I say “accordion,” you say what? “Polka!” “That girl in the Decemberists!” “Lederhosen!” Associations abound, but one would be hard pressed to find anyone who, upon mention of this quirky instrument, would automatically blurt out “Classical music!” Teodoro Anzellotti is aiming to change that, however, and by the look of things, he just might get his way. Read the rest of this entry »

In Frances-Marie Uitti’s hands, the cello is anything but staid. For starters, she plays with two bows. The Chicago-born, Amsterdam-residing cellist developed her radical extended technique while living in Rome in the ’70s. Frequently improvising alone, she grew obsessed with chordal playing. After experimenting unsuccessfully with a specially-commissioned curved bow that only allowed adjacent strings to be played simultaneously, she began developing her distinctive underbow-overbow technique. It’s no surprise, then, that Uitti has become known as an experimenter, as well as a masterful interpreter of 20th century art music. That combination has long been appreciated by the Univerity of Chicago-based Renaissance Society, which is now hosting her for a fourth performance, this time on November 16th in Bond Chapel in conjunction with Mexican conceptual artist Francis Alys’ exhibit “Bolero.” Read the rest of this entry »

Trendy theories and their attendant language can make academia a harsh environment for anybody, but for those who slouch intellectually, depending on the old slang can be disastrous. The insistent use of the passive voice will only take you so far, and at some point, your dullness may become apparent. On the other hand, political sociologist John C. Cross’s November 9th lecture at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago on Mexico City street vendors was an exciting window into the travails of the floundering academic. And on all the toesies of a naked foot, it allowed me to play ’90s buzzword bingo. Read the rest of this entry »

On one screen, two anonymous hands shuffle dozens of papers, each reading “REHEARSAL” or a truncation of it in handwritten bold capitals. Over and over, the hands attempt to flip the sheets in the proper order. On another screen, a striptease interrupts Harry Truman’s inaugural address extolling modernization for the developing world while an interview with a cultural critic, interviewer’s questions silenced, plays in the background. In all cases, an ultimate goal—the perfect shuffle, physical contact, social reform—remains tantalizingly elusive. These are the “Politics of Rehearsal,” one of two works by the Belgian-Mexican artist Francis Alÿs on display at the Renaissance Society. Read the rest of this entry »

The actor looked nothing like O. J. Simpson.

“Orenthal,” a production involving the Renaissance Society, the Experimental Station, and Court Theatre, had begun. The description of “Orenthal” in the email sent by the Renaissance Society was promising: it was to be a one-act portrayal of O. J. Simpson’s rise and fall, which would be contrasted with the story of Shakespeare’s Othello. I wondered what the two really had to do with each other. True, Othello and O. J. were both black, with white wives. And their names both began with O. But the story of Othello is a bit more fleshed out than that of Orenthal James Simpson—Shakespeare accounts for the reason behind Othello’s crime. The murder of Nicole Simpson, O. J.’s wife, was never resolved. What would be the base of “Orenthal,” the play? Read the rest of this entry »

Thomas Johnson sits in the gallery of the Renaissance Society in front of his work, “What a Black Man Feels Like, 2004,” reclining, yet severely attentive to the television screen playing the footage of his piece. Here, Johnson both exhibits and performs, ultimately interacting with himself and serving as an audience to his own work. In the footage onscreen, Johnson incants a monologue, explaining “What a Black Man Feels Like.” “I’m excited because he’s black. I’m so excited to break this barrier,” he says in the work. “Now I’m feeling myself so I can think better. Black men make me feel a certain way.” In the piece, Johnson rubs his hair in his face, moves in and out of the depth of the frame, and gestures and points toward a world outside the screen—a captive audience, which includes the exact person speaking in the first place: himself. Read the rest of this entry »

On entering the Renaissance Society’s fourth-floor gallery in the University of Chicago’s Cobb Hall, one could be forgiven for thinking that Trisha Donnelly’s exhibit had been packed up early and you, carelessly late, had missed it.

Unadorned white slabs stand alone in three of the room’s corners; a digital projector on an office chair casts a dizzying flicker on the fourth. An irregular piece of despair-colored Naugahyde sprawls over another office chair in the center. Closer inspection shows scattered lines of black ink. The back of each slab reveals two meticulous 8.25” x 11.5” ink and pencil works. This is LB 08 in its entirety, and Donnelly wants you to make of it what you will. Read the rest of this entry »

The drawings displayed on the walls at Kateřina Šedá’s “It Doesn’t Matter,” currently showing at the Renaissance Society, are ironically the least interesting and, arguably, least important parts of the exhibit. A Czech heir to the Conceptual tradition, Šedá pursues the aesthetic position that art’s idea should outstrip its material constitution. In other words, a work of art should be able to be executed without ever taking a physical form. Therefore, like many of Šedá’s other works, “It Doesn’t Matter” requires a back story for anyone to understand it. Read the rest of this entry »