Chicago Artists Month '07

This is the second of four pieces appearing throughout October to highlight the most exciting events of Chicago Artists Month.

With Jewel making room on its shelves for organic cleansers and Home Depot rolling out environmentally friendly building supplies, it seems that everyone got the memo on going green. But plenty of folks still refuse to recycle and continue to run every little errand in a gas-guzzler. So here’s another nudge: “art 44/46,” a public art exhibition curated by artist Stuart Keeler in association with the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce. Throughout October, 13 artists will show work that addresses eco issues at various locations throughout the 44th and 46th wards.

“There’s a lot of talk about green and sustainability in Chicago, but I really don’t think that much is being done at the citizen level,” suggests Keeler, an instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “Academic centers and the City of Chicago are trying to make things happen, but there’s a huge disconnect between those efforts and daily practice.”

An artist who dares to parade her social conscience is often deemed a dilettante. But when the powers that be pooh-pooh global warming and McMansions sprout like daisies, every attempt to question where we’re headed should be welcomed. While the artists Keeler has assembled won’t play environmental engineers, their projects should expand the dialogue on both sustainability and the artist’s role as public citizen.

Keeler’s curatorial experiment includes a piece addressing rainwater, performed by David Parker in collaboration with the Center for Green Technology, and projects developed by Andy Hall and Kirsten Leenaars, artists-in-residence at the Goose Island Recycling Center. Hall’s conceptual work involves transporting household hazardous waste from Lakeview East residents to the Goose Island facility via Zipcar. Photographer Leenaars has enhanced her 150 portraits of Goose Island recyclers in the studio to portray their visions of a sustainable future; her images will appear in empty storefronts along Broadway during “art 44/46.” Other projects include Jesse Seay’s sound installation incorporating found and recycled objects; Adelheid Mers’s map of sustainable practices in Lakeview; and Mark Jefferies and Judd Morrissey’s transformation of vehicles from I-GO Car Sharing into public art.

Tiffany Holmes, the chair of the art and technology studies department at the SAIC, celebrates locomoting on two feet in LakeWalk. Holmes is no stranger to socially propelled public art. Her work is all about using art and technology to encourage positive stewardship of the environment. In last year’s “art 44/46,” she went after the fuel-consuming foolishness of downing bottled H2O in a city whose tap water is tops. This month she sets up an interactive video installation in the window of Ping Pong, the pan-Asian restaurant at 3322 North Broadway. As people pass by, their feet will be projected on a screen. Periodically, a data screen offers info on the financial and environmental costs averted by walking. As more and more people pass, an image of Lake Michigan appears and the parade of feet seem to walk on water.

“Being an environmentally literate citizen is very important to me,” Holmes says. “As a media artist, I use all kinds of gadgets that use electricity, so although I’m aware my work takes a toll on the environment, I believe the content I am trying to promote is worth it. We have a beautiful lake, we have a great water supply, so I think it’s easy to distance yourself from some of these issues. I’m trying to get my community to understand how grave some of these issues are.”

art 44/46 runs through Oct 31. For more information about where to find artists’ projects, visit lakevieweast.com.