Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Chicagoland - Parkingland



We are really happy to be a part of a series of events coming up at Links Hall in Chicago's Wrigleyville area this March. The series, organized by artist Deke Weaver, is called Dirt: Land/Use and takes place over 3 weekends, featuring a great line-up of video, performance, dance and other aesthetically challenging art forms. For some reason, amidst all of this exciting activity, we were asked to give a tour of public parking - a subject that may induce increased heart rates, but not the kind we usually want from art.
Chicago does, at least, have some interesting parking stories. As you may expect, the business of parking in Chicago is riddled with corruption and violence, but that's not the most interesting part to us. Our walking tour will be relatively brief - just 30 minutes, but will touch on a few instances where parking has become a visible site of struggle.
We'll also be conducting a workshop on parking, creating a kind of "People's Atlas" of parking in Chicago, while looking at parking lots as a form of wealth accumulation and property conservation.
The tours are Saturday March 6 (starting at 7:30pm) and Sunday March 7 (at 7pm) and the workshop will begin at 1pm (on Saturday only). We REALLY encourage you to attend the entire 3 weekend program if you can. Check the Links Hall Website for the full schedule of events.