The Joffrey Ballet’s Flawless, Revitalized Nutcracker
There is no ballet so ingrained in the public consciousness as Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Even those who profess no interest in the art form have likely seen a […]
Bianca Bova is a Chicago-based curator. She has worked with national and international contemporary arts organizations including Gunder Exhibitions, SiTE:LAB, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and EXPO Chicago.
The Last Days of the Summerdale
The Summerdale Congregational Church, one of the oldest in the Edgewater/Uptown neighborhoods, stood at the corner of Farragut Avenue and Paulina Avenue from 1893 until early 2017. In the final […]
Less Could Be More at an Otherwise Outstanding Second Edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial
The second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial opened to generally positive remarks this past September. Headquartered at the Cultural Center (78 E. Washington), the Biennial spans all four floors […]
Curation Obscures Art in the MCA’s I Am You
In honor of their 50th anniversary, alongside To the Racy Brink, the Museum of Contemporary Art is staging We Are Here, an exhibition program consisting of three semi-concurrent exhibits drawing […]
Theatre Oobleck’s Closed Casket: Baudelaire’s Final Act
It is no small undertaking to decide to adapt Charles Baudelaire’s seminal 19th century volume of poetry, Les fleurs du mal. Some may find its sheer length and poetic complexity daunting, […]
Everyone’s Picasso, Amid Confusion and Disappointment
First, it was quiet. Like a street in the early hours before a parade. A feeling of ceremony hung in the air, underscored by the seats still being set up […]
Slack Curation Belies History at the MCA’s To the Racy Brink
In 1967, a small group of curators, art historians, artists, critics, and architects set up shop in the former Playboy headquarters at 237 E. Ontario Street. They shared in a […]
Cultural Legacy in the Year of Public Art: From Picasso to Mucca Pazza
At the start of 2017, the Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events announced Chicago’s Year of Public Art (YOPA), in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the famed untitled Picasso […]
Mr. & Mrs. Wednesday Night’s Comedy of the Avant-Garde
The backroom of a dive bar is hardly where one expects to find fresh voices in contemporary performance art. Then again, The Hideout has never been just a dive bar. […]
Classicisms Offers Articulate, If Incomplete, View of Classical Influences
The University of Chicago Smart Museum of Art’s recently mounted exhibition, Classicisms, presents itself ambitiously. The accompanying text authored by co-curators Larry F. Norman and Anne Leonard states that the […]
The Rise of Integrated New Media Installations: What It Means When Public Art & Architecture Go Digital
No new building in Chicago was as highly anticipated in recent times as the engineering marvel that is 150 N. Riverside Plaza. The 54-story glass office tower–noted for its sharply […]
Institutional Response to Chicago’s Public Art Crisis Reminds Us That Citizens Must Fight for Cultural Welfare
A couple of weeks ago, I reported on Chicago’s emerging public art crisis. In that article, I cautioned against alarmism and optimism in equal measure, advice that still applies. I […]