Sarah Kanouse writes:

"Urban, Rural, Wild" Exhibition
Chicago, September 8–October 22, 2005

Based at I space (230 W. Superior, Chicago);
Related events at other locations
http://www.walkinginplace.org/ispace

“Urban, Rural, Wild” presents new work by eight artists addressing the historical and contemporary relationships among metropolitan Chicago, rural downstate Illinois, and the places where the conceptual, associative, and physical urban-rural divide breaks down. Part exhibition and part investigative platform, “Urban, Rural, Wild” presents gallery installations, associated off-site events, a resource center, and a film series to interrogate, rethink, and re-imagine city and country in the midwest.Participating Artists: Laurie Palmer, Nance Klehm, Michael Piazza, Free Walking, Frances Whitehead, Brian Dortmund, the Stockyard Institute, Melinda Fries, and In the Weather. Film Series curated by Thomas Comerford. The bikecartinfoshop houses a resource center.

8 September (Thursday) 6 pm
Film Screening #1: Chicagoland Gridded/Revised
Gene Siskel Film Center
Co-presented by Conversations at the Edge/Department of Film, Video, New Media, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
(http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org)
These experimental and non-fiction films and videos, culled from different decades, all examine the urban landscape of Chicago, but each employs different tactics towards observing the landscape and the forces that transform it. (TRT: 70 mins; 16mm and video)

9 September (Friday) 5 pm
Exhibition Opening
I space Gallery, 230 W. Superior, Chicago

10 September (Saturday) 2 pm
Tour of Stearns Quarry with Laurie Palmer
Halsted and 29th St. in Bridgeport
Meet at I space, 230 W. Superior, at 1 pm to arrange carpooling to the site
Wear boots, jeans, and bring a hardhat or bicycle helmet.

24 September (Saturday) 3 pm
Seed Collection walk with Nance Klehm
Meet at Racine and the Kinzie tracks

29 September (Thursday) 7 pm
Film Screening #2: The Town and the City
29 September, 7 pm
I-Space, 230 West Superior, free
(http://www.ispace.uiuc.edu/)
These non-fiction and experimental videos examine how the policies and pursuits of institutions like governments and corporations shape the land, how it functions and who benefits from its value. These videos explore and question how communities in Chicago and small Midwestern towns experience and resist shifts in landscape and livelihood. (TRT: 72 min, video)

1 October (Saturday) 3 pm
I talk: a conversation with some of the artists and organizers of “Urban, Rural, Wild”
I space Gallery, 230 W. Superior

1 October (Saturday) 4:30 pm
Walking tour of the River North Industrial Corridor with Melinda Fries
Meet at I space Gallery, 230 W. Superior for a 2.5 mile walk ending at dusk

20 October (Thursday) 8 pm
Film Screening # 3: The Boulevard
Ice Factory, 526 North Ashland, $5
(http://www.fprecords.com/calendar.html)
Deborah Stratman’s The BLVD is an experimental documentary about street drag racing scene on Chicago’s near West Side. (60 min, video)

22 October (Saturday) 5 pm
Exhibition Closes

Ongoing
In The Weather, a collaboration between Bonnie Fortune and Melinda Fries, is seeking self-guided tours, walking directions, and long-distance treks for an online database, currently under development at http://www.intheweather.org. Please send written, drawn, or photographed directions to either submit@intheweather.org, or 1958 W Walnut Chicago, IL 60612