Michael Workman

After reading a profile about the resurgence of collaborative groups in The New York Times prominently featuring the Chicago-based group Temporary Services, Rogers Park property owner Alan Goldberg had a thought.

Something of "a hippie, now a hip, entrepreneurial type," he owns a row of storefronts near the Morse red line stop. Of these buildings, he had already set aside one for use as a community arts space. At the time, a cooperative gallery operated out of the storefront, run by artists living on the second floor. Unhappy with the level of commitment to the space--they never really brought in people from outside the neighborhood--Goldberg decided the current situation wasn't working. So he got in touch with Temporary Services member Marc Fischer to discuss other potential uses for the space. For the next few months, Goldberg, Fischer and other Temporary Services members, initially skeptical of Goldberg's intentions, spent some time getting to know each other.

"Temporary Services decided they were too busy [to go it alone] and thought that, if they were going to utilize the space, a core group of organizers would have to be included from the beginning," explains local artist Dan Wang, who Fischer invited to participate. "And so they the made contact with the rest of us, and invited us out to a meeting at the space." Each of those contacted also have connections to Chicago-based artist and community activist Dan Peterman's multi-use 6100 South Blackstone building, which was destroyed in the now-infamous April 25, 2001 three-alarm fire that also ravaged Blackstone Bicycle Works, a youth-education program and the offices of The Baffler magazine.

Besides Wang, those who have since signed on to help include Ava Bromberg, Sam Gould, Jane Palmer and Marianne Fairbanks. Describing the space as "a non-commercial initiative," after much pondering, the group opted for the name Mess Hall. "We wanted a name that suggested multiple use--that took it away from the idea of a formalized art space--that didn't go with prevailing alternative strategies." Such as borrowing from popular bureaucratic language, using words like "laboratory" or "center." Instead, Wang says, they wanted something that characterized the disorganized way they were coming at the space. Their programming calendar also reflects that haphazard approach, which Wang describes as organized so that "it will stay a jumble, so that no single thing will stand out." For the collaborators, the name also suggests a dining hall that doubles as a place used for assembly, particularly for residents of the Rogers Park area.

"None of us have lived in Rogers Park and we're definitely still in the period of seeing how we can provide services to the neighborhood--things that maybe some of the businesses on the block aren't doing or aren't doing very well." says Wang. Goldberg clearly approves of that approach. The landlord offered them a lease for one dollar per month on the condition that they participate in the annual Glenwood Avenue Street Fair and reserve a 7-9pm Monday night slot for him to teach classes on the Qabala. Since signing on, members have been working to further theorize their use of the space while rehabilitating the storefront for use. Now finished, but "on the empty side," Friday night's open house is also an implied invitation to directly participate in the use of the space, an opportunity for visitors to "see it and imagine how they might want to use it." For the moment, future uses include "a printed-matter resource center, exhibitions, workshops, lectures, public projects, actions, events and meals."

Among the permanent resources Mess Hall will make available is a project by Peterman called "Vertical Storage." A collection of storage bins that have been previously displayed but never put into permanent use as it will be at Mess Hall, the bins contain publications and literature from YNKB, Red76, the Autonomous Cultural Center, N55, and others. Samples of poster art made by various individuals and groups will also be on display. The inaugural work on exhibition will be a piece by Nance Klehm called "Field Trip," a shopping cart "planted with pre-Depression-era corn" currently traveling from 25th and Kedzie to the Mess Hall storefront. Emblematic of the collaborative process that Mess Hallers seek to demonstrate, completing the work relies on the participation of several carriers. That is, the route that the cart will take in reaching the space--not to mention the health of its cargo--will be determined by the location and attentiveness of volunteers who offer to move the cart from one point to another until delivering the cart to its final destination. Along the way, each volunteer is responsible for "watering, weeding and care of the corn... and distribution of seeds and booklets to those interested." To facilitate proper care of the corn, Klehm has equipped the cart with a thermos, a raincoat and a boombox.

Mess Hall is at 6932 North Glenwood Avenue, (773)465-4033 or visit http://my.calendars.net/messhall . Open nouse, August 8, 7-11pm.

(2003-08-05)

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