It was forty years ago today that a scrappy new publication hit the streets of the South Loop with the moniker "the new city." If someone handed me a copy of it today, I would give its odds of survival as a few months, max. Our first issue is a very long way from where we are today. But there are shards of our future even in that issue: a commitment to coverage of the built environment, a passion for the history of the city, and a carveout of space for arts reviews and features.
We did it the hard way. Figuring out how to do it as we went, and trying to get better every single issue. Another forty years and we'll have it down pat, I am sure. I keep telling myself that it's fitting that Jan and I will celebrate the day in planes and airports—three and four respectively, before we arrive at our destination. We never did take the easy route. So if you happen to be in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport today around happy hour, look for us in the lounge, and let's hoist one together. Then we've got another plane to catch.
If you want to give us a gift (and I might suggest, a gift for you, too), you can still take advantage of our extended cutoff date for new subscribers to get the February/March Fortieth Anniversary Issue as your first. You can order a subscription here. And don't forget our audience survey here. |
Brian Hieggelke Editor & Publisher
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Pre-Order the February/March issue here. |
Her solo exhibition, “People,” opening February 7, traces milestones in her career as a visual artist—from multimedia drawings of Irma May, a semi-autobiographical character, to large-scale acrylic and oil paintings of briefly encountered strangers that explore the fragility of memory. (Paulina Marinkovic) |
Movies and the stage meet in Chicago theaters this late winter. (Todd Hieggelke) |
Plus Marcia de Moraes signs with Simões de Assis. (Brian Hieggelke) |
The Dimensions Of Diane Simpson
"After half a century, two shows bring into focus an artist we should have been watching all along," profiles Apollo magazine. Diane Simpson "is not a New York-based artist: she lives in a suburb of Chicago, where she has worked in a one-car garage for nearly fifty years. She is not a Chicago Imagist: though she studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago alongside that movement’s final wave, her concerns lie elsewhere... And she was not overlooked: By the time she finished her MFA in 1978 she was already showing at Artemisia Gallery and over the next four decades continued to exhibit steadily." Read our recent piece on Simpson here.
SAIC Makes Top Five In Nation
Academia magazine lists their ranking for "the top creative and design universities," naming School of the Art Institute of Chicago among the top five "institutions that consistently stand out for nurturing bold thinkers and future leaders of the creative economy." SAIC, they aver, "holds a distinguished place among the top creative and design universities in the United States. Known for its fine arts curriculum and interdisciplinary programs, SAIC encourages students to engage in critical thinking, conceptual development, and creative experimentation." (More.)
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Volume Gallery Triples In Size With West Hubbard Move
Volume Gallery is tripling in size with a move to West Hubbard, to "a 3,500-square-foot space designed by co-founders Claire Warner and Sam Vinz," reports ARTnews. The space's inaugural exhibition, “The Heresy of Legacy,” "explores times when 'the heretics become the standard,' as Warner put it, and includes, among others, artists (some of whom also work in mediums often classed as craft) like Selva Aparicio, Richard Artschwager, Garry Knox Bennett, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Howard Kottler, William J. O’Brien and Joyce Scott, as well as architects Stanley Tigerman and the team of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown."
Old Post Office Owner In For Another Massive Loop Edifice
"The New York developer that transformed the Old Post Office has purchased another hulking building a few blocks away, kicking off a new chapter for a massive distressed Loop building and completing one of the most staggering losses of value ever for a Chicago office property," reports Crain's. The firm also purchased nearby 525 West Van Buren in recent months.
Jeanne Gang On Architecture As Collective Choice
"From theaters to waterfronts and community centers, the projects by Studio Gang turn listening to communities into built form," profiles Domus. "A project can become a model, or it can change the way people relate to a place," Gang says. Citing "a crucial issue," she says, "without external rules, sustainability remains fragile... It is crucial to clarify objectives from the outset and to fully understand the intentions of principals. 'Sometimes it's worth taking the risk and trying to get them there... If it works, it can produce real change.'"
Strip Club: Photobooth Studio Opens Friday In Wicker Park
On Friday, couple Anthony and Andrea Vizzari will open Chicago’s first vintage photo booth studio, flashes the Sun-Times. "Eleven photo booths—six vintage-inspired digital and five vintage analog—are in the 2,000 square-foot space, the former home of Bellows Film Lab" at 1702 North Damen. The cost per turn: $7. "The couple was willing to pay more in rent for the prime real estate in Wicker Park, close to Gen Z hotspots like Baggu and Abercrombie & Fitch... 'There’s a lot of people that are not twenty-one or aren’t drinkers, or, they can’t get into the photo booth because they’re in bars, but here, everybody’s welcome,' Anthony Vizzari said." (More here.)
Two Italian Fashion Names Sign Michigan Avenue
Two Italian fashion brands, Intimissimi and Falconeri, "are moving in on the Magnificent Mile, adding to some slow-building leasing momentum on the central part of the avenue," cheers Crain's. "Lingerie retailer Intimissimi and luxury cashmere line Falconeri have leased a total of 2,967 square feet at 630 North Michigan... The brands will fill a corner that’s been vacant since luxury jeweler Cartier decamped for Oak Street in 2022."
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Warlord Co-Owners Call Actions By Partner "Reprehensible"
A statement from chefs Emily Kraszyk and John Lupton "marks the first time they’ve publicly spoken out against Trevor Fleming, who is charged with sharing an explicit image of a woman without her consent," reports Block Club. Kraszyk and Lupton said “that type of behavior and any individuals who perpetrate it have no place at Warlord.” Plans for Lords, a second restaurant in the former Feed location at 2803 West Chicago in Humboldt Park, are now unclear.
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The 400 Theater. New Again, As Moviegoing Grows
"Nearly all of Chicago’s movie theaters are on the North Side," reports the Reader, in a piece that moves on from the 400 to consider other theaters and programmers still standing, including the Music Box, Facets and the Film Center. But "when the New 400 Theaters in Rogers Park announced its closing, the far North Side lost its only cinema." New lessee Jordan Stancil, "whose family had stewarded the independent Rialto Theater in Grayling, Michigan, since 1915—had the vision and experience most aligned with what [the owner and property manager] saw as the [four-screen] theater’s needs." Several figures in local exhibition weigh in, including Facets board co-chair Rich Moskal. “Everybody’s seeing an uptick in attendance, and the way that people want to consume films is refreshed.”
Theme Parks Boss Takes Reins At Disney
Disney has "made the long-awaited announcement of its successor to CEO Bob Iger. This marks the second time Disney selected a replacement for Iger in six years," reports CNBC. "Josh D’Amaro will take over as CEO effective March 18. Iger will remain as a board member and senior advisor through the end of the year. Dana Walden will become president and chief creative officer, reporting to D’Amaro."
Christopher Nolan On Hollywood's Exodus Of Production Jobs
Since September, Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight") has been head of the 19,500-member Directors Guild of America. It's "an increasingly fraught time for Hollywood and its workers," writes the Hollywood Reporter. Says Nolan, "It seemed to me that I’d have something to bring to the table in terms of trying to help represent the members through what is a turbulent period.” Of the deal for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros., theatrical windows are "one component of the DGA’s concern—the union prefers a sixty-day theatrical window. But a larger issue is how any combined Warner Bros. entity would act as a buyer, seller and exhibitor. And a further rub, again, is jobs."
The Effort To Derail Netflix-Warner Deal From The Right
Netflix topper Ted Sarandos' testimony "in front of a pivotal Senate subcommittee could be countered with landmines from a MAGA think tank that are intended to blow up Netflix's path to buying most of Warner Bros. Discovery," reports Deadline. Distributed to the White House and others, the hyperbolically-titled report—"Fedflix: Netflix, The Federal Government, and the New Propaganda State"—which rises "from a spinoff of Project 2025 authors and Trump whisperers the Heritage Foundation, trashes the... streamer 'as holding an outsized role in socially engineering millions of Americans into a predisposition to accept preferred leftwing ideological dogma.'"
"The Magnificent Ambersons" Takes Another Hit
Orson Welles' mutilated masterpiece of the car and capitalism coming to the Midwest, "The Magnificent Ambersons," is about to be mutilated again, writes Michael Schulman in a Welles-dissing piece at the New Yorker, via an unauthorized AI deepfake. "Startup Fable Studio announced that it would recreate the missing forty-three minutes of 'Ambersons,' using artificial intelligence. The Amazon-backed generative-AI platform, Showrunner, would feed off the data from the extant version of the film to prompt entire new scenes, based on voluminous production materials that survived, including scripts, photographs and detailed notes." (More here.)
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The Newberry Awarded Four-Million-Dollar Grant For Indigenous Studies
The Newberry Library announces that it has received a $4 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand access to its Indigenous Studies collections and strengthen collaboration with tribal nations. Building on a previous Mellon-funded planning grant (2020-2023), this five-year project "will transform how Indigenous histories are preserved, accessed and represented." More here.
Chicago Poet Laureate Mayda del Valle On A Journey From The South Side
Mayda Alexandra del Valle talks about becoming Chicago’s second Poet Laureate in an extended conversation at South Side Weekly. "I think everything has its own poetics, thinking about graffiti and music and dance. I have that visual background, which was kind of unexpected, but it makes sense for me in hindsight," she says. "And then I danced in college too, and I was always a performer—that came from high school as well. So for me, they all go together. I always tell my students whenever we’re writing to, study another medium, take a couple classes, go try something in a different medium... All of these things inform your work. I can talk about the body in the way that I do. I can talk about movement in the way that I do because I’m a dancer."
Measuring The Bookstore Squeeze As Barnes & Noble Expands
"Five Barnes & Noble stores have opened in Chicago and the suburbs since 2024, with four more planned this year, including in Old Orchard, Hyde Park, Oak Park, and what will be its largest so far, on State Street in the Loop," reports Carrie Shepherd at Axios Chicago. Says Courtney Bledsoe of Hyde Park's Call & Response Books, "If local landlords realize that they can get a large corporation with deep pockets that's willing to pay more for rent, that's really going to adversely impact what that landscape looks like in ways that really become even more untenable for small businesses." Barnes & Noble's parent company, Elliott Investment Management, which holds Waterstones as well, is aiming for a public offering this year or next.
An Evening With Vijay Prashad And Bill Ayers At Pilsen Community Books
The Under the Tree Podcast will host Vijay Prashad and Bill Ayers "for a conversation about the current political moment and the state of our movements." Vijay Prashad is author of "Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World." Ayers' most recent book is "When Freedom Is the Question, Abolition Is the Answer." Sunday, February 15, 3:30pm.
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Only One In Four Chicago Indie Music Venues Is Profitable
"Sold-out shows aren’t enough. Higher costs are undercutting business everywhere, owners say, from juggernauts like Metro to neighborhood venues like the Ramova," reports WBEZ while unpacking a “The State of Live” report from the Chicago Independent Venue League. The survey "finds that nearly three out of four independent live entertainment venues in the city are... not profitable, as they reel from rising artist fees, higher taxes and soaring labor and production costs... Even as the city’s boutique venues are bringing in big crowds and top dollars, many are struggling to keep the lights on." (More here.)
DIY Legend Dr. Charles Joseph Smith Releases Album
On April 3 Sooper Records will release "Collected Works and War of the Martian Ghosts," the "definitive recorded collection of living Chicago DIY legend" Dr. Charles Joseph Smith. "Charles Joseph Smith has had a multifaceted, incredible journey that includes not just three decades of scene participation, but also a prolific catalog of over 600 original compositions and arrangements. In addition to music ranging from labyrinthine piano pieces to adventurous electronic experimentation, he has authored three books chronicling his experiences with Chicago’s music scenes as an autistic Black man growing and performing within them."
At the age of fifty-five, he has self-released over sixty projects, and most remain unheard. Last year, Sooper Records acquired sixty-four unique CD-Rs and tapes from Charles, in addition to his three self-published books and numerous volumes of prose, and set about compiling a definitive retrospective. More here.
CSO Artists Samara Joy And Yo-Yo Ma Take Grammys
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra celebrtes the wins of multiple Grammy winners, including best classical instrumental solo for Yo-Yo Ma's Shostakovich’s Cello Concertos and best jazz vocal album for Samara Joy's "Portrait."
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Teatro Vista And Steppenwolf Open Multi-Year Collaboration With "Both"
Steppenwolf and Teatro Vista Productions announce the world-premiere production of TVP artistic collective member Paloma Nozicka’s "Both" as a part of a multi-year partnership between the Chicago institutions. Directed by Georgette Verdin, "Both" will play April 11-May 10 in Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater. More here. Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 5 at noon here.
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This Year, United Will Add 20,000 More Chicago Flights
An increase in United Airlines flights in Chicago is part of their and American Airlines' "ongoing fight for market share and access at O’Hare, where the Chicago-based United has the hometown advantage and more gates," profiles Chicago magazine. While United "intends to squeeze out its rival," American Airlines "is just as determined to maintain the airport’s status as a dual hub. After all, O’Hare’s central U.S. location makes it a premier spot for domestic and international connections." Says an analyst, "It is one of the few airports in the world that genuinely is able to be home to major airline alliances." (More here.)
Miller Beach Awarded Arts Grant
The Miller Beach Arts & Creative District has received $11,642 in funding from Legacy Foundation, Lake County’s community foundation, to support arts education and the development of an arts instructional space called The Annex. "This support reflects the Foundation's commitment to strengthening our community's cultural resources," the MBACD relays.
DuSable Gets $1.9 Million In State Funding For Cultural Programming The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center "has been awarded $1.9 million in state funding," posts Decatur Radio. "Museum officials say the money will support ongoing education and cultural programming, as well as facility improvements." "You Name A Snowplow" From Twenty-Five Semi-Finalists
Voting is open to name Chicago snowplows, reports the Trib. The leader and Mayor Johnson's favorite remains "Abolish ICE." Other choices include Chance the Scraper; Daniel Brrrnham; Plow It Through the Garden; Plowasaurus Sue; Stephen Coldbert; Svencoolie; and Urbs in Hortsnow. Vote before February 14 here.
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