There are paintings and postcards. Books flagged for inquiry and contemporary art covering six gallery spaces and more.
Artist Run Chicago, 2.0, which has taken over the Hyde Park Art Center (HPAC), “examines the core motivations, trajectories and philosophies that have made the past decade more generative for new models of artist-run initiatives to exist throughout the city and suburbs,” according to HPAC.
This follows the original exhibition in 2009, Artist Run Chicago. In version 2.0, 50 art-spaces and organizations are exhibiting. That includes three from Oak Park and one from Austin.
The exhibit runs through Nov. 1. When approaching HPAC, the first art to come into view through the glass doors is mounted by Terrain Exhibitions. Founded by Sabina Ott of Oak Park in 2011, Terrain is known for its Biennial where art is displayed on porches, front yard and roofs throughout Oak Park, Chicago and other locales.
Monica Chadha, board member of Terrain, said they chose to exhibit in the vestibule at the entrance of HPAC because the art they exbibit often is on full display in front of buildings and “our art isn’t precious. It’s meant to be accessible.”
The Terrain work is a photo compilation of their Biennial exhibitions from 2017 and 2019 – postcards of the art created by more than 80 artists in front of homes, primarily.
The idea behind the Biennial exhibition is to get contemporary art out of institutional spaces, move it away from the view of class-specific audiences and into neighborhoods for all people to experience, and to promote dialogue in this environment.
Artist Run Chicago 2.0 takes a “diaspora of work that has been exhibited and brings it to a public audience, making it available in Hyde Park,” Chadha said. It’s all about making contemporary art accessible to people, whether in this exhibit or in Terrain’s projects, which both feature multiple artists in public spaces.
When seeing the postcards inside HPAC’s vestibule, viewers will recognize artists who have exhibited with Terrain have other work at Artist Run Chicago 2.0, such as Claire Ashley, Cathy Hsaio, Edra Soto and Alberto Aguilar.
In fact, Aguilar’s work is exhibited by another Oak Park nonprofit arts center, Compound Yellow. Practice of Oak Park is also part of Artist Run Chicago 2.0.
Chuquimarca has used their space in the exhibit to highlight books from HPAC’s D’Angelo Art Library. Publications are bookmarked that reference Native, Caribbean and Latin American art and history “as a reminder about problematic gazes and authorship.” Chuquimarca is a library project space located in Austin “focused on the Native, Mexican, Caribbean, and Central and South American contemporary art and culture discourse in Chicago,” according to their website.
Arts Run Chicago 2.0 is open Tuesdays through Fridays, by reservation and includes times for high-risk individuals. Limited walk-ins may be accommodated. Free. 5020 S. Cornell Ave., Chicago. Tickets/ more: hydeparkart.org/exhibition-archive/artists-run-chicago-2-0
