The Poor Farm Experiment, Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater (MIDWEST REDUX)
@ Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Opening Friday, September 25th, from 3PM - 5PM
On view through Friday, September 25th
Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater blends the retro technology of stereoscopic photography with live performance-based image-making and explores the porch as an emblem of generosity and social porousness at a moment of increasing isolation and division. Inspired by the writings of 20th-century conservationist Aldo Leopold, the work centers on a pair of benches designed to support attentive observation of the natural world. With a set of 12 original stereoscopic photographs guiding a two-hour score, the performance investigates how slight differences in perception can produce either heightened depth or clashing understandings of reality.
The Poor Farm Experiment is a resident-led artist collective and alternative exhibition space founded in 2008 by Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam in Manawa, Wisconsin. Housed in a historic 19th-century county poor farm, the project functions as a platform for year-round exhibitions and since 2019 a residency project, through invitation of Michelle and Brad titled Poor Farm Living in the Play, codirected by Kelly Kaczynski and Mark Jeffery. Since 2022, Poor Farm Experiment and Living in the Play has hosted a sister residency program titled nido in Monte Castillo Di Vibio, a 15th-century hilltop village in Umbria, Italy. Initiated by Michelle and Brad in its first year and continued with Kelly and Mark, since 2023, this August marks the 5th nido residency.
In late spring of 2025, The Poor Farm Collective was invited to develop and present a new performance and installation at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the USA Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, under the themes of hospitality and generosity. Working at the intersection of performance, sculpture, language, Wisconsin vernacular architecture, photography, costume, image making choreography, writing, and song, The Poor Farm Collective activated and embodied the built porch environment through the rural lens of being of and in situ of Manawa, Wisconsin, and Calle Giazzo, 30122 Venezia. Their collaborative work for the Biennale, Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater, interfaced directly with architectural structures fabricated by Grabner and Killam and costumes by Mariani. Through this three-day durational performance-installation, the collective investigated the porch as a site of civic generosity, community gathering, chit-chatting, and hospitality. Now, in 2026, Calle Giazzo, 30122 Venezia, is replaced for Chicago Performs at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the plaza on Mies Van Der Rohe Way.
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Tags: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater (MIDWEST REDUX), Brad Killam in Manawa, elly Kaczynski, Mark Jeffery, Michelle Grabner, The Poor Farm Experiment Leopold Benches
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