Last Chance: Arts Roundup

By Laura M. Browning in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 26, 2010 3:40PM

We hate to admit it, but the unofficial end of summer is nearly upon us. Since this will be the last weekend before Labor Day, we wanted to give you a heads up to the many art exhibits that will be closing in the next two weeks around town. We know it's hard to think about heading indoors when the weather is this beautiful, but we think you won't want to miss some of these:

Art Institute of Chicago
Sound & Vision
The title for Sound & Vision comes from a David Bowie song, which we think is reason enough to check it out. [Ed. note: Duh!] It’s a small exhibit in the Modern Wing featuring only a dozen objects that “explore the symbiotic relationship between art and music.” Look for pieces by John Baldessari and Moyra Davey.

Sound & Vision closes Sunday, August 29, at The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Admission is $16 for Chicago residents. Admission is free on Thursdays from 5:00 - 8:30pm.

Field Museum
kip fulbeck: part-asian, 100% hapa
Artist Kip Fulbeck asked “What are you?” to people of mixed ancestry, and the resulting exhibit, a combination of photography and the subjects' written responses, forms the exhibit kip fulbeck: part-asian, 100% hapa. The exhibit celebrates the “in-between”—those of us who don’t neatly fall into a single identity (which is most of us, right?).

kip fulbeck: part-asian, 100% hapa closes Monday, September 6 at the Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive. The exhibit is included with basic admission, which is $13 for Chicago residents. $25 gets you all-access including tickets to Mammoths & Mastodons, Climate Change, RoboSUE and a 3-D movie.

Museum of Contemporary Art
Rewind: 1970s to 1990s
Retrospectives are a great opportunity to get to know an artist's work a little better. Rewind: 1970s to 1990s looks at forty years of MCA exhibits, showcasing artists who are represented extensively in their collection. It includes work by artists Richard Artschwager, Matthew Barney, and Tony Tasset (the latter is responsible for the giant eyeball across from the Harold Washington Library). It also features Chicago Mud Circle by Richard Long, on exhibit for the first time in ten years.

Rewind closes Sunday, September 5, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. Suggested general admission is $12, and the museum is free on Tuesdays.

Oriental Institute
Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in Middle East, 1919 - 20
History buffs, take note. Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East, 1919-20 traces the journey of Illinois native James Henry Breasted as he traveled through Egypt and Mesopotamia shortly after World War I. The exhibit promises never-before-seen photos and documents as well as a modern commentary that considers how archaeological work has changed in the past century. Breasted’s trip was the first Oriental Institute project, during which he collected artifacts for the Institute’s collection.

Pioneers to the Past closes Sunday, August 29, at the Oriental Institute on the University of Chicago campus, 1155 E. 58th Street. Suggested admission is $7.

Smart Museum
"People Wasn't Made to Burn": Ben Shahn and the Hickman Story
Mid-Century: "Good Design" in Europe and America, 1859 - 1950
The University of Chicago’s Smart Museum has two exhibits closing soon, and we think they’re both worth the trip to Hyde Park. “People Wasn’t Made to Burn” contains only sixteen drawings, all by American artist Ben Shahn. Shahn’s illustration record the trial of James Hickman, who shot and killed his building’s landlord after a fire in the building killed his four children. The Smart Museum calls this “a poignant record of the Hickman story and the terrible living conditions, staunch segregation, extreme poverty, and debilitating racism that routinely met blacks in Chicago and other urban centers.”

“Good Design” showcases mid-century objects, both hand-crafted and mass-produced, and includes gems like Eames chairs and a Frank Lloyd Wright dining room set. The exhibit promises a closer look at not just the objects, but the larger context of international politics and social activism.

“People Wasn’t Made to Burn” closes Sunday, August 29, and “Good Design” closes Sunday, September 5. Both exhibits are at the Smart Museum of Art on the University of Chicago campus, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave. Admission is free to all.

Swedish American Museum
17 Swedish Designers
Love IKEA? Get your Swedish design fix without going to the ‘burbs. 17 Swedish Designers features seventeen designers and artists, all female, displaying between three and ten of their pieces in the heart of Andersonville.

17 Swedish Designers closes Sunday, August 29 at the Swedish American Museum, 5211 N. Clark Street. Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for students, children, and seniors.