Art
Pop into the Art Scene
SPACES hosts its annual benefit and rolls out another year of experimental programming.

Pop the cork! SPACES stages its annual celebration benefit November 5, and with the theme Pop Royalty, executive director Christopher Lynn says partygoers who arrive in costume (optional) could interpret “pop” in a number of ways. “Pop Royalty could be anything from pop culture, pop music, pop art, popcorn, Pop Tarts, bubbles popping—whatever,” says Lynn, leaving interpretation up to the imagination of guests.

VIP ticketholders ($135) get a sneak-peek of art auctions at 7 p.m. and a buy-it-now option (no waiting for last call to take home your “it” piece), and general admission ($45) begins at 8 p.m. After 10 p.m. ($10), the party kicks off with music, a cash bar and lots of art to experience.

The idea at SPACES is to really feel the art—to give people more than something to look at, but something to experience. Something different that you just can’t find anywhere else in the region—or even in Chicago. “At SPACES, we defer to the artists as much as possible—we encourage them to step out of their comfort zones, to really experiment and explore,” Lynn says.

Through artist residencies and public open forums, SPACES accomplishes its goal to expose people to artistic thinking in fresh, bold ways. For example, its Mashed Thoughtatoes Q&A draws in speakers who address disparate topics. Through lively (and sometimes random) discussion, a link between topics surfaces—even among one of SPACES’ resident artists discussing nationality, a man presenting carrot paraphernalia and a stunt man.

Meanwhile, an upcoming year of innovative programming continues the organization’s momentum as a thought-changer, daring those who participate to break out of the box.

Chang-Jin Lee’s Comfort Women
Wanted will involve billboards, kiosk
posters, prints and a multi-channel video
installation based on her experience in
Asia meeting comfort women survivors
and a former World War II Japanese
solider. Christopher Auberbach-Brown
will use SPACES’ large gallery windows
as amplifers and speakers. Ben Kinsley
will stage a project to-be-announced.
Kinsley is known for his collaboration
with Google Street Car, where he set
up fictional scenarios (a parade with
confetti, a medieval sword fight) so these
outtakes could be captured on Google
Street Car maps.