for the MCA. December 7-10 2 Hubbard Street Dance. Harris Theater. Hubbard Street's winter program is dedicated to the fierce, brilliant and devastatingly cool works of Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite. November 9-11, 16-18Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre in INDUMBA. 3 Trade Routes Festival. Links Hall. Five ChicagoThe members of Deeply Rooted Dance forget about the spiritual aspect of healing, dance companies or dancers pairTheater have spent the better part of their there is still tensions between the races. up with an out-of-town buddy to twentieth-anniversary year living very much up From there I searched around for areas that split the bill with an out-of-town to the company name, delving deeply into the have gone through similar things and had guest of their choice. November most raw and vulnerable corners of their spiritual practices to heal from civil war. I find 30-December 10 psyches as source material for \"INDUMBA,\" that through that, people of different races an evening-length piece by guest choreogra- get along very well; you forget if you’re black 4 Deeply Rooted Dance pher Fana Tshabalala. The title refers to an or white. Theater. Logan Center forAfrican healing hut, and a work-in-progress the Arts at University of Chicago. showing in July revealed that this is a I think there’s a fear or hesitation to acknowl- Mining pain, healing and spirituality cleansing through fire. Tshabalala originally edge spirituality as a part of political life and art in Fana Tshabalala's INDUMBA. created the piece in his native South Africa, making. How did you go about adapting this December 8-10 ostensibly in response to apartheid and its work here in the U.S. with Deeply Rooted? aftermath, but the pounding heart of \"IN- It doesn’t matter your background or where 5 The Nutcracker. Auditorium DECEMBER 2017 Newcity DUMBA\" is profoundly personal to each you’re from; we’re all experiencing the same Theatre. Christopher performer on the stage and universally thing. I allowed them to go through the same Wheeldon's spectacular rendition powerful to witnesses, regardless of back- process and then watched them taking charge of the holiday staple, created for ground. The full company put on an emotional and making the piece their own. When they the Joffrey Ballet and set in ironman of a performance at West Pullman were performing I forgot they were new to this Chicago during the World's Park, a preview of the one-night-only final piece. They allowed themselves to become Columbian Exposition returns for a performance to be staged at the Logan Center vulnerable and I’m very proud of them for that. second year of glorious animated for the Arts on December 8. We spoke with projections, ingenious setTshabalala after the showing about adaptation What was on the stage was so deeply transformations and wily rat and evolution of the piece with Deeply Rooted. personal. I was struck at the moment puppetry. December 1-30 after the applause when the dancers went What was the original inspiration for to touch each other. Clearly you inspire\"INDUMBA\"? them to mine deeply and see it as an I set out to create a space where people can in nite process. move freely without being judged. Sometimes I also want to create a space where they can we tend to forget about the spiritual aspect of really feel each other and feel safe. moving and focus on the physical. One thing Idrew inspiration from was my experience in Can you talk about that process? How South Africa in 1994. We had to talk about you create that space? issues around apartheid, but because people We talk a lot and then we improvise a lot. And 49

Newcity DECEMBER 2017 Shop Rogers Park this I take time to converse with each individual and allow them to Holiday Season and get talk to me. In this kind of a process you need to trust. Each and every day we talk and try to find what’s possible. up to $50 in cash! Are there any rules you create or boundaries you set For more information, within which they’re working? visit www.rpba.org or call 773-508-5885. There are guidelines I give to the improvisation. One boundary I always create is for things to always be honest to the process. If 50 something is not honest it shows; we question it. Several months will pass after you leave before Deeply Rooted performs \"INDUMBA.\" How will this work continue after you leave? Each week they will run the piece and talk about it. Over time the piece will grow; we build this structure together but there’s a lot to process. Three-and-a-half weeks is not a lot of time. The months between now and December will give them time to process. The intensity in the room is heightened with all the dancers present around the stage for the entire piece, and all stage elements are visible. The dancers stay on stage continuously for two hours. We create two layers: there’s tape on the floor and chairs at the perimeter. People tend to go deeper, deeper, deeper and need help coming back into the space, so we have performers stay around the perimeter watching so they can come assist each other if they see a dancer needing help returning to the space. One thing I realize as a performer is that going off stage you lose something, you tend to relax. And when you come back you are forced to be back in this world. How does audience energy and response feed into the performance? It can be something that effects the performers. People come to the performance with their own expectations. It’s important for the performers to be true to themselves. During Q&A, there are people who ask questions because they want to understand something and there are people who ask questions because they want to display their intelligence. Sometimes our intelli- gence can be a barrier or a shell. But we always use those questions to interrogate ourselves. I'm not sure if that answered your question. It did, though I wasn’t necessarily thinking of Q&A; there’s an energy created in the performance that is very strong and I imagine there’s a variety of responses audiences have. After the performance I had a conversation with one guy who said that during the show he wanted to leave, not because he didn’t enjoy it but because something internal was speaking to him during it and he wanted to hide from the reality. What the performers are doing, it was what he needed. Some people want to shield themselves from it, some want to experience it. That’s life, things are challenging. It’s how you deal with it. Deeply Rooted Dance Theater performs INDUMBA opening night of the \"Deeply Free\" Series on December 8 at 7:30pm. At the Logan Center for the Arts, 915 East 60th, (312)795-9777. Company repertoire will be performed December 9 at 7:30pm and December 10 at 2pm. $45 for a single program, $65 for both programs.