TOC Speaks with Spertus About Rumored Layoffs and New Hours

Meg Onli — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:44:35 +0000

Yesterday we all saw the gossip on Proximity‘s blog about the laying off of almost all full time employees at The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. Time Out Chicago got on the case and spoke with Spertus spokeswoman Susan Baum about the rumors.

“…When asked about staff reductions, Baum would only say, ‘There have been some changes made.”’She referred me to incoming Spertus president and CEO Hal M. Lewis, with whom I hope to speak later today.

Baum acknowledged, however, that in September, after the museum’s current exhibition ‘A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund’ closes, the Spertus will only be open ‘every other Sunday’ and during special events. The museum may also be open one night each week and by appointment only, she adds, explaining that the schedule isn’t fully set yet. (According to a statement on the Spertus’s website, the museum will be open the second Thursday evening of each month.)…”

Read the entire article here.

What We’re Doing This Weekend 4.3-4.5

laurenvallone — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:52:09 +0000

Friday

Lloyd Dobler Gallery: Case-By-Case Basis

March 6 – April 11, 2009

1545 W. Division 2nd floor

Chicago, IL 60642

Regular Hours:

Thursdays 6-9pm

Saturdays 12-5pm

The work gathered for Case-By-Case Basis will address instances where the relationship between an individual and an institution are in flux. More info over at Lloyd Dobler’s website.

Western Exhibitions: Geoffrey Todd Smith

Opening: Friday, April 3, 2009
5:00pm – 8:00pm
119 N Peoria St, #2A
Chicago, IL

“Geoffrey Todd Smith relentlessly (and patiently) seeks to discover
beauty in his abstract painting/drawing hybrids amid the ceaseless
interruptions and distractions of daily life. Using a limited
vocabulary, he delineates a seemingly impenetrable field of optical
buzz and hiss. Beginning with a grid of painted dots, he adorns his
color fields in a “horror vaccui” fizz of zigzags while directing the
viewer through densely hand-drawn patterns and painted elements that
optically mix and integrate colors. In each of Smith’s works, small
painted dots and ellipses become embedded in the structure of a grid
or interfere with it, depending on absorption or reflection of light,
while also reinforcing the rhythm and direction of the zigzags.” via Western Exhibitions

ThreeWalls: Judith Brotman: Captive Audience

April 3rd – May 8th, 2009
Opening: April 3rd, 6-9pm
119 n. Peoria #2d
Chicago, IL

“Working in industrial felt, miscellaneous hardware and materials
culled from the everyday, Judith Brotman sculpts an abstract tableaux
of traps and teasers, prosthetics and instruments. Her sculptural
installation practice combines an exercised restraint with a sense of
elegant craftsmanship in service to arrangements that both invite our
intimacy and confound our sense of modesty.” via ThreeWalls

Saturday

Recesselation: “The Foolish Toys”

Spoke: at the intersection of ideas, dialogue, and change

119 N Peoria street #3D

Chicago, IL 60607

March 29th – April 9th

“The Foolish Toys” will build a post-decadent shrine or memorial to our excessive past. Materials, objects, sounds, actions, and images, will be incorporated into one large sculptural form that evolves over time. Viewers are invited to leave a remembrance of things past: useless, excessive, non-essential items. Check out their website for more information.

The Renaissance Society: Paul Chan: “My laws are my whores”

March 01 – April 12, 2009

5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Bergman Gallery, Cobb Hall 418
Chicago, Illinois 60637

“My laws are my whores marks the premiere of a new ensemble of works by Paul Chan. Using the writer and philosopher Marquis De Sade (1740–1814) as a point of departure, Chan has created moving image works, ink and charcoal drawings, a sculpture, and a set of computer fonts that evoke what the Sadean legacy might look like today and how his obsessions with forms of sex, violence, freedom, and reason echo in the 21st century.” The fonts that Chan has created are also available for free download via the Ren’s website.

Sunday

Spertus: Black Like Us

Lecture/Multimedia Presentation
Sunday, April 5, 2009
2pm
Spertus
610 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605
$20/$15 members/$10 students

“The fates of African Americans and Jewish Americans have often been seen as entwined, as an index of the nation’s capacity to live up to its democratic ideals. With audio and visual examples, Dr. Stephen J. Whitfield lectures on stories of both minorities—separately and together—overcoming barriers and speaking out through literature and the arts.” More information at the museum website