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At Spudnik Press in Chicago, Duncan MacKenzie, Brian Andrews and Ryan Peter Miller welcome Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey and Kristin Mariani to discuss the Poor Farm Experiment’s Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater (MIDWEST REDUX).
Developed through the U.S. Pavilion’s PORCH program at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale and presented in Chicago at the MCA’s Chicago Performs festival, the work turns a porch into a place of observation, invitation, performance and collective play.
The conversation moves through Aldo Leopold’s benches, stereoscopic photographs and binocular rivalry, Mariani’s language-bearing Text Toiles, the choreography of “queer sitting,” and the Deeply Choir’s role in animating the museum plaza.
It also opens onto the project’s wider artistic ecology: Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam’s Poor Farm in Wisconsin; Mark Jeffery and Kelly Kaczynski’s residency practice; the nido residency in Umbria; and an approach to collaboration in which living together, hosting, making and friendship become inseparable.
PERFORMANCE:
9/25/2026 – 3pm at the MCA! (Dolly Day)
Names Dropped:
Duncan MacKenzie – kurasmackenzie.com
Brian Andrews – brianandrews.org
Ryan Peter Miller – ryanpetermiller.com/about
Mark Jeffery – saic.edu/profiles/faculty/mark-jeffery
Judd Morrissey – saic.edu/profiles/faculty/judd-morrissey
Kristin Mariani – saic.edu/profiles/faculty/kristin-mariani
Kelly Kaczynski – kellyfkaczynski.com/About
Michelle Grabner – michellegrabner.com
Brad Killam – cod.edu/faculty/websites/killam.html
Cynthia Post Hunt – cynthiaposthunt.com/about
Aldo Leopold – aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold
Shannon Stratton – shannonraestratton.com/about
Kelly Lloyd – k-lloyd.com/bio-statement
Chris Wood – mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/the-poor-farm-a-poortch-theater-midwest-redux
Corey Smith – coreyds.com
VALIE EXPORT – valieexport.at
Lyubov Popova – moma.org/artists/4694-liubov-popova
Varvara Stepanova – moma.org/artists/5643-varvara-stepanova
Kay Rosen – kayrosen.com
Sol LeWitt – moma.org/artists/3528-sol-lewitt
Giotto – nga.gov/artists/1342-giotto
Caravaggio – nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio
Lisa Stone – spacesarchives.org/about-us/spaces-board/lisa-stone
Maria Gaspar – mariagaspar.com/bio
Ginger Krebs – gingerkrebs.com/home.html
Laura Paige Kyber – mcachicago.org/about/who-we-are/people/laura-kyber
Joey Orr – joeyorr.com/about
Moira Brennan – jeromefdn.org/moira-brennan
Lin Hixson – everyhousehasadoor.org
Peter Taub – pewcenterarts.org/panelist/peter-taub
Vanessa Damilola Macaulay – vanessamacaulay.com/about
Leon J. Hilton – taps.brown.edu/people/leon-hilton
Bonnie Tyler – bonnietyler.com
Mies van der Rohe – miessociety.org
Midas (Kelly Kaczynski’s dog) – kellyfkaczynski.com/About
Leopold Benches / MCA Chicago – mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/the-poor-farm-a-poortch-theater-midwest-redux
Poor Farm Experiment – poorfarmexperiment.org
Living Within the Play: nido V – poorfarmexperiment.org/?page_id=1427
Spudnik Press – spudnikpress.org
MCA Talk: Performance Art in Chicago – mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/mca-talk-performance-art-in-chicago
- Episode: 970 – A P(o)or(t)ch Theater with Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey and Kristin Mariani - September 22, 2026
- Episode 969: Abby Pucker and Chanelle Lacy… It’s Cool to Care? - September 9, 2026
- Episode 968: Abigail Winograd and Dieter Roelstraete — It’s About Time - September 5, 2026
