Helps it to Feel,
Compels it to Make
Apr 6–May 5, 2018
Hosted for Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute
Eduardo Chaidez, Michael Donatuti, Amanda Ellison, Evan Graham, Siamack Hajimohammad, Juan Carlos Herrera, Lindsay Hutchens, Stephanie Koch, Tiara Nord, Joshi Radin, John Stevens, Zach Vanes and Celia Wickham
Weinberg/Newton Gallery and Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute co-presented Helps it to Feel, Compels it to Make. The exhibition and symposium presents works inspired by Bertolt Brecht's notion of contrast as means to celebrate and contemplate personal and collective histories, ideas and identities. The scholars and makers on view put pressure on this distinction by engaging both the dramatic and the epic to form new, critical positions that reimagine how knowledge is visualized, written and shared. Both experiences and insights are communicated; suggestions and arguments are used. There is an interest in what drives and in what motivates; events which move in a straight line and in irregular curves. Stepping across the line between what we feel and what we do, they simultaneously undertake creative investigation and propose gestures of the world as it is and the world as it is becoming.
Public Programs
Exhibition Dates
Apr 6–May 5, 2018
Opening Reception and Keynote
Apr 6, 5–9PM
The evening will begin at 5PM with a keynote lecture by Doug Ashford — visual artist, curator, member of artists’ collaborative Group Material, and Associate Professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Symposium
Apr 7, 10–5PM
Join us for a day of symposium presentations by the thirteen graduating scholars and makers from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Visual and Critical Studies Masters program. The cohort will be in conversation with one another, as well as invited guests, as they share their work in a variety of forms, including film screenings, performances, readings, lecture and dialogue. Moderators include SAIC faculty members Kristi McGuire, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Critical Studies; Mary Patten, Professor, Departments of Film, Video, New Media and Animation and Visual Critical Studies; and Joshua Rios, Lecturer, Departments of Contemporary Practices and Visual Critical Studies.
Walkthrough
May 5, 1–4PM
John Stevens will be available to discuss the work on view and will give an informal presentation on their thesis work, “The Body is Merely the Apparition of A Framework,” which explores contemporary notions of corporeal embodiment, systemic alienation, and the technical apparatus that situates postmodern identity.
Partner
The Department of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is concerned with the study of visual media across many different disciplines, as well as the development of hybrid research practices, particularly the overlap between studio and scholarly production. Its programs are part of an evolving paradigm that addresses the complexity of visual and critical practices in the 21st century.
Helps it to Feel, Compels it to Make, installation views at Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 2018
Helps it to Feel,
Compels it to Make
Apr 6–May 5, 2018
Hosted for Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute
Eduardo Chaidez, Michael Donatuti, Amanda Ellison, Evan Graham, Siamack Hajimohammad, Juan Carlos Herrera, Lindsay Hutchens, Stephanie Koch, Tiara Nord, Joshi Radin, John Stevens, Zach Vanes and Celia Wickham
Weinberg/Newton Gallery and Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute co-presented Helps it to Feel, Compels it to Make. The exhibition and symposium presents works inspired by Bertolt Brecht's notion of contrast as means to celebrate and contemplate personal and collective histories, ideas and identities. The scholars and makers on view put pressure on this distinction by engaging both the dramatic and the epic to form new, critical positions that reimagine how knowledge is visualized, written and shared. Both experiences and insights are communicated; suggestions and arguments are used. There is an interest in what drives and in what motivates; events which move in a straight line and in irregular curves. Stepping across the line between what we feel and what we do, they simultaneously undertake creative investigation and propose gestures of the world as it is and the world as it is becoming.
Public Programs
Exhibition Dates
Apr 6–May 5, 2018
Opening Reception and Keynote
Apr 6, 5–9PM
The evening will begin at 5PM with a keynote lecture by Doug Ashford — visual artist, curator, member of artists’ collaborative Group Material, and Associate Professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Symposium
Apr 7, 10–5PM
Join us for a day of symposium presentations by the thirteen graduating scholars and makers from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Visual and Critical Studies Masters program. The cohort will be in conversation with one another, as well as invited guests, as they share their work in a variety of forms, including film screenings, performances, readings, lecture and dialogue. Moderators include SAIC faculty members Kristi McGuire, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Critical Studies; Mary Patten, Professor, Departments of Film, Video, New Media and Animation and Visual Critical Studies; and Joshua Rios, Lecturer, Departments of Contemporary Practices and Visual Critical Studies.
Walkthrough
May 5, 1–4PM
John Stevens will be available to discuss the work on view and will give an informal presentation on their thesis work, “The Body is Merely the Apparition of A Framework,” which explores contemporary notions of corporeal embodiment, systemic alienation, and the technical apparatus that situates postmodern identity.
Partner
The Department of Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is concerned with the study of visual media across many different disciplines, as well as the development of hybrid research practices, particularly the overlap between studio and scholarly production. Its programs are part of an evolving paradigm that addresses the complexity of visual and critical practices in the 21st century.
Helps it to Feel, Compels it to Make, installation views at Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 2018