Sarah Pearl

It really wasn't so long ago that the word "alternative" crept into our conscience as a blanket term for god-knows-how-many social and artistic subgenres that, over time, have married with popular culture. Many of us glided quite nicely into this niche. We were content to let a category define us, because for once, it was a like a big bear hug around our interests in various marginalia. I think it can be safely said that this was before Internet and streaming satellite options consumed most of our discretionary time. So when Barbara Koenen of the Department of Cultural Affairs decided to call this Thursday night's Artist At Work Forum "Strictly Alternative," she did so with a winking nod, knowing that technology is ever-busy constructing a world full of alternatives that are now accessible to all. In a sterling example of how far we've come, Koenen cites a panel discussion held at the Cultural Center just a couple of years ago when the topic of ushering in the era of bloggers and a net-centric artistic community still seemed like new news. Forward to the current moment: blogs, podcasts, interactive websites, as well as new media forums and festivals are, in a certain sense, the only way to receive truthful, unedited information on a daily basis. The panel, held in the Cultural Center's Garland Room from 6:30pm-7:30 pm, aims at generating a conversation on the immediacy of these efforts and how they attempt to strengthen Chicago's voice in the art world. Moderator Allison Peters, Director of Exhibitions at the Hyde Park Art Center will jockey the thoughts of the deliciously lewd podcasters from Bad At Sports (Richard Holland, Duncan Mackenzie and Amanda Browder), Ed Marszewski (Lumpen, Version, Select Media Festival), as well as Wesley Kimler and David Roth from Shark Forum. The event is free. The crew from Bad at Sports have even hinted at starting a fight.

Exhibiting a similar distaste for constraints, EC Brown and Annika Seitz of the California Occidental Museum of Art--which is tops on my "best-named spaces" list--are hosting the sixth installment of their notorious art/house party at their 1626 North California location. Always an ephemeral project held for one night only and with no thematic or curatorial parameters, each event promises new and preferably unseen material by several Chicago-based art makers. Brown views the experimental apartment space as an unmitigated forum for artists who may also be showing in bona fide galleries to display their work in a decidedly indiscriminate setting. Aside from that, I don't think anyone could disagree with the double happiness of stepping into someone else's home and being surprised by what hangs on the walls. COMA#6 enlists Mike Boyd, Marc Fischer, Ben Olson, Brian Taylor, Seitz and Brown himself. A film installation by Catie Olson will be on view, as well as digital photographs by Julia Marsh "depicting [the artist] reposed as Lincoln... focusing on the attitude of the sitter in contemporary dress." And Paul Nudd will be showing a piece entitled "COMAcrust" intended as a "collage made from debased materials found onsite at COMA."

On Saturday night you'll want to make a stop at duchess where Kat Parker and Katie Rashid present their third program for the new gallery. Huong Ngo's "Savage Parallelograms" is a continuation of the artist's intense investigation of atypical connections and layers of communication. The show focuses on her interest in the history of abandoned children, particularly feral children who, as the stories go, were forced by circumstance to adopt behavior and a way of dress that made their new world more inhabitable. Always intrigued by how oral and visual stories have the ability to change in shape and scope or transition into fact or fable over time, Ngo produces a physical, interactive landscape for her audience. Her choice of materials like felt and Tyvek--that now-super-popular material that FedEx packages are made with--add, as she says, "an otherworldly, unfamiliar feel" to her garments. These costumes have various functions and will be available for the viewer to experiment with at the gallery. Included are props, backdrops and drawings based on the artist's own stories of feral twins. Huong Ngo's other project, a collaboration with George Monteleone and Alexander Stewart entitled "Training & Development for Version 05" is also currently showing at Heaven Gallery.

Michael Workman is traveling and will return next week.

"Artists At Work Forum: Strictly Alternative" takes place September 14, 6:30pm-7:30pm at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington, (312)744-6630. COMA#6 shows on Saturday, September 16, 7pm-11pm, 1626 North California #2. Huong Ngo shows at duchess, 1043 West Grand, (312)343-2982, through October 18.

(2006-09-12)

Also by Sarah Pearl

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