ARTS & CULTURE

Work curated by LVL3 as part of “Artists Run Chicago 2.0” COURTESY OF TRAN TRAN years. “There are notes from artists, instructions, fragments of things left behind but they have a distinct memory tied to them to help us recognize the work we’ve put into LVL3 with so many di erent people involved,” Uribe says.

When I did a walk-through of the show with Allison Peters Quinn, the director of exhibitions at HPAC, she mentioned how different this opening will look compared to the 2009 exhibition. Artist-run gallery openings are known for their after-parties and the in-person connections made from artist to artist and gallery to gallery. She says that excitement will definitely be missed here as folks will have to view the show with limited capacity.

While the opening may look different, it’s still a way to engage with new galleries and project spaces. I was drawn to the library project space, Chuquimarca, and its display of a selection of Native, Caribbean, and Latinx art and history books that take a closer look at HPAC’s archive and library. Above the installation are the words “Decolonize Zhigaagoong, Defund CPD, and Defend DACA,” which, as John H. Guevara explains, acknowledges “Chicago’s Indigenous legacy and racist colonial systems. The assemblage of the statement and library installation hopes to encourage Chicago’s art communities to evaluate their principles and operations with social and political issues and laws.”

Guevara says while Chicago’s independent art spaces and projects are important, “initiatives that slow down, problematize, and workshop art-making, and are vocally working to be anti-racist and anti-colonial are more imperative.” So while folks may miss gallery openings, the connections made, and professional networking, it’s all trivial in the grand scheme of reality. Folks like Guevara are utilizing this exhibition to provide education and he explains that to make art for the “visibility sake becomes secondary,” and community and healing come first. “We aren’t able to speak on other cities, but that may be the juice of Chicago’s artist-run spaces and projects.”

The public can attend the Art Center’s opening of the exhibition on September 1 which takes place in Gallery’s 1, 2, 5, the Cleve Carney Gallery, the Kanter McCormick Gallery, and the Jackman Goldwasser Catwalk Gallery.

@snicolelane