Tag Archive
What’s the Matter with Pilsen?: The Chicago Arts District falls on hard times as artists head south to Bridgeport
Bursting with art studios and galleries a few years ago, Pilsen’s stretch of South Halsted Street now features flyers advertising the potential of empty storefronts. Crowds continue to pack the street on the district’s monthly Second Friday event, but they find fewer open galleries and openings than in past months. A good portion of... »
The Art Community of the Future: Lumpen’s annual Select Media Festival returns for year eight
Independent arts collective Lumpen’s eighth annual Select Media Festival promises to offer four nights of video programming, group exhibitions, performance art, and live music that will shock, blast, and perhaps even use hypnosis to instill art appreciation back into anyone who’s been jaded by too many wine and cheese gallery openings. »
Chinese 101: Han 202 offers an introduction to fine dining in five courses
Let’s be clear: Bridgeport’s new Asian-fusion restaurant Han 202 is not for seasoned foodies or anyone serious about their Chinese food. For gourmands, its half-hearted nods towards French techniques and cross-cuisine flavor pairings can’t help but disappoint. For lovers of Asia’s ethnic food, the kitchen’s weak spices and Americanized menu will leave them longing... »
Night and Day: 24-hour dining on the South Side
This time last year, the Weekly came out with its first guide to 24-hour restaurants on the South Side. In that issue, we covered classics like Izola’s, Depot, and the original Maxwell Street Polish stands. We’re back this year with a few more selections from the South Side nightscape. From the welcoming diners of... »
Pranking the Powerful: Culture jammers the Yes Men appear at the Co-Prosperity Sphere
June 19, 2007. The scene is a large, fluorescently-lit conference room, walls draped in threatening black curtains, the air chiming with the scattered tinkling of metal, glass, and thick, cream-colored hotel-grade dinnerware. Slight murmurs drift upwards from a series of round tables filled with the occupants’ self-satisfied smiles. If it weren’t for the overabundance... »
Morning Glory: Bridgeport’s cheerful organic breakfast joint brightens up the neighborhood
It’s hard to believe the light-filled, airy room that currently houses Nana was once a dingy neighborhood bar. If you squint, you could maybe see it, but only if you ignore the recycled-wood tables, the clean white chairs (bought en masse at a thrift store), the brass light fixtures, the French doors thrown open... »
Best of the South Side 2009: Bridgeport
Originally called Hardscrabble, Bridgeport began as a community of Irish-American canal workers paid for their labor with land deeds. While its segregation from the South Side’s black neighborhoods made it a hotbed of torrid racial relations up through the ’90s, today it is considered one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods and is... »
Green, Godly, and Grunting: “Salad, Church, and Exercise” at the Co-Prosperity Sphere
Curating a show isn’t something new for Chicago artist Bert Stabler. His show “$(heart),” which was featured in the NFO/XPO at Lumpen’s Version Festival 2009 this past spring, dealt with our psychological relationship to currency. A year previous, “Vulva O’Keefe Versus Angry Goldsworthy” prompted artists to “interact” with his premised division of the sexes:... »
