Join us at Arts and Public Life for the Opening Reception for the exhibition, Opening Reception: Chicago on My Mind presented by the Curatorial Collective.

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Arts and Public Life’s inaugural Resident Curatorial Collective present Chicago On My Mind, an exhibition which shares a story of many Chicagos. Expanding on the intended curatorial vision of the 1969 exhibition Harlem on My Mind presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chicago on My Mind explores cultural values driven by Chicago-based social and civic-minded collection practices.

This exhibition takes form through the collaborative spirit between Curatorial Collective residents, La Keisha Leek and Sadie Woods, and ten private collectors who are practicing artists, curators, cultural producers, educators, and founders of independently run arts organizations. Each participant, having stakes in the Chicago arts community, is treated as co-curator throughout the selection process of works featured in the exhibition. Chicago on My Mind creates a documented history and contemporary narrative that links to feminist and civil rights movements, the erasure of black masculinity through the prison industrial complex, immigrant rights, displacement, hope, and resilience.

A key focal point to the practices of Leek and Woods is to further the reach of the local. Curation, as a point of departure, inserts the artist and social understandings of the city into a larger discourse of the intersections of art and politics. Chicago on My Mind features select works from the collections of Janice Bond, Dwamina K. Drew, Lou Mallozzi, Rob McKay, Cesáreo Moreno, Sabina Ott, Edra Soto, Tricia Van Eck, Raub Welch, and Eric Williams. Amongst a group ranging from emerging to established artists featured in the exhibition are Hebru Brantley, Shani Crowe, Stephen Flemister, Lamont Hamilton, Dayo Laoye, Harold Mendez, Melissa Potter, and Kara Walker.

Presented by the University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life Initiative. Additional exhibition support is provided by the Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces (DEPS) at Columbia College Chicago.

Image: Kara Walker, Freedom A Fable, 1997. Private Collection of Sabina Ott

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RELATED PROGRAMMING

Opening Reception
Friday, January 20, 6:00–8:00pm
Arts Incubator, 301 East Garfield Boulevard

Table Talk
Thursday, February 16, 12:00–1:00pm
Currency Exchange Café, 305 East Garfield Boulevard

Collector’s Talk + Closing Reception
Friday, February 24, 6:00–8:00pm
Arts Incubator, 301 East Garfield Boulevard

Closing Night After Party
Friday, February 24, 8:00–10:00pm
BING Reading Room, 307 East Garfield Boulevard

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This exhibition is wheelchair accessible. Persons with disabilities who need an accommodation in order to participate in these events should contact Arts + Public Life for assistance at 773.702.9724 or artsandpubliclife@uchicago.edu.

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Tags: Arts and Public Life, Cesareo Moreno, Chicago, Chicago on My Mind, Dayo Laoye, Dwamina K. Drew, Edra Soto, Eric Williams, Harold Mendez, Hebru Brantley, Hyde Park, Janice Bond, Kara Walker, La Keisha Leek, Lamont Hamilton, lou mallozzi, Melissa Potter, Raub Welch, Rob McKay, Sabina Ott, Sadie Woods, Shani Crowe, stephen flemister, Tricia Van Eck