While we didn't sustain any permanent injuries Friday night or Saturday morning, we too were participants in Looptopia. When we first heard about it lo so many months ago, we thought it was finally a way for Chicago step onto the world stage, regardless of the Olympic nod. After all, if Paris, Rome, Montréal and São Paulo can do it, why not us? ... Well, we found that out the hard way.
Since you presumably already know about the fallout either firsthand or from reading Chicagoist's first post, we'd like to focus on some of the sights and sounds of the all-night festival instead. Yes, sounds! We've provided sound links (if applicable) to go with our pics for an audio/visual feast.
The scenes that took the cake for us were the various Redmoon installations throughout the Loop. We say "throughout," but they were really clustered together quite closely in the Madison/State region. They had definite color themes going, but other themes were less clear. A blue one involved an Abe Lincoln look-a-like playing an autoharp while a girl in modest 1800s farmgirl clothing (replete with bonnet) tried to pierce potatoes with her withering gaze. Another, this one green, had a man playing a digeridoo against the backdrop of a schoolteacher very adamant on the education of apples, which she communicated in song. We couldn't possibly make this shit up. As quizzical as the Redmoon stuff left us, it still made for good street spectacle with plenty of onlookers.
To satisfy our inner bootyshaker, we resolved long ago to check out any dance parties involved in Looptopia, no matter what. This resolution prompted us to make some regrettable choices. We checked out the MF Chicago event at the Sullivan Dock (a.k.a. Carson's old loading area) and instantly felt five years older. Club kids danced and cheered everywhere with boundless energy and flashing novelty items, reveling in the flimsy excuse for rave-like conditions. Our favorite exchange came as we snapped a pic of one of the few paintings in the area: A guy came up to us and asked if we "got the proof." After we professed ignorance, he said, "You know, the proof? It's in the pudding." Yup. The old "smile and nod" adage never felt truer.
Since the overcrowded Sullivan Dock was a bust (from our wizened perspective), we also scoped out Macy's party at 7 on State. This required us to suck it up and actually step foot in Macy's, but we survived. Shoppers were everywhere, and it was no more evident than at the party itself. It looked as if the store itself had dumped all manner of shoppers onto the 7th floor for food, drink and ... a surprising lack of dancing. There was one mosh-pit-like entity and that was it. It felt more like a hob-knobby club than a dance party. Expecting too much from Macy's? Ah, that's where we tripped up.
We got a bigger kick out of other people dancing at the Dance COLEctive in the Cultural Center. We didn't realize it was something of a to-do; we just ended up in the Civil War hall because it was the only place we could sit. But we should have known it'd be a draw when our companion said people kept coming up to him and asking, "Do you know vere is ze Dance COLEctive?" We weren't aware there were many German dance-lovers at Looptopia, but who knows. Dubbed "Spaces In Between," many female dancers displayed stop-start movement to a driving techno rhythm, easily the best music we'd up to that point — that is, if you don't count Abe Lincoln.
Our most personal experience was at I Am Robot and Proud, or rather DJ Emulsion, since the Robot as advertised was stuck in Canada. Don't ask, we don't know either. Left to our own devices as our companion took part in the chess tournament outside, we were free to enjoy the minimal, mostly cheerful blips and bloops that issued forth from Emulsion's laptops, set to a visual panoply of random, disjointed images. Initially we thought it'd be a dance set like MF Chicago, but the exhibit exemplified low-key with just two tables and the projected visuals. As a result, people got bored and there was a high turnover. We didn't care. These were the people who wanted to see the show for novelty. We figure their line of thinking was, "Robots?! Cool! I'm in!" without knowing it'd be electronic music. While we would have rather had a dance floor going, we were grateful for the experience. It was also the only time we spent any money in the Loop. We certainly can't say that very often.
All photos by the author. We encourage you to share your own Looptopia photos in our Contribute section.
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i don't know about all the bitching, but we had a great time. we danced until we couldn't dance any more at the MF Chicago party at Sullivan's Dock (not everything that has projections and dj has to be classified as a rave or nightclub for crap sake). It was a dance party, and we danced, and danced and danced - then we drank, ate and crashed. i know everything is from the eyes of the beholder and in our experience - we had a blast. It's good to feel five years younger, it keeps you from getting pissy.
Sullivan dock was a blast. Some of the DJ's could have been better. But with enough alcohol everything is great. Crowd surfers were a bit much but still cool. I was surprised it wasn't busted for the obvious underage drinking. I agree with funboy, "not everything that has projections and dj has to be classified as a rave or nightclub"
it was a dance party and I D.A.N.C.E.D!
I felt as though every nerd I ever went to school with was allowed out on this night. A safe, boring night of getting "crazy" and as a result - the crowd killed the atmosphere.
Although it could be said that the lame events and poor planning of venues and lack of communication with the police also had a hand in killing it.
But I'm mainly going to stick with the "Geeks and nerds killed the vibe" as the biggest reason it was a total bore.
I never want to agree with anyone named "funboy" or "D.A.N.C.E.R."
And Mike, you've been pissing and moaning about how "boring" and how "over" everything you are. Just fucking move to LA, Vegas, or Miami and get it over with, cunt.
OK, That was harsh, but still...
I felt like the event was attended mostly by loud, obnoxious theater kids of all ages, being loud and obnoxious and wishing they were part of the weird outsider art, living sculptures, Franco-Russian ballet troops and adult-themed puppet shows.
Okay, so City Chicago is still working out the kinks. It was a radical idea that wasn't thought all the way through. But can't we give the City credit for sticking its neck out there and trying something fun? For caring, at all?? It is a neat idea that I hope they do again next year, lessons learned in hand (the CTA is an excellent example of a great idea to adopt!) Maybe they can try it later in the summer - no doubt the Cultural Center got too crowded because it was too damn cold outside for all the great outdoor activities that were planned. But really, I feel like if the city doesn't get some support for trying, we're one step closer to becoming L.A. or Detroit with their downtown ghost towns.
misty: This event was not organized by the city, but by a group of private businesses; see chicagoloopalliance.com
I do think it's a good idea. Why don't they do it on or around the Summer Solstice? You're pretty much guaranteed a warmer night and the MCA used to do something similar. I guess summer solstice runs the risk of attracting even more whack-jobs
Sure, a business alliance put it together. But my point stands. The city had to back it, agree to staff it and be behind it. So it wasn't their original idea, they still got on board. Kudos to them for being open to something like this, and I hope you work it out and bring it back next year! Summer solstice could be a great choice, Mike...
@Mike:
Art IS defined by whackjobs. Sorry they don't fall into any neat little category for you, but people like Vincent Van Gogh, Martha Graham, and Bertolt Brecht were nerds and psychos, for all intents and purposes.
And that's what upset me so much about Looptopia, it was supposed to be a night for the drama club kids, the artists, the experimental musicians and such toiling away in relative obscurity in this city to get a chance to shine and show everyone what they could do. And instead, they get derided from people like you saying they're a bunch of "nerds" and how happy everyone was that they stayed in their respective clubs drinking.
And screw the summer solctice, let's go with sometime in January, really scare off the weak of will who are just interested in turning it into another "Girls Gone Wild" feature and make it a winter arts fest like St. Petersberg has.
@misty:
Jason is right, the city had nothing to do with it and this is probably why it failed so much towards the end.
And while Detroit's downtown is dead (from what I know), LA's downtown is now kind of a happening place to be lately, and the rents are semi-affordable. And provided you're not in the entertainment industry, you could actually get around LA ok without a car if you did live there.
TCFB: trying to scare off the weak is fine and all, but us purveyors of art still enjoy the warmth, too.. plus the cold weather would just be another excuse to bring a flask of glögg or irish hot chocolate. you can't win against the drunken hordes. therein lies the conundrum of true art on a massive scale: it's bound to be misunderstood by the very masses to which it tries to cater.
misty wrote "The city had to back it, agree to staff it and be behind it. So it wasn't their original idea, they still got on board."
The Loop Alliance may have had to get a permit of some sort from the City, but otherwise I don't know the extent of the City's involvement, other than allowing the Cultural Center to bear the burden (and cost?) of much of the overnight events.
This was billed as an "all-night event", yet when you look at this schedule most of the events & activities were over before midnight:
www.chicagoloopalliance.com/looptopia/JM_EventSchematic.htm
So those who expected to have things going on all over the Loop all night long were suddenly faced with almost everything shut down. (You can't expect people to have seen the schedule and to have planned out their itinerary in detail -- if you bill it as an "all-night Loop festival", people will expect to be able to come and go from place to place in a spontaneous fashion.) Just poor planning. They should have shifted a couple of the overnight music & film events to eariler in the evening, and had a much less problematic 7-hour event, from 5pm to 12mid.
Can't Chicago find other ways to make itself feel better than by taking potshots at Detroit? I mean, really.
@geekgrrl:
But cold means it might scare off a few more drunks... I guess.
@Josh:
I got nothing against Detroit, except from what I hear from other Detroiters. Or whatever they're called.
The problem with Looptopia was the name. It was TOO catchy... to big for its britches. If they called it The Loop Alliance Performance Art Festival or how about LAPAF.... I bet 20% of the people would've shown up.
The problem with Looptopia was the name. It was TOO catchy... to big for its britches. If they called it The Loop Alliance Performance Art Festival or how about LAPAF.... I bet 20% of the people would've shown up.
I enjoyed the festival, but most of it was overbilled. (For example, the "collaborative mural" was dinky.) We couldn't get into the 7th floor of Macy's (we weren't interested in waiting in a line that long), by the time we got over to the overhyped "garden of eat'n" there was nothing there but a lame fruit display even though we got there three hours before it was to end, the Cultural Center was overcrowded and they were letting people in only as others went out-- but there were empty seats inside. We couldn't figure out where "Sullivan's Dock" was supposed to be from the printed out schedule, and the various schedules didn't agree and many of the things we went to were not on time.
But it had potential, and I hope they do it again.
All I know is that I had a chance to see my two favorite acts under one bill ... JaGoFF and Paul Johnson. Funk me up. Enough said.