Museum of Contemporary Art Members’ Magazine Fall 2015 MCA CALENDAR SEPTEMBER

Sat, Sep 12, 3 pm Unless otherwise noted, events are MCA Studio: Barak adé Soleil free for MCA Members. Adé Soleil creates dance that explores the beauty of the Illinois residents receive disabled, racialized body and its free general admission every inherent humanity. Tuesday. Sat, Sep 19, 7:30 pm Ticket required MCA Stage: Tanya Tagaq Nanook of the North For a complete listing of events and This live concert brings a First ticket information, visit mcachicago. Nations view to a classic silent-era org, or call 312.397.4010. Events are documentary about Inuit life. subject to change. Copresented with World Music Festival Chicago. The MCA is honored to be collaborating with many other arts Sun, Sep 27, 3 and 7:30 pm and culture organizations this MCA Stage: Roscoe Mitchell season, including the World Music Trios Festival, Hubbard Street Dance, the Eight distinctive musicians join Chicago Architecture Foundation, master musician/composer Roscoe the Richard and Mary L. Gray Mitchell in four separate trios. Center for Arts and Inquiry, the Chicago Humanities Festival, Wed, Sep 30, 6 pm Pitchfork, the National Endowment MCA Talk: William Forsythe for the Humanities, the Poetry This intimate conversation sets the Foundation, Illinois Humanities, and stage for Hubbard Street Dance Asian Improv aRts Midwest. Chicago’s all-Forsythe Fall Series, October 15–18. With Hubbard Stroller Tours Street Dance Chicago. First Wednesday of the month, 11:30 am. Experience a stimulating hour of art with your little one and keep OCTOBER up-to-date with contemporary art. Segunda Semana Fri, Oct 2, 7–11pm Second Tuesday of the month, 6 pm. MCA Prime Time Participe en una visita guía bilingüe Join us for the premier of our new el segundo martes de cada mes, late-night event, MCA Prime Time. para recorrer las exposiciones en Español. Sat, Oct 3, 7:30 pm MCA Screen: Scott Reeder The Living Room Moon Dust Fourth Saturday of the month, Moon Dust, painter Scott Reeder’s 2–4pm. The MCA’s Teen Creative first feature-length film, is a Agency hosts this drop-in gathering sci-fi comedy set 100 years in the for intimate conversations and future. activities. Sun, Oct 4, 1 pm Open Mics MCA Talk: Architecture October 24 and November 7, 1 pm. is Art . . . Is Architecture Art? The MCA’s Open Exchange program Atelier Bow-Wow hosts open mics with participating This discussion with Atelier Bow- community groups. Wow, a Tokyo-based architecture firm, is moderated by Reed Kroloff. With the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Tue, Oct 6, 6 pm MCA Live: David Grubbs, John McEntire, Rob Mazurek Key members of Chicago’s genre- defying post-rock scene come together for a special improvised MCACHICAGO.ORG MCA Studio: Same Planet MCA CALENDAR Different World and Niv Sheinfeld/Oren Laor Museum visitors are invited inside performance and conversation. the theater to observe the artists working on Stripped and Two Sat, Oct 10, 11 am–3 pm Room Apartment. Family Day: Kaleidoscopic Concoct vibrant, complex, Thu and Sat, Oct 22 and 24, unexpected artworks at this Family 7:30 pm; Sun, Oct 25, 3 and Day, with guest artist Regina 7:30 pm Baiocchi Harris. Free for families MCA Stage: Same Planet with children twelve and under. Different World and Niv Sheinfeld/Oren Laor Stripped Sat, Oct 10, 2 pm and Two Room Apartment MCA Live: Ann Ward + AACM Chicago choreographer Joanna Free School (part of Family Day) Rosenthal Read explores politics Composer, vocalist, pianist, and with her dancers and Sheinfeld African percussionist Ann Ward and Laor. directs the AACM School of Music in a program of Great Black Fri, Oct 23, 9:30–11:30 am Music. MCA Studio: Niv Sheinfeld/ Oren Laor Tue, Oct 13, 6 pm The Tel Aviv-based duo lead a MCA Studio: David Little master class on their distinctive Composer David Little discusses his choreography. work with members of new music ensemble eighth blackbird, as part Sat, Oct 24, 2 pm of the group’s MCA residency. MCA Live: Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape (AUH) Thu, Oct 15, 2–4 pm This duet is electrified by free jazz MCA Studio: George Lewis, and experimental choreography. Catherine Sullivan, Sean Griffin Museum visitors are invited inside Tue, Oct 27, 7:30 pm the theater to observe the artists MCA Talk: Sanford Biggers with working on the production of Romi Crawford Afterword, an Opera. Artist Sanford Biggers discusses the role of improvisation and Fri–Sat, Oct 16–17, 7:30 pm experimentation in civic MCA Stage: George Lewis, engagement through art. He is Catherine Sullivan, Sean Griffin joined in conversation by Romi Afterword, an Opera Crawford. With the Chicago This multidisciplinary chamber Humanities Festival. opera imagines the future of experimental black music— Tue, Oct 27, 6 pm and Wed, Oct commissioned and presented in 28, 8:30 pm association with the Richard and MCA Stage: Annie Dorsen Mary L. Gray Center for Arts Spokaoke and Inquiry. At this karaoke bar, pop songs are replaced by utopian speeches Tue, Oct 20, noon colliding across time. With the MCA Talk Chicago Humanities Festival. Exhibition Curator Dieter Roelstraete on The Freedom Wed, Oct 28, 6 pm Principle: Experiments in Art and MCA Talk: Architecture Music, 1965 to Now. is Art . . . Is Architecture Art? Asymptote Tue, Oct 20, 6 pm New York–based Asymptote MCA Studio: Chicago Hip Hop Architecture participates in a This program explores hip-hop and discussion moderated by Reed spoken word poetry in Chicago. Kroloff. With the Chicago Architecture Foundation and Tue, Oct 20, 6-7:30 pm Chicago Women in Architecture. MCA Talk: Same Planet Different World and Listings continue Niv Sheinfeld/Oren Laor on backflap >>> These prolific choreographers talk Fri, Oct 30, 6 pm about the personal and political of dance making. Wed, Oct 21, 2–4 pm MCACHICAGO.ORG The architectural rendering that appears on the You don’t have to look far to find compelling architecture in FALL 2015 BLUEPRINTS Chicago. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s elegant steel and glass cover of this magazine is ______. structures stretch skyward, while Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie FOR A BRIGHT houses hug the earth as gently as the tall grasses that once FUTURE covered the region. And throughout the city contemporary A a two-dimensional translation of a three- architects are transforming the built environment into a new kind dimensional form 01 Director’s Letter of prairie—an undulating urban landscape of metal, glass, wood, 02 On View and stone. B the result of a collaboration with architects 04 Spaces of Exchange Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee Designing Spaces for A spirit of architectural innovation also permeates our ° programming this season. In August BMO Harris Bank Chicago C an idealized depiction of a proposed Art and Architecture Works: Ania Jaworska opens. The first in the Chicago Works series architectural project ° On Art and to feature a trained architect, the exhibition includes prints and Architecture sculptures that playfully engage with the history of architecture D something we’re excited to share with you ° The Architecture and prompt visitors to reexamine their relationship with E all of the above of Leadership architectural forms.

° Building Community In October we partner with the Chicago Architecture is the correct answer. correct the is E 12 The MCA Gets Foundation to present Architecture is Art . . . Is Architecture Art?, a Makeover a series of conversations about the intersection of the two 13 Kathryn Andrews: Run disciplines. The series coincides with the first-ever Chicago The MCA has engaged Johnston Marklee to help us for President Architectural Biennial—North America’s largest international survey of contemporary architecture—which runs from October reimagine the museum’s interior space, and the 18 Toward a Shared 3 through January 3. We are thrilled to be collaborating Performance Space with other arts organizations for this important inaugural event. firm has begun to draft plans for exciting new 19 Contemplating the dining and learning spaces that will better reflect AACM: Music, We are equally delighted to be working with award-winning our vision. In the meantime, they have also been Movements, Atmosphere, architectural firm Johnston Marklee, whom we have invited to reimagine the interior of the museum. The architects have begun selected as contributors to the inaugural Chicago and Futures to draft plans for a new restaurant and learning space that will Architecture Biennial. Their installation in the MCA 21 MCA Prime Time better reflect our identity. In the meantime, they are working 22 Members’ Previews on a proposal for the Architecture Biennial, to be installed inside Café will be titled Johnston Marklee: Grid is a Grid 23 Pop Art Design and the museum café. is a Grid is a Grid is a Grid. Using spare materials to The Street, the Store, Clearly, we have architecture on our minds. As such, we have suggest architectural forms, the project invites the and the Silver Screen Madeleine Grynsztejn decided to dedicate this issue of the magazine—the first to viewer to see a familiar space in a new way. The 28 MCA DNA: Rafael Ferrer incorporate a more editorial approach to content—to architecture. 30 MCA Store Within these pages, you will read articles that engage installation features one of the core components of 32 Mark Your Calendar with the subject quite literally and others that approach it more our identity—a grid that alludes at once to the 33 MCA Seen metaphorically. architecture of our museum and the layout of our Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago So, please read on to learn more about how the MCA is city. We hope that you love it as much as we do. 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 blurring the boundaries between art and architecture to build a better, brighter future for the surrounding community. Museum hours Closed Mondays Tue 10 am–8 pm ------Wed–Sun 10 am–5 pm Admission is free for Illinois residents Power, politics, and pop art collide every Tuesday. EXHIBITION in the pages of Kathryn Andrews: Information 312–280–2660 CATALOGUE Run for President. Featuring essays by Box Office 312–397–4010 exhibition curator Julie Rodrigues Member Services 312–397–4040 Madeleine Grynsztejn Widholm and art historian Kristine Pritzker Director Kathryn Andrews: Run for President Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a triannual Stiles, as well as a conversation with publication produced for MCA Members and donors of the MCA by the Design, Publishing, and New Media curator Hamza Walker and the department, with the assistance of the Rights artist, this stunning catalogue show­ and Images, Membership, and Development teams. cases Kathryn Andrew’s sharp wit and Unless otherwise noted, all photos © MCA Chicago. sharper intellect. Nathan Keay, Staff Photographer; Rob Karlic, Braxton Black and Jeremy Lawson for Jeremy Lawson Photography, and Joshua Longbrake, contract Copublished by ARTBOOK | D.A.P. photographers.

Typeface created by Karl Nawrot, all rights reserved. Available at the MCA Store, The MCA is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization mcachicagostore.org accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. (Members $31.50) $35 The museum is generously supported by its Board of Trustees; individual and corporate members; private and corporate foundations, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and government agencies, including the Illinois Arts Council, a state KATHRYN ANDREWS agency, and the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Museum capital improvements RUN FOR PRESIDENT are supported by a Public Museum Capital Grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The MCA is a proud member of Museums in the Park and Opens Nov 21, 2015 receives major support from the Chicago Park District. Cover rendering: Tom Hancocks 3 DIRECTOR’S LETTER ON VIEW NOW ON VIEW NEXT celebrated era to show CURRENT the cross-pollination between AND these creative worlds. Freedom Principle: MCA DNA: Rafael Ferrer FUTURE Experiments in Art and Sep 19, 2015–Mar 6, 2016 The Street, the Store, and the EXHIBITONS Music, 1965 to Now. In the late 1960s and early Silver Screen: Pop Art from Closes Nov 22 1970s, Puerto Rican–born artist the MCA Collection See and hear how avant-garde Rafael Ferrer was one Dec 19, 2015–Mar 27, 2016 musicians and visual artists on of the prime instigators of a Conceived as a complement to Chicago’s South Side expanded movement now called Pop Art Design, this exhibition Keren Cytter the boundaries of jazz and art process art, which focused on celebrates the MCA’s holdings in the 1960s—and how the process of creating, of iconic pop art. During the CLOSING SOON contemporary artists continue rather than on the resulting 1960s and 1970s, many artists to respond to their legacy. object. gravitated toward the brash Keren Cytter colors, simplified designs, and Closes Oct 4 MCA Plaza Project: Surrealism: The Conjured Life direct salesmanship of the Keren Cytter has received Alexandre da Cunha Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016 burgeoning commercial world widespread acclaim for her Closes Jul 24, 2016 MCA DNA: Rafael Ferrer This exhibition presents more and incorporated these video works, which explore Brazilian artist Alexandre da than one hundred paintings, strategies into their fine art and often subvert the Cunha is a poet of found sculptures, drawings, and practices. conventions of narrative materials. For the museum's photographs that demonstrate cinema. This MCA exhibition Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and fifthMCA Chicago Plaza Project, the enduring influence of Kerry James Marshall: Mastry includes her drawings in Music, 1965 to Now. he presents several large-scale surrealism since its emergence Apr 23–Sep 25, 2016 addition to her film works. works that reveal the inherent in the first half of the The MCA is honored to present form, beauty, and mystery twentieth century. A global a major museum survey of one S, M, L, XL of often-overlooked objects. movement that encompassed a of America’s greatest living Closes Oct 4 variety of art forms—including artists, Kerry James Marshall. S, M, L, XL showcases four MCA Screen: Jos de Gruyter film, theater, poetry, and The exhibition focuses on sculptural works that depend and Harald Thys literature—surrealism continues Marshall’s paintings, from his upon the bodily presence Closes Jan 17, 2016 Surrealism: The Conjured Life to enthrall artists and early Portrait of the Artist of an audience to imbue them Over the course of thirty years, audiences to this day. as a Shadow of His Former Self with meaning and relevance. Belgian artists Jos de Gruyter (1980) to his recent The exhibition highlights and Harald Thys have created Kathryn Andrews: Run for explorations of African recent acquisitions from the MCA Screen: Jos de Gruyter and darkly humorous works President American history and pictorial MCA collection. Harald Thys that explore language and Nov 21, 2015–May 8, 2016 abstraction, as well as the communication. The MCA Kathryn Andrews charts the ongoing comic book series, presents one such work, Im rise and fall of the president Rhythm Mastr (2000–present). Reich der Sonnenfinsternis —a metaphorical double for (2010–11), an installation the artist as well as the comprising two-hundred-plus viewer—for her first solo paintings and a twenty-five- exhibition in the United States, Keren Cytter, Video still, Something Happened, minute video. which features sculptures, Rafael Ferrer, Coronacion y Masacre de la Reina 2007. Digital video (color and sound), 7 installations, and works on de Madagascar (Coronation and Massacre of minutes. Courtesy of the artist and Nagel the Queen of Madagascar), 1982. Oil on canvas; Draxler, Cologne and Berlin; Pilar Corrias, BMO Harris Bank Chicago paper. Situating these works 21 1/2 × 16 1/2 in. (54.6 × 41.9 cm). London; and Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan. Works: Ania Jaworska Kathryn Andrews: Run for President against the conceptual and Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Earl and Betsy Millard, Freedom Principle Opening Day Closes Jan 31, 2016 pictorial backdrop of an 1991.46.8. Art © Rafael Ferrer/Licensed by Photo: Alice Feldt, © MCA Chicago Architect Ania Jaworska election, she raises questions VAGA, New York. Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys explores the history of about power, pop culture, and René Magritte, Les merveilles de la nature Das Loch—Im Reich der Sonnenfinsternis, architecture through prints, politics. (The Wonders of Nature), 1953. Oil on canvas 2010–11. Color video transferred to DVD, Collection Museum of Contemporary Art folding display boards, plinth mounted drawings, scale models, Chicago, gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, sculptures, and oil and acrylic on board; and functional objects—using Pop Art Design 1982.48. © 2015 C. Herscovici/Artist Rights dimensions variable. Collection Museum of Society (ARS), New York. Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Mary and humor, irony, and bold, Dec 19, 2015–Mar 27, 2016 Earle Ludgin by exchange, 2012.120. Photo: minimalist forms. The exhibition In the 1960s and 1970s, the Kathryn Andrews, “Bozo”™ “The World’s Most Nick Ash, courtesy of Isabella Bortolozzi Famous ” Bop Bag with Occasional Galerie, Berlin. runs in tandem with Chicago’s spirit of pop art not only Performance (Blue Variation) (detail), 2014. first Architecture Biennial. manifested itself in the works Aluminum, vinyl, polyurethane, and Ania Jaworska, Sign of their Place, 2012/2015 BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: of artists like Andy Warhol, chrome-plated steel; 92 × 36 × 36 in. (233.7 × Courtesy of the artist. Ania Jaworska 91.4 × 91.4 cm). Courtesy of David Kordansky it also influenced design and Gallery, , CA. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. architecture. Pop Art Design, Kerry James Marshall, Untitled (Painter), 2009. an exhibition organized Acrylic on PVC; 44 5/8 × 43 1/8 × 3 7/8 in. Kerry James Marshall: Mastry (113.4 × 109.5 × 9.8 cm). Collection Museum by the Vitra Design Museum, in of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Germany, pairs iconic design Katherine S. Schamberg by exchange, 2009.15. © 2009 Kerry James Marshall. 4 ON VIEW 5 ON VIEW objects with artworks from this American Architect DESIGNING SPACES Heidi Reitmaier Philip Johnson once “THESE FOR ART AND Beatrice C. Mayer wrote: PROJECTS ARCHITECTURE Director of Education SPACES INVITE “all architecture We believe that the MCA would be nothing without the visitors VISITORS who come through its doors, transforming it into a hub of is shelter . . . the warmth and energy. To that end, we are committed to the design of space that TO ENGAGE activation of spaces where our audiences can meet and interact, contains, cuddles, OF and we strive to create “spaces of exchange” for visitors. exalts, or stimulates WITH THE the persons in that Over the next six months, we are hosting three artists to create MUSEUM AND these spaces of exchange. space.” EXCHANGE THE WORLD John Preus, a Chicago artist and one of the MCA’s most The four articles in consistent collaborators, has created an installation in our fourth AROUND floor lobby. The work, Da Dee Dee Da De Profundis, advances this special section our commitment to create opportunities for physical exploration of the magazine are THEM.” as well as intellectual play. Created in response to The Freedom thematically linked. All —Heidi Reitmaier Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, Preus has are about architecture: repurposed salvaged furniture from recently closed Chicago public schools, located primarily on the South Side, to provide a the construction of stage for performances and public conversations, as well as a spaces for exchange, space where visitors are welcome to rest, socialize, and explore the intersection of A PLACE materials related to the exhibition. art and architecture, the foundation of a stable museum, the pillars of community TO Right: To celebrate the opening of The Freedom Principle, the MCA invited Douglas R. Ewart, George Lewis, and Douglas collaboration. But, taken Repetto to perform their latest installation, Rio Negro II, for hundreds of visitors. together, they are more Photos: Alice Feldt, © MCA Chicago. than the sum of their Below: Chicago artist Lisa Alvarado parts. They speak to ENGAGE performs with Natural Information Society, the MCA’s status as the a band led by Joshua Abrams. sort of shelter Johnson described above, a place where people can gather, learn, and grow.

Another group of artists, the musical supergroup eighth blackbird, has also transformed one of our galleries into a rehearsal space. Our 2015–16 resident artists, eighth blackbird has partnered with us in the past to create new experimental works for the MCA Stage. For this residency, the group has established a salon and studio within the museum, which acts at various times as a meeting space for artists, fellow collaborators, and visitors. This space also houses an archive of experimental graphic scores by numerous composers selected from the Northwestern University Library, a series of questions inviting 6 SPACES OF EXCHANGE 7 SPACES OF EXCHANGE visitors to consider the relationship between art and music, The ensemble members of eighth blackbird, ON ART AND Ania Jaworska the MCA’s 2015–16 resident artists, combine the virtuosity of a string quartet with “SPACE, ARCHITECTURE In Her Own Words the energy of a storefront theater company. The images of the three-time Grammy- winners shown here (right and below) MATERIALS, are stills from an MCA documentary about the supergroup, to be released this fall. Architect Ania Jaworska explores the history of FORM, ARCHI- architecture in BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: TECTURAL Ania Jaworska, an exhibition running in tandem with Chicago’s first Architecture Biennial Oct 3, 2015–Jan ELEMENTS, 3, 2016. Jaworska recently sat down with the curator of our exhibition, former Marjorie Susman Curatorial AND HISTORY Fellow Grace Deveney, to share her approach to art ARE THINGS and architecture. THAT I My training as an architect has had a big impact on the way I think and work. Space, materials, form, architectural elements, CONSIDER.” and history are things that I consider. I mostly work on three-di- mensional objects or drawings that function as proposals for a free-choice digital archive of important new music, and —Ania Jaworska larger three-dimensional works. I have earned two master’s an innovative invitation to play a seminal work by composer degrees in architecture from programs that have a strong John Cage. connection to art. While studying architecture at the Kraków University of Technology in Poland, I chose to study under Dariusz And a third artist, Brazilian Alexandre da Cunha, reminds visitors Kozlowski, a well-known Polish architect, painter, and poet whose that the MCA’s artists often step outside the museum, into the buildings use architectural elements as symbols to communicate heart of the city itself, to engage visitors. We hope that Da specific messages. His studio placed an emphasis on composition, Cunha’s works, the latest sculptures in our ongoing MCA Chicago drawing, and meaning and often used constructivists’ paintings Plaza Project series, will entice all who encounter them to as a starting point for a design. While at the Cranbrook Academy Artist Alexandre da Cunha presents three think about art in public spaces. And we hope the works will of Art in Michigan, I focused on developing my personal work. monumental sculptures (right) for MCA Chicago Plaza Project: Alexandre da Cunha encourage passersby—even those who wouldn’t normally (Jul 18, 2015–Jul 24, 2016), as well as a Right: Ania Jaworska, Sign of Their Place, large-scale beach landscape (below), which step into the interior of our museum—to broaden their under- 2012. Screen print on folio paper; 30 × 22 greets MCA visitors as they enter the standing of art and perhaps consider the MCA's ongoing in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm). Courtesy of the artist. museum’s second-floor atrium. commitment to bringing the most radical and inventive contem- Ania Jaworska, Landmark of the Area, AKA: porary artists to this city. Fancy Pants Is Always Late, 2012. Screen print on folio paper with hand drawing and pattern by Zack Ostrowski; 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm). Courtesy of the artist. In 2013 Ania Jaworska created an installation for the Graham Foundation (below) that featured four mesh structures reminiscent of architectural forms. The installation was as beautiful as it was functional—doubling as display shelves for the Foundation’s bookstore. Photo: Travis Roozeé.

Lead support for The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now is provided by Cari and Michael Sacks. Additional generous support is provided by the Pamela Alper Curatorial Fund, Dr. Anita Blanchard and Martin H. Nesbitt, Lester N. Coney and Mesirow Financial, Anne and Don Edwards, Denise and Gary Gardner, Vicki and Bill Hood, Jeanne and Kevin Poorman, Linda Johnson Rice, Desirée Rogers, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, Nickol and Darrel Hackett, Connie and Ed Horner, Inman The small architecture department placed within an art school Gallery, and Shirley and Walter Massey. provided an opportunity to explore media, techniques, and Lead support for the eighth blackbird residency is provided by Helen and thinking beyond architecture, which was very significant to the Sam Zell. Additional generous support is evolution of my work and approach. For my works, I continually provided by Anne Kaplan. turn to simple and iconic architectural elements, transforming Major support for Alexandre da Cunha is provided by Anne Kaplan. Additional them into simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar forms. generous support is provided by Charlotte Feng Ford and Sara Szold. Each of these projects invites visitors to engage with the world I’m from a small, picturesque town in Poland called Stary Sacz. around them. And each furthers our commitment to build a better It’s 750 years old—one of the oldest towns in Poland. It used to 8 SPACES OF EXCHANGE museum for visitors, with greater opportunities for exchange. 9 SPACES OF EXCHANGE be an important center for trade, which allowed the town to For BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Ania construct impressive gothic and baroque churches and a large THE ARCHITECTURE Lisa M. Key Jaworska, the artist presents two new projects that are at once works of art and market square lined with storefronts. Growing up there, and “THERE IS A OF LEADERSHIP Chief Development Officer architectural proposals for larger edifices. The exhibition also showcases a series later living in Kraków, I had a deep awareness and respect for of screen prints of columns that probe the the history, but it can be limiting and hard to move past . . . In WONDERFUL historical and cultural importance of architecture. contrast, Chicago is a relatively new city with a history of looking Beyond the brick and mortar of a building, the true personality into the future, which provides freedom to explore new ways of SENSE OF of an organization like the MCA is bolstered by the volunteer Major support for BMO Harris Bank Chicago Works: Ania Jaworska is provided by thinking. I’m currently an architecture faculty member at both CAMARADERIE leaders who give their time and talents to the museum every BMO Harris Bank. SAIC and UIC, which are stimulating environments that motivate day. In fact, the MCA was founded by a group of individuals me to produce more challenging work. And I’ve definitely been AMONGST who saw a need for a contemporary-focused museum in inspired by iconic Chicago buildings, like the Willis Tower and the Chicago and took it upon themselves to create one. Hancock! I love the simplicity and honesty of their forms. I guess Additional generous support is provided OUR BOARD” by the Sandra and Jack Guthman Chicago those are standards. Today, that spirit emboldens one of the pillars of the MCA—the Works Exhibition Fund. —Anne Kaplan Board of Trustees, whose involvement is critical to the museum’s success. This summer, longtime trustee Anne Kaplan became Chair of the Board succeeding King Harris. Anne is keenly aware of the architecture of our board and hopes to create new ways for individuals to become involved. “The MCA is blessed with a tremendous group of leaders who serve with passion. There are many longtime trustees (and founders!) who welcome new leaders with open arms,” says Kaplan. “There is a wonderful sense of camaraderie amongst our board, and I am thrilled to continue my involvement as chair.”

Right: Ania Jaworska, Saint, 2015. Screen MCA Board Chair Anne Kaplan is print on folio paper; 30 × 22 in. pictured here at far left with new trustees (76.2 × 55.9 cm). Courtesy of the artist. Eve Rogers, Dia Weil, and David Jacobson. Below: Ania Jaworska, Wow, After Slavin House, 2015. Screen print on folio paper; 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm). Courtesy of the artist.

Kaplan takes pride in newly elected trustees: Nancy Crown, David Jacobson, Jim Litinsky, Jay Owen, Eve Rogers, and Dia Weil. All bring unique expertise to their service—strengthening the museum’s foundation and building excitement as they introduce others to the museum. With such longstanding involvement, Kaplan is the perfect person to lead as we look toward our fiftieth anniversary in 2017. I’ve also been inspired by Italian architect and designer Ettore There are many committed individuals who support our efforts Sottsass (1917–2007), and the whole Memphis group, actually. beyond the trustee leaders, and there is always room to They developed their own strong style and produced work welcome more. “My priority,” Kaplan says, “is to grow the ranging from architecture to furniture to product design, and number of people who connect with the MCA and help them I would love to learn about their production process. I really find a deeper involvement with our staff—who do such fantastic appreciate Sottsass’s interest in archetypal forms and work—and our programs.” From her perspective, this growth will his adoption of what was, at the time, such a contemporary fuel the museum’s plans to become vital to all Chicagoans and 10 SPACES OF EXCHANGE approach—which continues to influence designers today. 11 SPACES OF EXCHANGE the broader museum public. BUILDING Heidi Reitmaier The MCA and the Chicago Humanities Festival work together this fall to bring “WE HOPE COMMUNITY Beatrice C. Mayer influential artists and literary luminaries to the museum for a conversation about Director of Education community. Chicago Humanities Festival, TO BRING 2009. Photo: Justin Kern (right), Al Zayed (below). Courtesy of Chicago Humanities Festival. UNIQUE, The work of museum educators is often to introduce visitors to CREATIVE novel ideas and invite artists and cultural thinkers to ask different questions. By doing this, we can facilitate exchange and VOICES TO conversation with our audiences. THE FORE.” These opportunities for exchange can be wildly different. They can be intimate gatherings in the galleries or more formal —Heidi Reitmaier occasions in the theater. They are not unique to museums. In fact, this year we are partnering with several cultural institutions in this city who also bring audiences together. The museum is coproducing talks with Pitchfork, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Through these collaborations, we hope to bring unique, creative voices to the fore and provide audiences with new insights about art and culture. engagement. This year we welcome a series of thinkers who design buildings, imagine new urban geographies, and experi­ ment in different ways inside galleries and museums. The work of these architects coincides with our interest in collaborating with Johnston Marklee to construct a new restaurant and engagement zone where visitors can gather and share ideas. We believe that Johnston Marklee, renowned for their Pitchfork and the MCA present Carrie cool, curvilinear forms and thoughtful use of space, are perfectly Brownstein (center right and below)— of Sleater-Kinney and Portlandia fame—for suited to the task of making these spaces more open and In Sight Out, a collaborative series that One of the elements of the MCA’s new explores new perspectives on music, art, identity is a grid that represents both accessible to visitors. and culture. Photo: Brigitte Sire (right) and the architecture of the museum and the Matt Lief Anderson (below). design of the city’s streets. Architectural firm Johnston Marklee intends to incorporate Below: earlier this summer Jeff Tweedy of this design element in their plans for Wilco (Jul 16) kicked off this year’s Pitchfork the museum’s café and engagement zone. collaboration. Photo: Zoran Orlic. Photos: Iwan Baan. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.

In Sight Out, our first collaboration with indie tastemake Pitchfork, explores new perspectives in music, art, and culture. Just this summer we welcomed musician Jeff Tweedy, and this fall we will host actor, writer, and musician Carrie Brownstein. We are also working closely with the Chicago Humanities Festival, whose theme this year is citizenship—a concept that resonates with the MCA’s commitment to building a community around social issues. To that end, we have invited poet Claudia Rankine (who will be joined by journalist Jeff Chang, composer and bandleader David Boykin, and poet Christine Hume) and artist and musician Sanford Biggers to speak inside In Sight Out is sponsored in part by MailChimp the museum. These partnerships and collaborations are at the heart of what And this is our second year working with the Chicago we do at the MCA: create local and global connections and Architecture Foundation on coproducing and developing the find new ways of collaborating with our colleagues in the city. series Architecture is Art . . . Is Architecture Art? Many architects By joining our interests and intellects, the conversations and 12 SPACES OF EXCHANGE and artists share similar concerns about space and social 13 SPACES OF EXCHANGE the learning will only get better and better. MCA will become a warmer, When you start looking around, THE MCA more welcoming place that squares are everywhere! Nov 21, 2015– Steven L. Bridges GETS A appeals to audiences of all The identity also features a May 8, 2016 Curatorial Assistant ages and backgrounds—while MAKEOVER still supporting and promoting cutting-edge artists. We have asked the Dutch design duo Mevis & Van Deursen to rebrand the museum. With help from our new design director, Dylan Fracareta, and our talented in-house design team, Armand Mevis and Linda van Deursen have created a compelling The MCA, like any good visual identity that will contemporary art museum, complement our commitment is a site of constant change. to openness and accessibility. The new MCA logo in an active state. New works appear in the galleries almost every month, new logo and a suite of and the strength of the typefaces, developed exclu- KATHRYN permanent collection, as well sively for the museum by as the tenor of exhibitions, German designer Karl Nawrot. grows and changes each year. Nawrot created the typefaces, which appear throughout In short, our institution’s very the pages of this magazine, by identity is in a state of constant combining squares to form a ANDREWS flux. series of fonts that range from playful to classical and evoke our institutional values. In this sense, the new identity’s reach extends beyond concrete visuals and helps clarify who we are—a museum that is smart, playful, and welcoming. ABCDEFGHIJ RUN KLMNOPQ RSTUVWXYZ One of our four interchangeable new logos. abcdefghijk Pritzker Director Madeleine lmnopqrstuvwxyz FOR Grynsztejn suggested as much in February of this year, 1234567890 when she convened nearly one ?!@&$;:.,”[]{} hundred members of the Grids feature prominently in the MCA’s national and international press new identity. One of six signature cuts of our new typeface. jib hogs zed vex, to announce that we are jib hogs pry, flunk, qat cwm. reimagining the way we relate The museum’s new identity It also alludes to who we are PRESIDENT zed vex, pry, jib hogs zed vex, to audiences. We strive to features a grid—which refers becoming—aflunk, contemporarypry, flunk, qat cwm. art foster an even more open, both to the city grid of Chicago institution par excellence. jib hogs zed vex, qat cwm. pry, flunk, qat cwm. accessible atmosphere within and the the MCA itself. Squares We are thrilled to share more

jib hogs zed vex, the museum, Grynsztejn form an architectural motif aboutjib hogs zed the vex, details pry, flunk,of qat cwm. this explained to the crowd. In throughout the building, from excitingpry, flunk, qatnew cwm. identity in the doing so, we hope that the the limestone and cast-alu- months to come, and we minum facade to the windows, look forward to showing visitors 14 NEWS ceiling, and floor patterns. just how bold we can be. Visitors who enter Los Angeles–based artist will serve as a backdrop, thereby conjuring Kathryn Andrew’s first major solo museum new and different connotations from the exhibition in the United States—organized works of art in their proximities. by former MCA Curator and current Director of the DePaul Art Museum Julie The images presented here translate these Rodrigues Widholm—will encounter relationships onto the pages of this a photomural of cultural icon Bozo the magazine. The black-and-white photo- Clown. Towering over viewers, Bozo graph on the following spread depicts the stands at a podium with what appear to Oval Office in the White House—the be Secret Service agents encircled ultimate seat of power in the United States. around him, all of whom are wearing In front of the photograph is the sculpture Bozo’s signature red ball nose. A spectacu- Lethal Weapon (2012), a cylindrical steel lar publicity stunt at the time, the image of form with a hole cut out on one side Kathryn Andrews, Gift Cart, Bozo the Clown making a bid for the roughly at eye-level. While the reflective 2011. Stainless steel and rented props; 60 × 38 × 24 in. (152.4 US presidency in 1984 sets the tone for the quality of the work’s surface disorients— × 96.5 × 61 cm). Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los artist’s investigation of the relationship blurring reflections of visitors, along with Angeles. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. between art, power, celebrity, and different the Oval Office and the surrounding gallery forms of capital—political, economic, social, space—the hole in the piece again invites cultural, and so on. closer inspection. However, once their eyes adjust to the darkened interior of the The subtext for the exhibition—“run for sculpture, viewers are confronted by a gun president”—however, is a foil for the artist’s pointing directly at them. Though the pistol interest in exploring the role of art in is a decommissioned prop from the movie society. For this exhibition, Andrews situates that also lends its name to the title of the her sculptures against a conceptual and, at sculpture, the threat is still felt. The playful Kathryn Andrews, Coming to America (Filet-O- times, pictorial backdrop of presidential fantasy of presidential intrigue is here Fish), 2013. Stainless steel, paint, found object, and certified film props; 104 1/4 × 54 × 43 in. elections that functions as a rich allegory. undermined by the threat of assassination, (264.8 × 137.2 × 109.2 cm). Courtesy of David The loosely constructed narrative explores and of constantly being “under the gun.” Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. candidates, campaigns, holding office, the end of the presidential term, and charting This mash-up of readymade images and the rise and fall of the president—a meta- the artist’s work is also featured in the phorical double for the artist as well as the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition. viewer. Revealing cultural connections that Developed in close collaboration with the are both humorous and critical, while ques- artist—and the first publication designed by tioning the consequences of seeing the MCA’s new Design Director, Dylan anything as fixed, Andrews demonstrates Fracareta—the catalogue also takes its cues how meanings are always contingent and from the exhibition and Andrews’s concep- in flux. tual underpinnings. Together, both the exhibition and catalogue invite interlocutors With their bright colors and shiny metallic to reflect on their relationship to and surfaces, many of the works in the exhibi- role in constructing power. Ranging from tion exert a strong gravitational pull on the utterly absurd to the uncomfortably visitors—beckoning them to look closer. In poignant, the exhibition creates an arena considering how different audiences for the exploration of art as political circus. engage with her work, Andrews is keen to point out that “the deeper you look, the more is revealed.” While this certainly holds FOLLOWING SPREAD true for the fifteen sculptures on display, 1 Foreground: Kathryn Andrews; Lethal Weapon, 2012. Stainless steel, paint, and certified film prop; 76 × 36 × 36 this notion works doubly well in the context in. (193 × 91.4 × 91.4 cm). Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. Kathryn Andrews, “Bozo”™ “The World’s Most Famous Clown” Bop Bag with of the relationship the artist composes Occasional Performance (Black Variation), 2014. Aluminum, vinyl, polyurethane, between her artworks and the five large- 2 Background: Oval Office; View looking South—White House, chrome-plated steel; 92 × 36 × 36 in. (233.7 × 91.4 × 91.4 cm). Courtesy of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, Washington, District David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. scale photomurals she will have fabricated for the exhibition (one being an image of of Columbia, DC. Photo: Jack E. Boucher. Kathryn Andrews, Hobo (Santa’s Helper No. 2), 2014. Ink on paper and plexiglas, aluminum, paint, and mixed Bozo as a presidential candidate). Dovetail- Generous support for Kathryn Andrews: Run for President is media; 43 3/4 × 37 × 2 1/4 in. (111.1 × 94 × 5.7 cm). ing with the conceptual conceit of the provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. Neison Harris: Caryn and King Harris, Katherine Harris, Toni and Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. exhibition, each of these wall-sized murals Ron Paul, Pam and Joe Szokol, Linda and Bill Friend, and Stephanie and John Harris; Christen and Derek Wilson; the Pamela Alper Curatorial Fund; Cari and Michael Sacks; and Rena and Daniel 17 EXHIBITIONS Sternberg; and Lisa Roumell and Mark Rosenthal.

A revolutionary TOWARD A Peter Taub writer and director, CONTEMPLATING Guillermo Calderón Director of Performance dissects the SHARED conditions that THE AACM: Programs drive ordinary PERFORMANCE citizens to take up arms in Escuela. SPACE Photo: Valentino Saldivar. MUSIC, Theater this fall build upon this MOVEMENTS, in different ways. ATMOSPHERE, Stripped and AND FUTURES Two Room Apartment Inventive Chicago dance company Same Planet Different As ongoing changes affect our World (SPDW) and gripping Yolanda Cesta Cursach social structures, economic Israeli choreographer/dancers conditions, and environment, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor Associate Director of many people are reexamining probe personal boundaries and Performance Programs how they live and work, and larger social structures. the ways they can make an Stripped, by SPDW’s artistic impact through their choices. director Joanna Rosenthal For fifty years, artists of the To that end, performing artists Read, replaces our constant AACM have been unreserved are developing ways to digital interface with ritualized in distilling and refining music change the stakes and terms of movements to rebuild human in order to reach its core— involve—ment, rejecting connections. Niv Sheinfeld and individual expression. Their traditional hierarchies of Oren Laor, based in Tel Aviv, sound can be as intricate as a expressive performers and perform a spirited male duet male-female duo of Nir Ben recent years pioneered quirky act, strong beliefs collide across progression of dynamic and passive audiences in favor of that is both personal and Gal and Liat Dror. The program projects that reorient us to the time and politics and make rhythmic contrasts within engaged experiences for all. political. Two Room Apartment also features the premiere of a experience of theater by unexpected connections. In phrases, or the slow vibrato of new piece by Niv and Oren for integrating computer-driven Dorsen’s own words: “Each a horn ushering in a single line Choreographers Niv Sheinfeld and Same Planet Different World. devices. In Spokaoke, she speech proposes a utopia— of poetry or visual sequence. Oren Laor reflect creates a karaoke bar unlike whether it be a nationalist Two concerts featuring AACM upon their relationship as Escuela (School) any other, replacing the pop unity of ethnic purity, a lost members this fall funda­ partners in life and A different experience awaits playlist with her Top 100 paradise of aristocratic virtue, mentally exert this freedom of dance in Two Room Apartment, a us in Escuela (School), by speeches across time, from a future of economic justice, expression that courses through spirited duet that is risk-taking playwright and Socrates to Susan B. Anthony, an end to war, or the glory of the collective music. both personal and political. Photo: director Guillermo from Charlie Chaplin to victory. The act of perfor- Vojtech Brtnicky. Calderón—“an authentic genius Annie Dorsen of the theater” (The New delights audiences Yorker)—as part of an ongoing with Spokaoke, a karaoke-inspired, MCA series presenting vital pop culture–infused voices of Ibero American performance unlike theater. Born in Chile’s capital, any other. Photo: Santiago, Calderón came of Stephen Dodd. age in a time shaped by the violence and terror of a military dictatorship. In Escuela, Calderón raises subtle but Experimental theater director is about boundaries in various troubling questions about how and playwright Peter Brook, contexts: physical borders power can be misused, famed for his austere and between charged territories, regardless of political position. powerful works, has described divisions between life and And in a small coup of a “As both musician and composer, Mitchell is always the scientist, tirelessly experimenting his task as building “a necessary performance, and the limits different sort, the MCA is very with musical forms, textures, and instrumenta- theater, one in which there is people set for themselves. pleased to welcome Chelsea Manning. Instead of mance resurrects these old tion” (BBC Music). Photo: Lauren Deutsch. only a practical difference Partners in life, Sheinfeld and playwright Guillermo Calderón singing along, we join this political ghosts—traumas and between actor and audience, Laor made this work as a real as a lead performer for these temporary public square by triumphs both reanimated by Trios not a fundamental one.” Three and symbolic revision of a Chicago performances. performing one speech or the living enactor . . . Heard Chicago native and master projects presented in our MCA milestone in modern Israeli another. In the emotional again, with our contemporary reeds artist Roscoe Mitchell Stage series at the Edlis Neeson dance, the Two Room Spokaoke monologues, each stirring us to ears, the texts resonate with helped establish the AACM and Apartment created a Annie Dorsen works in theater, lost hope, vicious irony, co-led the Art Ensemble of 20 EVENTS generation ago by the film, and dance—and has in 21 EVENTS and historical contradiction.” Chicago, the earliest group of Lead support for the 2015-16 season MCA Michael Green of MCA Stage is provided by Programmer of Elizabeth A. PRIME TIME Liebman. Generous Education: support for MCA Dance is provided Public Programs by David Herro and Jay Franke. Additional generous support is provided MCA Prime Time is an after-hours series that taps by Caryn and King Harris, and Lois and into the creative pulse of Chicago with an eclectic Steve Eisen and the Eisen Family mix of live music, art, and interactive programs Foundation. The MCA is a proud that transform the museum in spectacular ways. member of the Museums in the Taking place three times a year, the series provides Park and receives major support from a platform for visitors to collaborate with artists the Chicago Park District. and key cultural organizations in the city. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Foundation Season Sponsor OCTOBER 2, 7–11 PM –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– For the inaugural event, on October 2 from 7–11 pm, Preferred Hotel Partner the MCA collaborates with Chicago-based Land and Sea Dept., the concept and project develop- ment studio behind such famed restaurants as The MCA is a proud Longman & Eagle, Parson’s Chicken & Fish, and the partner of the National Cherry Circle Room at the newly reopened Performance Network Chicago Athletic Association. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– AACM members to tour concert, providing an Afterword, an Opera Afterword, an Opera, in Each event in the series will explore a specific internationally. His resurrection exceptional composition. Another Chicago native, collaboration with media- theme. The first, titled “Vibes,” encourages visitors of long-neglected woodwind trombonist George Lewis— theater artist Catherine instruments of extreme register In addition to Trios, Mitchell’s recipient of a MacArthur Sullivan and writer-director to connect with other community members while and his reassertion of the paintings, his invented Fellowship and an Alpert Sean Griffin. The artistic team enjoying performances and exhibitions throughout composer into what has instruments, and his stage Award in the Arts—studied created the work over a the museum. Electropop star Dan Deacon brings his traditionally been an installation, “the Cage” of the composition with Muhal Richard year at the Gray Center for Art improvisational form have Art Ensemble of Chicago, are Abrams at the AACM School of and Inquiry at the University blissfully frenetic dance music and unpredictable placed him at the forefront of on view on the fourth floor, Music and has been a member of Chicago and at the MCA. theatrics to a live music performance powered by contemporary music. where archival photographs of of the AACM since 1971. He is The MCA premiere perform­ infectious pop beats, audience participation, and Mitchell and artworks fusing his formidable composing ances feature trailblazing new For his latest project Mitchell referencing him, like Rashid work for mixed media into his music collective International general comic mayhem. Alongside the interactive performs in four different trios Johnson’s Roscoe’s Target first chamber opera with Contemporary Ensemble, with art elements presented by local artists, pop-up bars during two concerts, over a (2014), are also displayed. real-time improvisation, guest soloists. and restaurants from the Land and Sea Dept. make single day. He also scored this for an experience that’s rich in art, design, music, music—for trumpets, Above: Catherine The libretto is based upon the Sullivan with electronics, bass, woodwinds, George Lewis, concluding chapter in Lewis’s and—of course—good food and drinks. trombone, piano, drums, and Charles Gaines, 2008 book, A Power Stronger and Sean Griffin; –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– percussion—drawing a Afterword via Than Itself: The AACM and Future partnerships include cocurated events with dynamic range of musical Fantasia, 2015; American Experimental Music, a Single-channel styles from his eight invited video (color, sound) chronicle of the collective’s indie music tastemakers Pitchfork (Feb 5); musicians: Hugh Ragin, and mixed media emergence at a time when a installation; Chicago’s home of house music, Smart Bar; and Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Dimensions new black identity and social renowned music venue The Metro (May 6). James Fei, Jaribu Shahid, variable; Courtesy activism flourished. Lewis Kikanju Baku, William Winant, of the artists. collected many voices for his –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– and Tani Tabbal, who all Right: Afterword, book. At once independent and an Opera. This fall, get ready for MCA Prime Time. perform with Mitchell for each Photo: Ross Karre, in harmony, they invoke a –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– at Roulette. humanistic vision for today and 22 EVENTS years to come. 23 EVENTS MEMBERS’ DECEMBER Dec 19, 2015– Michael Darling PREVIEWS 18 Mar 27, 2016 James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator This December, MCA members can see two of the museum’s most anticipated exhibitions, Pop Art Design and The Street, the Store, and the Silver Screen, before they open to the public. The exhibitions, which showcase striking examples of pop art from within the MCA’s collection and around the world, are already ANNE KAPLAN, DIA WEIL, shaping up to be a smashing success. PAMELA MILLER, AND ANDREAS WALDBURG-WOLFEGG DIETER ROELSTRAETE AND NAOMI BECKWITH Pop Art Members can see these exciting exhibitions the evening before they open to the public: 5:30–7:30 pm Circle-level members welcome Design 7:30—9:30 pm All members welcome RSVP BY DECEMBER 16 312-397-4040 KRISTIN STEVENS AND MARGIE STAPLES [email protected]

Help us catapult a new generation and of artists into stardom. Be part of our legacy by contributing to the annual fund today. Visit: mcachicago.org/ annualfund

MEGAN CUMMINS AND JOHN PREUS JASON KALAJAINEN AND JOSH SHAMES The Street, the MAKE THIS MEMBERS’ SEE PREVIEW REALLY POP. AND See the show and Store, and the wrap up your holiday shopping at SHOP! the MCA Store.

See page 30 Museum and Store for an assortment of hours are extended 24 COMMUNITY JAE AND WADSWORTH JARRELL new selections. to 9:30 pm. Silver Screen Since coming to the MCA more than five proletarian supermarket during this period, years ago, I have tried to bring new inspiring “The Store” section within the awareness, prominence, and pride to the exhibition. This attitude was perhaps most museum’s collection. Built up over more concisely expressed in Claes Oldenburg’s than forty years by gifts and purchases 1961 installation, aptly called The Store, large and small, the collection is a in which he took over a New York compelling record of some of the most storefront and filled it with painted papier- lasting moments and ideas in mâché objects, from food to wedding contemporary art of the past half century. dresses, all available for sale. Objects from We often put together exhibitions that this landmark project are included in the mine strengths in the collection—like current exhibition alongside other pop conceptual photography, minimalism, provocations, like Oldenburg’s pile of giant personal identity, and politics. And one of green beans. the most impressive strains within the bedrock of the MCA collection is pop art. Finally, many pop artists were fascinated So when we were given the opportunity by celebrity culture, which, again, could be to present Pop Art Design, organized seen as a transgression against the Ed Paschke, Hair Bag, 1971. Oil on canvas; Canvas: by the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, highbrow aspirations of art and its 34 × 20 in. (86.4 × 50.8 cm). Collection Museum of I knew it could offer a great new traditional privileging of values like Contemporary Art perspective on this beloved period of timelessness and purity. Movie stars and Andy Warhol, Troy Diptych, 1962. Silkscreen ink on synthetic polymer paint and graphite on Chicago, bequest linen; Overall: 81 × 110 3/4 in. (205.7 × 281.3 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art of Ruth S. Nath, 1998.17. contemporary culture, one that we were politicians (major and minor) didn’t fit that Chicago, gift of Mrs. Robert B. Mayer, 1984.1.a–b. © 2014 The Andy Warhol Foundation for especially poised to interpret. description and were fantastic fodder for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. provocateurs like Warhol or Ed Paschke, The Vitra show illustrates how the spirit of who celebrated these topical characters pop not only manifested itself in Andy instead of mythical figures of yore. Warhol’s paintings of icons like Mao Zedong and Campbell’s soup cans but also Taken as a whole, all of these rebellious influenced the look of chairs, sofas, lamps, gestures were designed to shake up the and even architecture during the culturally straight-laced, ultimately elitist world of ebullient 1960s and 1970s. This exhibition fine art and push it into the modern age. pairs iconic design objects from this The Street, the Store, and the Silver Screen celebrated period with artworks from the were the models for this new portrait of same era to show the active cross- our culture, and we resemble these models pollination between these creative worlds. more than ever, revealing just how prescient the pop artists and designers of Alongside it, we will take a careful look at the 1960s and 1970s were. the MCA’s own holdings of pop art. As I examined the themes present in the Vitra exhibition, I determined that the concepts of “the Street,” “the Store,” and “the Silver FOLLOWING SPREAD Screen” would be a great way to organize 1 Verner Panton, Heart Shaped Cone Chair K3, 1959. the content of the sister exhibition and also Collection Vitra Design Museum. © Panton Design, Basel. speak to some of the primary inspirations 2 Eero Aarnio, Pastilli, 1967. Collection Vitra Design Museum. of designers and artists of the time. © Studio Eero Arnio. Photo: Andreas Sütterlin. 3 Claes Oldenburg, Sculpture in the Form of a Fried Egg, Creatives were enormously enamored by 1966/71. Canvas, dyed cotton, and expanded polystyrene the commercial buzz of “Main Street,” Unique; Diameter: 122 in. (309.9 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Anne and William J. where commerce, advertising, and Hokin, 1986.65 © 1964 Claes Oldenburg everyday life coexisted in brash new ways 4 Claes Oldenburg, Green Beans, 1964. Vinyl and acrylic on in the 1960s. Main Street was also as far plaster; Eighteen parts, each: 2 × 11 3/4 × 5 in. (5.1 × 29.8 × 12.7 cm). Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art away from the pure precincts of fine art Chicago, Gift of Anne and William J. Hokin, 1996.5.a–r museums and galleries as possible, a © 1964 Claes Oldenburg territory that artists keen to usher in a new 5 Studio 65, Capitello, Easy Chair, 1971. Collection Vitra understanding of art sought to exploit. Design Museum. © Gufram. Photo © Vitra Design Museum. Ed Paschke, Casey, 1975. Oil on George Segal, Box: Man in Bar, 1969. Plaster, tempera on metal, canvas; Canvas: 48 × 20 in. wood, and cloth; 60 1/2 × 24 1/2 × 12 3/8 in. (153.7 × 62.2 × 31.4 cm). Artists were also drawn to the heresy of Generous support for Pop Art Design is provided in part by Melissa (121.9 × 50.8 cm). Collection Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Mr. Weber and Jay Dandy. Museum of Contemporary Art and Mrs. E. A. Bergman, 1974.12. Art © The George and Helen Segal connecting the fine art world with the Chicago, bequest of Ruth S. Nath, Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Generous support for The Street, the Store, and the Silver Screen: 1998.16. Pop Art from the MCA Collection is provided by Cari and Michael 27 EXHIBITIONS Sacks, and Melissa Weber and Jay Dandy. 3

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5 LYNNE LW painters. This led to my traveling to Sep 19, 2015– We are proud to have WARREN Two major works from Tierra del Europe in the summer of 1954. I forty of Rafael Ferrer’s How was the Tierra del Fuego Fuego will be featured in the MCA spent that summer in Paris, where I Mar 6, 2016 exhibition, which featured paper- DNA presentation: A Flag for the met up with Granell. Through him I works in our collection, bag paintings, found object Straits of Magellan and Kayak #2: met André Breton and Benjamin many of which come constructions, altered maps, and Norte. You grew up in Puerto Rico Peret and joined their weekly MCA DNA: invented flags—among other and had a very cosmopolitan meetings in cafés. I attended from Ferrer’s 1972 Tierra items—a turning point for you? background, and these works in openings, most memorably one of RAFAEL FERRER del Fuego (Land of Fire) particular evoke for me great the works of Pablo Picasso from realms carved out by your collections in Russian museums. exhibition at the MCA. imagination and experience, which With Granell I visited the studio of RAFAEL allow me to travel to places that Wifredo Lam. This was significant FERRER become vivid and real through your because Lam, being Cuban, The artist recently The key work which preceded all artworks. Did you ever actually enabled me to speak about Afro spoke with Curator the so-called process works was visit the Tierra del Fuego islands, or Cuban music, my knowledge of it, the Three Leaf Pieces [wherein are they a proxy for your experience and its power. Lynne Warren about Ferrer made guerilla installations of the island of Puerto Rico? the exhibition and using autumn leaves in three This answer suggests that my contemporary art sites in RF choices are tied to my imagination. some of his earlier, Manhattan]. The reaction I per­ I went to Syracuse University for No doubt that having been born on process-driven work. ceived at that time from colleagues two years. During that time I an island in the Caribbean, which and tastemakers was that my began to work as a musician— became a colony of the United Rafael Ferrer, El Cuarto del Coronel Aureliano work was excessive. I come from a playing drums—and formed a Latin States in 1898 and is now the oldest Buendia (The Room of the Colonel Aureliano Buendia), 1982. Oil on canvas; 21-1/2 × 16-7/16 culture where purity, denial, jazz group that played in a local colony in the world, is part of who in. (54.6 × 41.7 cm). Collection Museum of and guilt are not the driving forces. night club. I enrolled at the I am. My art is personal, which Contemporary Art Chicago, Gift of Earl and Mine is a place of improvisation, University of Puerto Rico in the fall means that it responds to my Betsy Millard, 1991.46.6. Art © Rafael Ferrer/ wit, and invention. of 1953, and it was there that I nervous system and is not guided Licensed by VAGA, New York. met and studied with Eugenio by any overarching philosophy. I do Rafael Ferrer, Kayak #2: Norte, 1972. Corrugated I found a map store in Fernandez Granell, a surrealist believe that democracy and steel, bone, rawhide, fur, wood, knife, string, hair, siding, and paint; 26 × 119 5/8 × 16 in. that sold aeronautical navigation painter and writer. His influence capitalism have reached a point of (66 × 303.8 × 40.6 cm). Collection Museum of charts with the whole world in was manifested in long incompatibility. Predatory Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of MCA quadrants. I bought the areas of conversations, books that he capitalism devours systems, Collectors Group, 1976.17. Art © Rafael Ferrer/ the globe that resonated with suggested, and anecdotes involving converting them into entertainment, Licensed by VAGA, New York. tales, history, memories that his friendship with the ample which is highly lucrative. Art faces intrigued me. Thus, Tierra del panoply of surrealist poets and this dilemma. Fuego and the South Pole started the avalanche. Like melting ice, the maps began a warming of sterile dogma, mocking critical idiocy, making art with my hands rather than from arcane philosophical tenets. My earliest motivations leading to a desire to make art came from the excitement and admiration I perceived from the works of early twentieth-century artists. The Dadaists—with their irreverence and black humor—were important, as were the developments of their influence in in the early 1950s. Assemblage and Happenings became significant, as did the works of Rauschenberg and Claes Oldenburg. As my work accumulated, paper bag faces and maps were objects which in turn led to flags, hybrid constructions made of boat parts and oars, ironing boards with metal hats, and then to the kayaks made of corrugated steel and rawhide. Rafael Ferrer, Untitled, 1974. Pastel on craft paper bag; 9-7/8 × 8 in. (25.1 × 20.3 cm) Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Earl and Betsy Millard, 1991.34. This became a museum, my Art © Rafael Ferrer/Licensed by VAGA, New York. museum or MUSEO. It was my natural history, and the MCA allowed this museum’s incarnation to occur, a most generous and welcome act by Steve Prokopoff, 30 EXHIBITIONS the then-director. MCA STORE 2 4 NEW SELECTIONS 1

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32 STORE MCACHICAGOSTORE.ORG 2015 Benefit Art Auction MARK YOUR Preview Week MCA SEEN CALENDAR October 19–23 Be the first to view the featured works of the 2015 Art Auction, which include contemporary artwork by exciting emerging artists and Check your mailbox, inbox, some of the most significant and our website often artists working today. for more information about DOUGLAS R. EWART AND CAROL ADAMS these exciting events. 2015 Benefit Art Auction October 23 DON KAUL, BARBARA BLUHM-KAUL, LILI REYNAUD-DEWAR AND MARILYN FIELDS, AND LARRY FIELDS 6–11 pm OLIVIER BABIN Get your paddles ready! The Vernissage Art Auction continues to be the September 17 MCA Prime Time museum’s most significant 5–9 pm fundraising event. The event this year culminates in a live The MCA hosts Vernissage, the auction with Oliver Barker, opening night preview of Sotheby’s Deputy Chairman. All EXPO CHICAGO, at Navy Pier. proceeds from the Benefit Art This extraordinary benefit, Auction support the museum’s organized by the MCA ambitious exhibitions and Women’s Board, is one of the public programs. city’s most highly anticipated events of the year. Proceeds support the MCA Education Pop Art Members’ Preview Department, whose programs December 18 SARA SZOLD AND KHUSHBOO RAMI offer compelling opportunities 5:30–9 pm to explore art and culture at This December, MCA Members ELLEN STONE BELIC AND PATRICIA CRUZ the MCA and beyond. can see two of the MCA’s most anticipated exhibitions of the NAOMI BECKWITH AND DENISE GARDNER season, Pop Art Design and MCA Prime Time The Street, the Store, and the October 2 Silver Screen, before they open 7–11 pm 2015 Benefit Art Auction to the public. Circle-level Taking place three times a members are invited to tour year, MCA Prime Time provides the exhibitions from 5:30–7 pm a platform for artists and and all other members key cultural organizations to may preview the galleries connect with our visitors. from 7:30–9 pm. KING HARRIS AND CARYN HARRIS For the inaugural event, on October 2 from 7–11 pm, the MCA collaborates with Land and Sea Dept.—the studio behind such famed restaurants CONNIE AND ED HORNER, DR. CAROL ADAMS AND FRIEND, as Longman & Eagle and MASÉQUA MYERS, AND PEMON RAMI Parson’s Chicken & Fish—to Musician Dan Deacon photographed orchestrate an evening of art in his studio November 17, 2014. Photo: Frank and entertainment. Future Hamilton Gedi Sibony, [Title Unknown], 2015. Aluminum partnerships and collaborations semi-trailer; 98 1/2 × 71 in. (250.19 × 180.34 include cocurated events with cm). Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali, indie music tastemakers New York. Photo: Gustavo Murillo. Pitchfork (Feb 5); Chicago’s Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans II, 1969. home of house music, Smart Screenprint on paper; Edition 17 of 250; 35 × 23 Pop Art Members’ Preview in. (88.9 × 58.4 cm). Collection Museum of Bar; and renowned music Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Beatrice Cummings Mayer, 1991.89.1. © 2014 The Andy venue The Metro (May 6). Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Michal Raz-Russo. 34 EVENTS MADELEINE GRYNSZTEJN, CAROLINA JAYARAM AND DAVID CASTILLO TOM SHAPIRO, AND ANNE KAPLAN JULIE BERNSTEIN Wed, Nov 11, 2–4 pm MCA CALENDAR MCA Studio: Gisèle Vienne, Dennis Cooper, and Puppentheater Halle MCA Talk: Carrie Brownstein Museum visitors are invited inside Comedian and Sleater-Kinney the theater to observe the artists guitar player reads from and working on the production The discusses her memoir with cultural Ventriloquists Convention. critic and Pitchfork Senior Editor Jessica Hopper. With Pitchfork. Thu–Sat, Nov 12–14, 7:30 pm MCA Stage: Gisèle Vienne, Sat, Oct 31, 7:30 pm Dennis Cooper, and MCA Talk Puppentheater Halle Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: Poetry The Ventriloquists Convention in Performance Uncanny interactions occur when Artists, musicians, historians, and a group of ventriloquists and their others join Claudia Rankine for a dummies gather at an annual performance that reflects on race convention. in America today. With the Chicago Humanities Festival, Nov 13–22 National Endowment for the Members’ Double Discount Days Humanities, the Poetry Foundation, Members save 20% at the MCA and Illinois Humanities. Store and at mcachicagostore.org. Sat, Nov 14, 11 am–3 pm NOVEMBER Family Day: Listen Experiment with sound, make some noise, and use your ears to Tue, Nov 3, 6 pm see at this Family Day, with guest MCA Live: Alexis Gideon artist Douglas R. Ewart. Free for The Crumbling families with children twelve and New York–based songwriter and under. animator Alexis Gideon performs this stop-motion animation video Sat, Nov 14, 3 pm opera. Set in a dream-like town, MCA Talk: Ania Jaworska the video tells the story of an Ania Jaworska discusses her apprentice librarian trying to save Chicago Works exhibition with her city from ruin. curator Grace Deveney. Fri–Sat, Nov 6–7, 7:30 pm; Sun, Sun, Nov 15, 3 pm Nov 8, 3 and 7:30 pm MCA Talk: Roscoe Mitchell + MCA Stage: Guillermo Calderón John Corbett Escuela (School) Musician Roscoe Mitchell discusses What conditions drive ordinary his work as a composer and citizens to take up arms? With the improviser with writer, gallerist, Chicago Humanities Festival. and record producer John Corbett. Sat, Nov 7, 2 pm Sun, Nov 15, 7 pm MCA Live MCA Dialogue: W. Kamau Bell The Bridge # 3: Hamid Drake, Sociopolitical comedian Harrison Bankhead, Benjamin W. Kamau Bell leads our seventh Duboc, Ramon Lopez annual Dialogue on museums, The Bridge brings together diversity, and inclusion with his musicians from Chicago and Paris one man show The W. Kamau who are inspired by the AACM. Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About An Hour. Tue, Nov 10, noon MCA Talk: Peter Taub Tue, Nov 17, 6 pm Director of Performance Programs MCA Talk Peter Taub on eighth blackbird. The Freedom Principle/Black Arts Movement: Rebecca Zorach, Tue, Nov 10, 6 pm Pemon Rami, Cauleen Smith MCA Studio These distinguished speakers Child of Tree discuss the history and the legacy This performative and of the AACM, AfriCOBRA, participatory program explores and the Black Arts Movement. John Cage’s Child of Tree. Sat, Nov 21, 2 pm Part of the MCA’s eighth blackbird residency. MCACHICAGO.ORG Senior Editor Jessica Hopper. With MCA CALENDAR Pitchfork. Sat, Dec 12, 11 am–3 pm MCA Talk: Kathryn Andrews Family Day: All In Kathryn Andrews discusses her Get together, collaborate, and current exhibition with curator make bold moves at this Family Julie Rodrigues Widholm. Day. Free for families with children twelve and under. Sat, Nov 21, 3 pm (start time); Sun, Nov 22, 4 pm (end time) Tue, Dec 15, 6 pm MCA Live: Pope.L, MCA Talk: School Night Cage Unrequited Formerly known as Homeroom Cage Unrequited is a twenty-five- 101, School Night is an informal hour marathon reading of lecture series in which experts John Cage’s Silence: Lectures and and enthusiasts explore culture in Writings (1961) organized by front of a drinking crowd. visual artist William Pope.L. Organized and hosted by Fred Sasaki and Seth Vanek. Tue, Nov 24, 6 pm MCA Screen: Robin Deacon Tue, Dec 15, 6–8 pm Spectacle: A Portrait of MCA Screen: Tatsu Aoki Stuart Sherman Tsukasa Taiko director Tatsu Aoki Performance artist Robin Deacon curates a selection of rare 16 mm screens a documentary about the prints from his archive and late American artist Stuart Sherman. introduces digital prints of more recent collaborations. DECEMBER Fri, Dec 18, 2–4 pm MCA Studio: Tatsu Aoki/Tsukasa Taiko Tue, Dec 1, 6 pm Museum visitors are invited inside MCA Studio: Lyra Hill the theater to observe the Moon Mood artists working on the productions Artist Lyra Hill invites visitors to of Taiko Legacy 12 and Reduction. create visuals and sounds for a meditative lunar ritual. Sat–Sun, Dec 19–20, 3 pm MCA Stage: Tatsu Aoki/Tsukasa Fri, Dec 4, 6 pm Taiko MCA Studio: eighth blackbird Taiko Legacy 12 Hand Eye This annual winter solstice concert The MCA has commissioned Hand embraces impro­visation across Eye, eighth blackbird’s time, cultures, and forms. With collaboration with the Sleeping Asian Improv aRts Midwest. Giant collective, premiering in January of 2016. The artists Sat, Dec 19, 7:30 pm discuss their process after a brief MCA Stage: Tatsu Aoki/Tsukasa work-in-progress performance. Taiko Reduction Tue, Dec 8, noon This concert features MCA Talk contemporary dance artist Ayako Exhibition curator Julie Kato alongside Nicole Mitchell on Rodrigues Widholm on Kathryn flutes; Ari Brown and Douglas R. Andrews: Run for President. Ewart on reeds; and percussive talents Eigen Aoki, Hamid Drake, Tue, Dec 8, 6 pm and Michael Zerang. With Asian MCA Studio Improv aRts Midwest. Olagon Composer and musician Dan Tue, Dec 22, 6 pm Trueman, vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird, MCA Studio: Fa la la la la and chamber ensemble eighth Tiny Cover Band performs your black bird lead a workshop around favorite songs of the season on their new work Olagon. Part tiny instruments, while Secret of the eighth blackbird residency. Sticker Club leads a sticker-making session at this special holiday- Thu, Dec 10, 6 pm themed event. MCA Talk: Neko Case Singer-songwriter Neko Case discusses her life and music with cultural critic and Pitchfork MCACHICAGO.ORG Museum of Nonprofit org. U.S. postage paid Contemporary Art Chicago, IL Chicago Permit no. 4633 220 East Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 312.280.2660 mcachicago.org

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