Chicagoisms at the Art Institute

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

"Chicagoisms" is currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago (http://www.artic.edu/exhibition/chicagoisms) and I would like to invite you to a gallery talk at 6PM on April 24th together with my collaborators Jonathan Mekinda and Matt Wizinsky.

Building on the premise of the book, the exhibition revisits the characteristics, attitudes, and mentalities that made Chicago and proposes five principles of architectural action and urban engagement that we call Chicagoisms: 

Vision Shapes History, 

Optimism Trumps Planning, 

Ambition Overcomes Nature, 

Technology Makes Spectacle, 

and Crisis Provokes Innovation. 

Mined from the history of the city, the Chicagoisms are also deployed as springboards for new experiments. Nine teams of co-conspirators – Bureau Spectacular, DOGMA, MVRDV, ORG, PORT, Sam Jacob Studio, Sean Lally/Weathers, UrbanLab, and WW – have conceived visions inspired by the city that project as models from an array of historical imagery, and together these elements construct a panorama of alternative urban worlds. By exploring Chicago's constructive history and offering views of possible futures, the exhibition calls for a renewed boldness to engage the contemporary city.

If you cannot make it on the 24th, the exhibition will be open until January 4th, 2015.

It would be great to see you there,

Alexander

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Alexander Eisenschmidt (Dipl.Arch. / Ph.D.)

University of Illinois at Chicago (Assistant Prof.) 

www.AEisenschmidt.com