“Every year we have the same intention. We want to widen the networks and nodes of various groups so we can grow a multiplicity of milieus in the art world,” explains Ed “Edmar” Marszewski. He’s talking about the Version Festival,…
Author Archive for Elly Fishman
Creative Ecology: Environmental artist Nancy Klehm tries to keep up with her own work
by Elly Fishman •
“My work is context specific. It’s about social context. It’s about place. Place refers to more than land; place is about land that has history. It feels more alive,” explains Nance Klehm, an artist and activist based on the South…
New Beginning from Lands’ End: What happens when you give a troubled neighborhood $100 million?
by Elly Fishman •
Twelve years ago, when the late Gary Comer visited his former elementary school, he was brought to a room where ten new computers sat unused because the school lacked the funds to power them. Today, Paul Revere Elementary is outfitted…
The Stages of Grief: Joan Didion’s somber “Year of Magical Thinking” plays at Court Theatre
by Elly Fishman •
“Can’t you just let things go?” the character Joan Didion exclaims in “The Year of Magical Thinking” at Court Theatre. Didion, played by Mary Beth Fisher, recalls the countless times her husband, John Gregory Dunne, said just that to her…
When Opportunity Knocks: A vacant Hyde Park storefront hosts an art marketplace
by Elly Fishman •
Just a few months ago, the large, vacant 55th Street storefront that formerly housed MAC Property offices seemed to repel passersby. Shoulders would hunch, eyes would roll, and with a quickened pace, students and community members would move along without…
Hip-Hopera: Adrian Dunn’s genre-bending new work premieres at the DuSable Museum this Friday
by Elly Fishman •
“This is real life! You must embody this story. Embody hip-hop. Right now, you must be the hip-hop aesthetic.” This mantra bounces off the canary yellow and baby blue walls in the small rehearsal space in Bethel AME Church in…
Archive Jive: Artists and aficionados bring jazz back to Hyde Park
by Elly Fishman •
While delving into the University of Chicago Special Collections, where innumerable stacks of dilapidated sheet music lines the shelves and jazz records whose jackets have faded with time remain nearly untouched, Theaster Gates and Dara Epison came across a 1920s…
Five Faces of Nikola Tesla: A University Theater production explores creation and identity
by Elly Fishman •
“This is a play about production,” explains Phoebe Holtzman, her face lit by a loose lightbulb that hangs from a string above her head. “Production has been considered in every element of the show.” Bare, hanging bulbs are just one…
