Sixty Inches From Center brings you the second Chicago Archives + Artists Festival: Art Design Chicago Edition, a two-day gathering at Read/Write Library Chicago in Humboldt Park that focuses on legacy preservation and archive nurturing for Chicago’s artists, curators, and cultural producers working in art and design.

We’re inviting all Chicago artists and non-artists to start a file of their work or for artists who should be included in Chicago’s art historical record for the Chicago Artists Files at Harold Washington Library. This is also a chance for artists to understand how to connect with archives that preserve and care for the legacies, stories, and histories of artists, particularly those who are of color, women, LGBTQ+, working with disabilities, and the long list of voices that are shaping our city’s culture but are often neglected in mainstream and historically-rooted conversations around art.

The festival features workshops, performances, film screenings, one-on-one DIY archiving guidance, and opportunities for artists to be introduced to archives and special collections from across the city.

For the Art Design Chicago iteration of the festival, three Chicago artists have been nominated to create original artworks in response to archival collections that have strong ties to Chicago’s artistic and design legacies. They will each be revealed on July 13th, the opening night of the festival.

>>FESTIVAL FEATURES<>Sky Cubacub (Rebirth Garments) + the Costume and Textiles Collection at Chicago History Museum
http://rebirthgarments.com

>>Marc Fischer (Public Collectors) + Chicago Artist Files at the Harold Washington Library
http://www.publiccollectors.org

>>Darryl DeAngelo Terrell + Read/Write Library Chicago
http://darryldterrell.com

Sounds + Performances by:
>>AJ McClenon / http://www.ajmcclenon.com
>>Sasha NoDisco / http://soundcloud.com/sashanodisco
>>Jared Brown / http://www.doyouknowjaredbrown.com

Film Screening by:
>> South Side Home Movie Project

Free Ephemera Scanning + Consultations with:
>>LATITUDE

Workshops, Discussions + Roundatbles with:
>> speakers from Lucy Parsons Labs, ZINEmercado, Art+Feminism, the Illinois Deaths in Custody Project and Lulu en El Jardín, Project Backup Foundation, The Obsidian Collection Archives, Archives and Futures Podcast, and the Say It with Pictures project, along with a list of artists, archivists, and curators.

With Additional Support from:
>> Middle Brow Beer Co.
>> Spiteful Brewing

**Full schedule of discussions and list partners coming soon.**

__
Learn what we mean when we say #GetArchived: http://bit.ly/2oBdfZx

Volunteer for the festival + get some archiving skills: https://bit.ly/2JyNAuH

**Free and open to all publics. Read/Write Library is an accessible space that is welcoming and will accommodate all needs.
_
Image shows Sky Cubacub with their back facing the camera, leaning over a drawer full of neatly-stored accessories from the Chicago History Museum collection. Near Sky, you can see Collections Manager Jessica Pushor with a gloved hand reaching into the drawer to pull something out. Photo by Ryan Edmund: http://ryanedmundphoto.com

This iteration of the Chicago Archives + Artists Festival is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy, with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Sixty Inches From Center is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Learn more at artdesignchicago.org.

Official Website

More events on this date

Tags: AJ McClenon, Archives and Futures Podcast, Art Design Chicago, Art+Feminism, Chicago, Chicago Archives + Artists Festival: Art Design Chicago Edition, Darryl DeAngelo Terrell, Humboldt Park, Jared Brown, Lucy Parsons Labs, Lulu en El Jardín, Marc Fischer, Project Backup Foundation, Sasha NoDisco, Say It with Pictures project, Sixty Inches From Center, Sky Cubacub, South Side Home Movie Project, the Illinois Deaths in Custody Project, The Obsidian Collection Archives, ZINEmercado