Chicagoist Podcast 4/13 - An Audio "Ask Chicagoist"

By Karl Klockars in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 13, 2009 9:10PM

In this week's podcast, we directly address a question that reader Matt wrote to ask us about. Since we don't have the extensive research abilities of former Chicagoista Thales on hand, nor her Ask Chicagoist series, we figured we'd take on the mantle of information dispersement, and get to the bottom of this:

Hello Chicagoist,

I figured you would be the best place to turn to for an answer. I ride the Brown Line in to work everyday and I've been curious for months now as to why this long list of names is placed on the side of this building between the Chicago and Merchandise Mart stops.

I took a picture with my phone the other day when I happened to be on the street (it's right by Hophaus on Wells) and not on the moving train. It has names such as Martin Luther King, Harold Washington, Mozart, John Lennon, Galileo, Gutenberg, Einstein and Elie Wiesel. I would venture to say it seems to be a list of visionaries, or something loosely along those lines...

I just want to know why it's there...who put it there...why is there a space missing where a name should be? Just interested to see if you, or any of the Chicagoist readers would know the answer!

Excellent question - and something we've been wondering about as well. Here's the Cliffs Notes answer: It's a piece called "Freedom Wall" by Chicago artist Adam Brooks. Would you like to know more? You're just going to have to download the podcast, aren't you? (Although for more on Adam's work, check out Industry of the Ordinary.)

Got anything else you'd like to Ask Chicagoist? Drop us an email and we'll get to sleuthin'. Other than that, don't forget to subscribe to the Podcast series on iTunes or to our RSS feed through the reader of your choice.