“Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.” – NOAA

Sthesia is excited to announce our upcoming exhibition “Estuaries,” a group show featuring local Chicagoland artists. Curated in dialogue with the artists, the multimedia show spotlights emerging to mid-career artists, their practices and aesthetics varied to build a tapestry of influence. Hidden Ideas, a staple in the queer underground DIY electronic music scene, will serve as host, a meeting place where conceptual practice is realized. The venue is transformed over the course of the show into cultural stomping grounds for underserved communities to spark interdisciplinary and cross experiential dialogue. Providing a jumping point for communal praxis, Sthesia invites painters working in a revolutionary renaissance of the medium, performance artists whose ephemera recalls new relationalities of the body in motion, video artists experimenting with the affective nature of documentary, and magazine collectives uplifting the next generation of critical inquiry.

With a foundation in grassroots movements, this inaugural exhibition builds meaning through an assemblage of charged objects. These artists build worlds through their practice while paying special attention to societal and personal memory as a unique motivator that propels the self in alignment or opposition to hegemonic currents. “Estuaries” is interested in creating a rich internal space that does not function as a bubble, but rather an implosion to ricochet back out to the street.

These artists, graduates of Chicago art schools including School of the Art Institute, University of Illinois Chicago, and University of Chicago, offer a small taste of the city that motivates their practice. Currently breaking out across their disciplines, their work has been featured at Expo Chicago, Comfort Station, The Smart Museum of Art, The Logan Center, as well as Bachelors and Masters Thesis Exhibitions. Artists include, TAITAI x Tina Wang, Ethan Shay-Cowell, Henry Tegethoff, Sloan Klusendorf, Mauricio López F., and The Common Almanac.

Curated by Teddy Sandler, the show runs July 27th – August 1st, 2025 with an opening party on Sunday, July 27th featuring local DJs, food courtesy of Techno Milpa, and magazine tabling by indie publications including GRDN Magazine, Write That Down!, and The Common Almanac.

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Tags: Ariel Zetina, Dj.Mc, estuaries, ETHAN SHAY-COWELL, Henry Tegethoff, hidden ideas + sthesia, Mauricio López F., Pilsen, Rozlynd, SLOAN KLUSENDORF, TAITAI x Tina Wang, Tdy (1), Teddy Sandler, The Common Almanac, uRaNg3L, Vales Madre