Fall 2012 Exhibitions at the SAIC Sullivan Galleries

Chicago, IL— Exhibitions at SAIC are a significant resource for the school community and the city at large. The Sullivan Galleries—along with the Student Union Galleries and other temporary locations on and off campus—are engaged as sites of interaction, experimentation, and dialogue among students, faculty, and alumni, as well as places for collaboration with Chicago’s artists and other cultural institutions. Information on over a dozen fall/winter presentations is presented below.

Sullivan Galleries
33 South State Street, 7th floor
Chicago, IL 60603
312.629.6635 | exhibitions-saic@saic.edu
saic.edu/exhibitions

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Sullivan Galleries will be closed Nov. 22–24 and Dec. 22–Jan. 1

SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries feature the work of acclaimed artists and those new on the scene who, through exhibitions and other public forums, work collaboratively within the SAIC community to explore how art functions within society today. Comprising 30,000 square feet, the Sullivan Galleries are the largest single contemporary gallery space in Chicago’s Loop, and are located in the recently renovated Sullivan Center, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The building was originally designed by architect Louis Sullivan and was home to the flagship store for Carson Pirie Scott and Company for more than a century.

Drawings for Sculpture
Sullivan Galleries
Through October 6
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

Generating and visualizing ideas is an important part of any artistic process. It can be especially challenging for artists working in the dimensional world as they contend with issues of materiality, structure, scale, space, site, labor, time, and expense. Drawings for Sculpture, curated by SAIC faculty Carolyn Ottmers, explores the various ways in which sculptors use drawing as an opportunity to play, research, and communicate their concepts before committing them to three dimensions. Featuring work by SAIC faculty and alumni: Marissa Lee Benedict, Juan Angel Chávez, Yong Choi, Preston Jackson, David R. Nelson, Carolyn Ottmers, A. Laurie Palmer, Steve Reber, Richard Rezac, and Frances Whitehead. This show is presented in conjunction with the 20th International Sculpture Conference being held in Chicago October 4–6.

Plural Zone: Occupying Possibilities in Sculpture Now
Sullivan Galleries
Through October 6
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.
Spanning across campus, the site-specific works that comprise Plural Zone present a study of sculptural practices at SAIC, highlighting traditional, experimental, and the outermost art experiences. Curated by visiting artist Torkwase Dyson, the exhibition features artists who call attention to the dynamic interdisciplinary thread that runs through SAIC, engaging these sites as spaces for experimentation and invention.

Faculty Projects
Sullivan Galleries
Through October 6
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

This exhibition features new projects by Shellie Fleming, Joan Livingstone, Nicholas Lowe, and Chris Sullivan—SAIC faculty who have recently returned from sabbatical leave. Special lectures and screenings by other returning faculty are presented throughout the fall semester in conjunction with this exhibition. For more information, visitsaic.edu/exhibitions.

Roger Brown: This Boy’s Own Story
Sullivan Galleries
Through November 10
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

Marking the 15th anniversary of artist and SAIC alumnus Roger Brown’s death due to complications of HIV/AIDS, This Boy’s Own Storyconsiders a significant, yet under-explored current in the artist’s career. The paintings, writings, and archival materials brought together in this exhibition evoke a range of social, political, and religious considerations, calling attention to Brown’s engagement with the subject of sexuality—one of the themes he addressed throughout his 27-year career. Curated by SAIC student Kate Pollasch (Dual MA 2013) in collaboration with SAIC’s Roger Brown Study Collection (RBSC), this show reflects the trajectory of Brown’s artistic practice in relation to the broader histories of Chicago’s gay nightlife, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and the Culture Wars of the 1980s and 90s.

SAIC’s Roger Brown Study collection will also feature AfterimageSeptember 14 – November 18, 2012—a show of micro-exhibitions curated by Chicago artists, in which they place their personal collections within the walls and shelves of Brown’s former studio. This show will be on view in the RBSC project space at 1926 N. Halsted St., .

The Great Refusal: Taking on New Queer Aesthetics
Sullivan Galleries
Through November 10
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

The Great Refusal: Taking on New Queer Aesthetics interrogates and explores the concept of queerness in this cultural moment. Through themes of Restraint and Indulgence, Progressive Rituals, Bad Values, and Misuse and Dislocation, this exhibition considers the term “queer ” as it intersects with race, class, sexuality,
and gender, and suggests conceptualizations of what Queer Aesthetics could be. Curated by SAIC faculty Oliverio Rodriguez along with current SAIC undergraduates and alumni, The Great Refusal showcases recognized artists as well as newly emerging practitioners. A series of performances, film screenings, and panel discussions will be held in conjunction with the show at the Sullivan Galleries, as well as at various cultural organizations throughout the city.

Detroit, USA: Material, Site, Narrative
Sullivan Galleries
Through January 5
Reception: Friday, September 14, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

Detroit, USA explores the dynamic and ever-shifting creative, cultural, and physical topography of this city. Engaging Detroit as material, site, and narrative, the artists’ work comes in dialogue with the city’s social, built, and natural environments. Curated by SAIC faculty Kirsten Leenaars and Kevin Kaempf with guest curator Kerstin Niemann, it features historical ephemera, as well as:

Detroit artists and designers: Danielle Aubert and Maia Asshaq, Jon Brumit, Kate Daughdrill and Mira Burack, Design 99, Scott Hocking, Chido Johnson, jessica Care moore, Catie Newell, Gilda Snowden, Corine Vermeulen;

The Living Archive from the research residence FILTER DETROIT: Fieke van Berkom (The Netherlands), New Hard Entertainment / Nandan Rao (United States), and Nina Könnemann (Germany);

Work by SAIC students developed during their recent study trips to Detroit: Kendall Martin Babl, Lise Ross Baggesen, Anna Rose Castellanos, Inah Choe, Jacob Dimuzio, Eunsil Drew, Jason Matthew Friedes, Tucker Brooks Hugge, Brittany Hayward, Kennedy Howard Jones, Tara Lynn Morton, and Erin Toale.

The SAIC Gene Siskel Film Center will also screen the documentaryDetropia (2012, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Gray, USA, 91 min.) September 21-27.

Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture
Sullivan Galleries
October 4–December 21
Reception: Friday, October 5, 4:30–8:00 p.m.

This exhibition of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project (CTJM) presents a selection from more than 70 submitted proposals for how to memorialize reported cases of torture by Chicago Police. Over the past year CTJM held workshops, discussions, and exhibitions to share knowledge about this history, and to consider the forms memorialization might take. Responses to CTJM’s open call include proposals by artists, architects, writers, educators, and justice-seekers all over the world. By exhibiting and distributing these speculative monuments and art works, CTJM seeks to honor the survivors, family members, and affected communities, while amplifying the voices calling for justice. CTJM organizers include SAIC faculty Kevin Kaempf, A. Laurie Palmer, Mary Patten, Sarah Ross, and Ellen Rothenberg. This exhibition is also part of the 2012 Chicago Artists Month.

Tamms Year Ten Campaign Office
Sullivan Galleries
October 4–December 21
Reception: Friday, October 5, 4:30–8:00 p.m.
This exhibition serves as the office for Tamms Year Ten, the campaign launched in 2008 to persuade legislators and the Illinois governor to reform or close the notorious supermax prison in Tamms, Illinois. This prison was designed to hold men in solitary confinement under conditions of sensory deprivation. As a result of the courageous decision by Governor Pat Quinn, Tamms is scheduled to be closed on August 31, 2012. The campaign office—on view and in action in the Sullivan Galleries—consists of a desk, table, chairs, computers, binders, files, lobbying materials, letters, posters, banners, props, photographs, and art ephemera. One wall will display snapshots of every man in Tamms Closed Maximum Security prison in 2008, with updates about their current fate. Organizer, artist, and SAIC alumna Laurie Jo Reynolds (MFA 2000) will keep scheduled hours.
Preview: An Assembly from Natural Life (work-in-progress)
Sullivan Galleries
October 4–December 21
Reception: Friday, October 5, 4:30–8:00 p.m.

Natural Life (work-in-progress) is a feature-length documentary produced by SAIC faculty Tirtza Even alongside the legal efforts of the Law Offices of Deborah LaBelle. The work challenges the inequities in the juvenile justice system by telling the stories of several individuals sentenced to die in prison since youth. The project's goal is to depict the experiences of these youths who receive the most severe sentences given to convicted adults—the sentence of "natural life" or life without parole—against the contexts of social bias, neglect, apprehension, and alienation.

Fall Undergraduate Exhibition
Sullivan Galleries
October 27–November 10
Reception: Friday, October 26, 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Nearly 50 talented SAIC students completing undergraduate degrees this fall exhibit their innovative work. SAIC promotes crossing disciplines and challenging assumptions, and the results of this approach are showcased in this exhibition.

Video Installation
Sullivan Galleries
December 8–January 4
Reception: Friday, December 7, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

This exhibition features new works as developed in the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation’s Video Installation course. Students examine the diverse languages of this practice through experimentation with monitors, projectors, and other media, working to address concerns of site and scale, issues of narrative, identity, reception and audience, and the relationship between private and public space.

Mythologies
Sullivan Galleries
December 8–January 4
Reception: Friday, December 7, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

This group of artists considers contemporary shifts in global cultural production, proposing revisions in attitudes toward “otherness.” Many of the works in Mythologies reference popular culture and mass media through a variety of approaches including fiber, sculpture, photography, video, and performances, in order to encourage discussions surrounding the mythology of identity. This exhibition is the result of an open call for proposals by members of the group Black at SAIC (BaSAIC), led by student curator and artist Rashayla Marie Brown, and a jury review by Shahrazad Shareef, James Britt, and BaSAIC co-chair Simone Jelics.

The Art of Connection
Sullivan Galleries
December 8–January 4
Reception: Friday, December 7, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

The Art of Connection showcases artwork by graduate Art Therapy students and the individuals they work with at their internship sites. Artwork in the show reflects the varied settings, populations, and practices of art therapy, representing a culmination of the MA in Art Therapy program at SAIC.

New Work
Sullivan Galleries
December 8–February 1
Reception: Friday, December 7, 4:30–7:00 p.m.

New Work showcases projects by current MFA students and recent alumni as selected through portfolio reviews by the SAIC Exhibitions/Exhibition Studies Committee. By favoring experience over interpretation, the exhibition is rooted in exploratory and collaborative modes of making and viewing.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

A leader in educating artists, designers, and scholars since 1866, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) offers nationally accredited undergraduate and graduate degrees and post-baccalaureate programs to nearly 3,200 students from around the globe. Located in the heart of Chicago, SAIC has an educational philosophy that is built upon an interdisciplinary approach to art and design, giving students unparalleled opportunities to develop their creative and critical abilities while working with renowned faculty who include many of the leading practitioners in their fields. SAIC's resources include the Art Institute of Chicago and its new Modern Wing; numerous special collections and programming venues provide students with exceptional exhibitions, screenings, lectures, and performances. For more information, please visit saic.edu.

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