Living Architecture is a large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibition, with public programming including performances, tours, workshops, and conversational dinners that highlight the influence and impact of immigrant artists on Chicago. The exhibition responds to the current political climate to highlight how Chicago was built with immigrant labor, particularly in the arts, and is continuously shaped today by exemplary immigrant artists. With over 50 contemporary artists, Living Architecture illustrates a living and evolving legacy between past and present Chicago immigrants’ work in art and design.
Featured artists include: Alberto Aguilar, Kioto Aoki, Amanda Assaley and Qais Assali, Axis Lab, Gregory Bae, Balas and Wax, Tizziana Baldenebro, Yesenia Bello, Richard Bock, Irina Botea, Yvette Brackman, Tom Burtonwood and Maryam Taghavi, Verónica Casado Hernández, Derek Chan, Chapuisat Brothers, Eugenia Cheng, Julietta Cheung, Alex Chitty, William Estrada, Silvia Gonzalez with Joseph Josue Mora and Patricia Nguyen, Óscar I González Díaz, Daniel Haddad, Irena Haiduk, Lise Haller Baggesen, Aram Han Sifuentes, Mark Jeffery with ATOMr, Soohyun Kim, Rodrigo Lara Zendejas, Benjamin Larose, Kirsten Leenaars, Frances Lightbound, Wen Liu, Ivan LOZANO, Junxi Lu, Luftwerk, Carlos Matallana, Esperanza Mayobre, Yvette Mayorga, Jesus Mejia + Ruth, Harold Mendez, Frédéric Moffet, Julie Oh, Claes Oldenburg, Sherwin Ovid, Roni Packer, Jorge Pardo, Emilio Rojas, Moises Salazar, Carlos Salazar Lermont, Jan Tichy, Orkideh Torabi, Andrew Yang, Ji Yang, and others.
Since labor is often at the center of issues surrounding immigration, the exhibition opens on Labor Day, September 3. To embody the artistic process as a living architecture of labor, in July and August 6018North is used by the artists as a studio, and is open on the weekend to the public. On four evenings – July 16, July 30, August 13, August 27 – the public is also invited to Working Studios, collaborative events where artists engage the public in their work as process-based, communal initiatives. Working Studios are on Mondays, often thought of as the first work day of the week. We invite you to join us.
The title Living Architecture is from a book written by architect Arthur Woltersdorf in 1930. Woltersdorf was a first generation German-American, and a President of the Chicago Chapter of American Institute of Architects. Max Eberhardt, a German immigrant lawyer who advocated for immigrant rights, hired Woltersdorf to design his home at 6018 North Kenmore Avenue. Woltersdorf often commissioned German immigrant Richard Bock to design the bas-relief sculptures that grace the façades of his buildings. Living Architecture brings new light to Richard Bock's work, prominent at Tree Studios and many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings.
Because each artist is encouraged to draw on Richard Bock’s work, the 6018North building, and/or the work of former Chicago immigrant artists, Living Architecture looks backwards and forwards to ask vital questions about how we remember immigrant creativity to envision a new future. Using historical research, contemporary art practices, performance, and social engagement, artists reveal the central and defining role of immigrants in shaping and advancing Chicago’s art and design. Living Architecture is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide initiative highlighting lesser-known narratives of ingenuity and perseverance, addressing artistic movements as well as the work of individual artists, including the role of immigrant communities in Chicago’s development and legacy.
Free public tours and events occur at historic sites around the City this fall, highlighting performances of music and dance.
On Sunday, September 9 Water Music on the Beach will begin at 6018 North Kenmore within the Living Architecture exhibition. At 12:30 PM Balas and Wax lead us in a procession and discussion about the materiality of migration, a force which drove people from their homes in the process of creating Lake Shore Drive in the Edgewater neighborhood. From Ardmore Avenue, SPQ will lead us to Lane Beach at Thorndale Avenue and Sheridan Road for performances with Simon Anderson, Katinka Kleijn and Lia Kohl, Norman Long with Gwyneth Anderson and Sara Zalek, Steve Marquette with Aurora Nealand, James Singleton, and Paul Thibodeaux, and others. This year’s Water Music is a collaborative project with Roman Susan Art Foundation.
On Saturday, September 22 ATOM-r presents Rhinestone Cowboy – a movement and augmented reality performance during the Autumn Equinox with five live cows on the 606 trail. This performance celebrates the Equinox and Chicago's farming roots. At 5:45 PM starting at the Ridgeway end of the trail, is a bedazzling dressage of the cows by ATOM-r. At 6 PM, the cow procession begins while ATOM-r performs a ritual, ceremonial dance for the cows. The public, using smartphones, are invited to scan the cows' rhinestone garments to reveal archival imagery of dairy cows and milking parlors from Chicago’s history. The procession continues up the trail to mark the Observatory's alignment with the sunset at 6:47 PM. With contributions from Grace Duval, Joshua Patterson, Kent Widman, Johnsen Farms, The Trust for Public Land, and Chicago Park District.
Additional fall tours will be announced in the near future. The first public tour was at Tree Studios on Saturday morning, July 28. Tree Studios was built by Arthur Woltersdorf, with relief sculptures by Richard Bock. To highlight Bock’s designs: Tom Burtonwood presented a performative maker-space, Dr. Sharon Grimes from the Richard W. Bock Sculpture Museum of Greenville University discussed Bock’s work, and Carlos Salazar Lermont presented a performance.
Living Architecture is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy, with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
Living Architecture is funded by the Terra Foundation.
Living Architecture is co-curated by Teresa Silva and Tricia Van Eck with Nathan Abhalter Smith. A variation of Living Architecture will travel to the Chicago Cultural Center in 2019.
About Art Design Chicago
Art Design Chicago is a spirited celebration of the unique and vital role Chicago plays as America’s crossroads of creativity and commerce. Initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art, this citywide partnership of more than 75 cultural organizations explores Chicago’s art and design legacy and continued impact with more than 30 exhibitions, hundreds of events, as well as the creation of several scholarly publications and a four-part documentary presented throughout 2018.
Support for Art Design Chicago is provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and Presenting Partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Additional funding for the initiative is provided by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. The Chicago Community Trust, Leo Burnett, Polk Bros. Foundation, and EXPO CHICAGO are providing in-kind support. ArtDesignChicago.org #ArtDesignChicago