Jason Foumberg

Last year artist Pablo Helguera stopped in Chicago as part of his international touring community center, The School of Panamerican Unrest, in order to help artists and cultural supporters reflect on and respond to the city’s contemporary artistic scene. The result was a collaborative text, an Address of the People of Chicago, that collectively listed perceived problems and freedoms of the city’s artists. The text is now on view in the exhibition "Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City" at the MCA, and I caught up with a few of the Address’ participants, to, well, address the text.

Who is the Address intended for? Who do you hope it will affect?

Pablo Helguera, artist and organizer: The project of The School of Panamerican Unrest tries, amongst other things, to become a catalyst of discussion for local art communities. Every address is directed to all art communities of the Americas, like a personal note coming from the city where it is originated. However, it clearly becomes a message of particular importance to the residents of the city where it comes from. The whole exercise of collectively writing an address is, of course, both playful and serious: by adopting the self-historicizing civic language of "We the people..." the speakers embrace the role of self-appointed representatives of a community. However, what it can do—and this is what matters most to me—is to become a proactive and yet symbolical gesture that hopefully could invite a discussion on what are the defining issues faced by the cultural community in a city. Any Chicagoan who may read it may say: "Does this statement represent me?" "Do I agree with it?" "Why or why not?" "How would I write it differently?"

Allison Peters, Director, Hyde Park Art Center: The participants of the address began by acknowledging that eight people could not define the entire Chicago art scene. It was more like an exercise in defining the creative climate of Chicago rather than presenting a thesis on the matter. This is why we collectively chose to lace the address with humor, which the audience seemed to get on the night of the performance and I still think is identifiable when reading the address in private. The address acknowledges the challenges of making, showing and writing about art in Chicago in comparison to other cities like New York, London or Paris. It is disappointing that art isn't written about in the major papers as regularly as theater or sports because art is just as vital to a well-rounded culture and defines us as individuals.

What are you doing personally or professionally to contribute to a better artistic climate in Chicago?

Allison Peters: When I can, I try to bring attention to Chicago artists' projects to curators and gallery dealers I know in other cities. In order for Chicago art to thrive, we need our artists to be able to participate in the global art community without totally leaving the community.

How would you like the Address to be received by the community?

Julie Rodrigues Wildholm, Assistant Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: I see the address as a proposal or starting point for an ongoing/public discussion about the state of the visual arts in Chicago. It isn't meant to be an authoritative document in any way or an indictment.

Is there a specific point that you personally feel is more important than the others?

Jeff Abell, artist and teacher: I think I felt strongest about the notion of Chicago artists defining success on their own terms, rather than on an artificial "standard" based on perceived notions of greatness as defined by New York or Los Angeles. "Success" is ultimately about having an impact on an audience with your work. That audience might be the people in your neighborhood (Humboldt Park, Pilsen, Rogers Park, Wrigleyville, you name it); it might be the impact you have on grade school kids in the school where you teach. It might be participating in art fairs across the country. Any artist who is actively making work, sharing that work with the world outside his or her studio, and happy to be doing what he or she is doing, is successful in my estimation.

Are you upset with a certain aspect of the Chicago art world?

Jeff Abell: I wouldn't really be a Chicago artist if I felt entirely content with the situation here. As a performance artist, I particularly deplore the lack of opportunities for performance artists to show their work in Chicago. I'm part of a group called the Chicago Performance Network trying to change that situation.

The Address is presented within the context of Contemporary art from Mexico City and the theoretical model of Joseph Beuys’ social sculpture. Do you believe that the Address is a work of art?

Pablo Helguera: The notion of social sculpture, to me, lies in using artistic infrastructures to arrive to larger, sometimes non-art subjects, instead of the other way around (like the Warhol strategy, turning everything into a marketable artistic item). Here, the artistic fiction hopefully becomes a springboard of sorts to things that go outside of the strict artistic realm (such as discussing social issues, politics, the role of the media, etc.) and I believe the addresses to be the best example of that in the context of this project.

"The Panamerican Address of the People of Chicago" is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 East Chicago, (312)280-2660, through September 2.

(2007-07-10)

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