SUNDAY APRIL 26, 2009
The NFO XPO, Shelter Corps, & Free University + MORE
The Benton House complex, 3052 S Gratten Avenue (Map)
DOWNLOAD A MAP OF THE AREA
1pm to midnight • $7 adults $3 Children
The NFO XPO continues with additional programs for the Free University, as well as an outdoor video screening, and some fine performances.
Program Platforms:
NFO XPO (day 2)
Benton House Gymnasium ( 3 buildings north of the Benton House)
1pm - 8pm
The NFO XPO (pronounced "info expo") brings art groups and community orgs together to exchange information and ideas as well as provide a public platform for each group to present themselves. It's a trade show for experimental art, emerging spaces, and radical exchange. It's our version of what an art fair should be. It is a fantastic opportunity to view emerging art, to network and make shit happen. For a list of participants visit April 25 calendar entry. ( Link : Last years XPO )
The Free University happens simultaneously to the NFO XPO downstairs in the classroom facility of the Gymnasium.
Shelter Corps
Benton House Lot 3052 S Gratten Avenue
24+ Artists
12 Versions of Shelter
1 One Hundred Year Old Lot.
Shelter Corps Is an exercise in adaptive land use and an experiment in material reuse.
It will be on display through May 3rd, 2009.
UNDERGROUND MULTIPLEX
at sunset by the Shelter Corps Lot (Benton House)
or inside the Benton House if there are showers..
Secret Life video program Curated by Ola Vasiljeva
"Secret Life" is a notably retouched fragment of the documentary "The Secret Life of Plants (1979)" with the contributions by:
Charles Broskoski (US)
John Hey (US)
Harm van Den Dorpel (NL)
Joshua Petherick (AUS)
Robert Wodzinski (US)
Petra Cortright (US)
Constant Dullaart (NL)
NUMUW (US)
Ola Vasiljeva ( LV/NL)
Shana Moulton (US)
nimal Charm (US)
Pascual Sisto (ES/US)
The videos and other works are incorporated into the nature documentary creating a new ambigious narrative.
Free University
Benton House Gymnasium Classroom (Ground floor) 2- 7pm
This year we feature the debut of a The Chicago Public School, the Chicago Free Skool, and present some workshops, presentations, talks, tours, and lectures: Programs run from 2 to 7pm each day. For expanded description see side bar to right>>>
Performance
re[public] in/decency (Erica Mott and Coman Poon)
Modes and Moments of Exile: experiences of Negative Space
4pm 5pm and 6pm
re[public] in/decency will perform three site-specific performances to take place at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm in the hallway of the gymnasium building that accesses Cal's Calzone Zone and the Free University classroom.
Modes and Moments of Exile is an exploration the notion of the unseen as it pertains to the potentially restrictive "conditions" of boundaries and borders constructed around race, sexuality/gender, socioeconomic status, politics and religiosity.
Through the interplay of sound, movement, and text, Modes and Moments of Exile will incorporate and engage various audiences in interdisciplinary actions as a way of weaving together thematic threads-incarnations of being "unseen"-in a local-to-global and globalized local sense.
re[public] in/decency's aim at Version Fest 09 is to build vignettes of interactive site-specific and circumstance-specific co-performance as part of a political/theatrical experiment in bridging social justice activism and conceptual performance.
Guest Curated Exhibition: That’s What She Said
April 25-26 1pm to 8pm
That’s What She Said is a group show curated by Jeriah Hildwine, featuring work by female artists addressing themes of violence and sensuality. It takes place downstairs at the Benton House with and interactive performance on the upstairs patio. Artists include Stephanie Burke, Elise Goldstein , Annie Heckman, Lauren Sleat, Karen Voltz , Elizabeth Wade, and Erin Whitman .
Folk Freak Out
Benton House Theater 3052 S Gratten Avenue
9pm
Exquisite performances .
Including a Ceramic Performance by June Licata
and live music by:
Pillars and Tongues ( www.myspace.com/pillarsandtongues )
Judson Clairborne (http://www.myspace.com/judsonclaiborne)
Thin Hymns (http://www.myspace.com/thinhymns)
King Ludd's Analog Arcade - Version Fest 09 at the Experimental Station
The Experimental Station, 6100 S Blackstone Ave
Sunday April 26th, 2pm-8pm (Families Welcome) $5 for adults. $3 for children.
The Midway Plaissance in Hyde Park was the site of the World's Fair of 1893, an international celebration of the landing of Columbus in North America 401 years earlier. Chicago intended to out-Eiffel the French and to prove that the U.S was where things were happening. The fair was at once a stunning achievement, and an instance of urban breakdown akin to boom-and-bust cycles the world over. It was a display of human endeavor, and its social costs.
All fairs since have a Midway, the place where games are played. The games are called "attractions,"as if like moths humans move toward them in spite of themselves, and they leave as winners, losers, or something in between. Games possess rules of engagement within a limited arena. Games allow us to submit to a given set of rules and to find our limits within them. They allow us to act out social taboos within the safety of that mutual agreement. They encourage us to strategize, fight, share, dominate, cooperate, even kill (for pretend).
King Ludd's Midway Arcade began with a call for proposals seeking home-made video games, parlor games, and carnival games that would, in some way, challenge or offer and alternative to the forward march of high technology. Games could be analog, low-tech, or hacker. Artists were encouraged to think about the games as a site to investigate metaphors for social engagement or the production of social spaces. The results have been spectacular!
Come and play!! Test your skill!!
Compete! Cooperate! Collaborate! Dominate!
9 artist-made, family-friendly arcade and carnival games.
Kids Welcome!!!
Music and Food available!
http://www.experimentalstation.org
Friday May 1st, 7pm - 11pm
Saturday May 2nd, 2pm - 8pm (Families Welcome)
FREE UNIVERSITY PROGRAM
Sunday 1pm - 6pm
Kite Making Workshop
In Bosely Park across the street from Benton House Gymnasium
Daniel Williams will provide an opportunity for youth in the Bridgeport community to create functional art. Youth will be provided with material construction supervision by multiple volunteers. They will choose between several types of kites to make and will enjoy decorating and flying their kites in the park. Youth will also have the opportunity to take the kites home. Everybody is happy.
Sunday 2 pm
Workshop Part 2: The Artist as Leader" - "Is America a creative nation? Should creativity be a national value? Do artists have skills and stuff that would make them excellent leaders in the public sector? What do you think? Check out this session and bring a sketch pad, video camera, or other art supplies.
Sunday 4pm
Presentation: Rotterdam: Artist Run City
Niels Post and Jeroen Kuster of trendbeheer.com lecture about our their work about Trendbeheer and about Rotterdam artist run initiative scene.
Sunday 5:30pm
Workshop: Free Skool
Existing colleges and universities focus on training students to become productive members of the capitalist economy. Beyond the degrees and diplomas lies the reinforcement of hierarchical commodity relations; the student-teacher, worker-boss, and slave-master mentality. Additionally these opportunities are only available to those privileged enough to afford it.
The purpose of organizing the Chicago Free Skool is to create an alternative to the oppressive and classist educational institution. We organize through the Consensus Decision Making process, are opposed to all forms of oppression (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc) and don't require any funds to attend any of the classes. Only in this emancipatory environment can we truly nurture intellectual self-exploration, creativity, and community problem solving.
We want to:
* Encourage self-sufficiency, Do-It-Yourself, and skills applicable to real life not focus on the economic value of education
* Break down the barrier between student and teacher not reinforce hierarchy and privilege
* Engage with the community not pollute or gentrify the neighborhood
* Organize collectively through consensus not through top-down authoritarian protocols