- Critical Encounters Mosaic Project Installed at 1104 S. Wabash
- Art Making and Community Panel Discussion May 2
- Exhibition Featuring Alumni Work Opens April 20
- Race, Radicals, and Revolutions… in Fashion?
- Café Society Event: February 9, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
During Spring 2012, former CE Faculty Fellows Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin (2010–2011) and Ames Hawkins (2006–2007) co-taught Art and Activism Studio Project: Critical Encounters Mosaic with Karen Ami, founder and director of the Chicago Mosaic School. Students learned about the history and traditions of mosaic art as well as the Critical Encounters foci of the past six years. Together, faculty and students explored the metaphor of mosaic as it applies to art, nature and social justice. 
While engaged in this intellectual journey, they also collaborated to create a mosaic commemorating six years of Critical Encounters foci for display on campus. The completed work was installed in the lobby of 1104 South Wabash Avenue just in time for the Critical Encounters Showcase held at the Conaway Center this past April 26.
Posted on 7.05.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
A panel discussion on Art Making + Community will be held at the Center for Book + Paper Arts on Wednesday, May 2, 7:00–8:30 p.m. A special event of the Interdisciplinary MFA Thesis Exhibition, the panel discussion has been been organized by one of the exhibiting MFAs from the Book + Paper program, Don Widmer.
The event features local community activists in dialogue on how their different projects utilize art making as a platform for community organization and activation. Participating speakers come from a wide range of art activist practices and collaborations, including Mindy Faber of Open Youth Network; Bryan Saner from Columbia College’s Interdisciplinary Arts Faculty, and former member of the Goat Island Performance Collective; and members of the groups P.E.R.R.O. (Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization) and Voice of the City.
The panel will also feature Professor Amy Mooney from Columbia College’s Department of Art + Design, who was the 2011-2012 Columbia College Critical Encounters Faculty Fellow, and one of the organizers and facilitators of this year’s city-wide Potluck: Chicago project.
Posted on 27.04.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
Are you radical? Do you play games? Do you war?
What revolution have/would you join or lead?
Can art be a medium for discussing politics, fun, social issues, and community engagement?
Alumni on 5: Alumni in the Library Exhibitions announces their spring exhibition Games, Wars, + Summits. The exhibition, which includes work by five InterArts alumni (Ali Beyer, Sandi Chaplin, Laurie LeBreton, Larry Oberc, Kevin Valenti), uses this year’s Critical Encounters focus “Rights, Radicals, + Revolution,” to explore revolutionary artistic practice, as well as the NATO summit taking place in Chicago in May 2012. The exhibition will be on view over the duration of the NATO conference and through the summer, providing an opportunity for continued exploration and discussion of artistic practice that comments on global issues. Woman Boxer #2, a work by Ali Beyer, 2008 InterArts MFA, is highlighted on the exhibition postcard.
Opening Reception: Friday April 20, 2012, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Columbia College Chicago Library
624 S. Michigan, 5th Floor
Show organized and curated by:
Jodi Adams (BA ‘08)
Stephen DeSantis (MFA ‘08)
Featured alumni artists:
Ali Beyer (MFA ’08)
Valerie Burke (BA ’76)
Larry Chait (’02)
Sandi Chaplin (MA ’98)
Laurie LeBreton (MFA ’11)
Weston Morris (’08)
Rachel Muich (BA ’07)
Larry Oberc (MA ‘96)
Carolyn Otto-Pavelkis (MFA ’01)
Kevin Valentine (MFA ’10)
Posted on 21.04.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Uncategorized 0 Comments
What Color is Nude?
The Racial Future of Fashion
Friday, February 10, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Conaway Center, 1104 South Wabash
Join us for a discussion of race, radicals, and revolutions in fashion with scholars Monica Miller, Krista Thompson, and D. Denenge Akpem.
Using the exhibition Black Gossamer as a point of departure, the panelists will share their perspectives on the ways that identity influences style and consumerism. This event is co-sponsored with African American Cultural Affairs, DEPS, and the Departments of Fashion Studies and AEMM.
Posted on 6.02.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
CAFÉ SOCIETY EVENT
Black Gossamer
Thursday, February 9, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
The Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash Ave.
Posted on 6.02.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
Conversation in the Arts: Gloria Steinem
Tuesday, February 7, 7:00 p.m.
Film Row Cinema, 8th floor of 1104 S. Wabash Ave.
Check-in begins at 6:00 p.m.
As a writer, lecturer, editor, and feminist activist, Steinem is the radical iconoclast.
From the founding of Ms. Magazine to her influential books such as Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem and Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, she has inspired a generation to believe in and fight for social equality for all. In addition to this public lecture, Steinem will meet with students to discuss her current project Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than thirty years on the road as a feminist organizer and her continuing work with the Women’s Media Center, which she co-founded in 2004.
This event is co-sponsored with BMO Harris Bank, The Office of Development, and the F-Word, a Columbia College Feminist Student Group. For more information, click here.
Posted on 6.02.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
APPLICATION DEADLINE extended to February 1, 2012, 5:00 p.m.!
Join us for Potluck: Chicago II, an intensive free workshop open to Columbia College Chicago students, staff, faculty, and community members. We will develop creative tools, explore our diverse city, share meals, and invite others to join us in a conversation about creative placemaking.
The Potluck has been initially imagined by London-based international arts company motiroti, as the 2011-2012 Critical Encounters artists in residence at Columbia College Chicago. Alongside Columbia, a range of partners have joined the project early on to contribute ideas and planning—including The Dorchester Project, the En Las Tablas Performing Arts Center, and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.
Following our fall 2011 launch, our artist/activists have:
* served soup to over 120 people
* established an on-line idea sharing community
* worked with Strategic Media Relations course to develop and hone our message and outreach
* donated 82 toys to deserving children
* created 32 sock puppets with aspiring junior playwrights who hope to use their creativity and strength make the city better
* designed an installation, video, and performance to be featured in an traveling exhibition, Feast: Radical Hospitality opening at the Smart Museum on on Feb. 15, 2012
* planned several spring interventions that will consider what actions we can take to improve our city, be our guest, be our host!
Plan to make Potluck: Chicago part of your action! For more information, and to download the application for the free spring workshop, click HERE.
Posted on 29.01.2012
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions Tags: Chicago, community, motiroti, Potluck 0 Comments
My name is Erika Davi, I am a senior at Columbia College Chicago, and I am a sports fan. The other day I was thinking about the extreme shift in social media from the day I started college as a journalism student, to today as a public relations major. When I started at Columbia, Mark Zuckerberg had just finished crushing MySpace with his Adidas flip-flops, and Twitter was waiting in the wings. Now, four years later, Facebook and Twitter have completely reshaped what we think about media and news. What does this have to do with sports? This shift has not just happened with hard news, but it has taken over our entire news stream.
The sports industry has changed the jobs of many journalists across the board. It used to be that you could read about the athlete’s thoughts in a newspaper. Then it progressed to online videos that were developed after the game to get real-time responses. Now, we can read the tweets and posts at any hour of the day. However, this progressive trend is taking away from other news sources such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine.
In 2010, Suzanne L. Cooke of the United States Sports Academy wrote, “Unfortunately, the express emergence of innovative, technological methods of communication have caused undocumented pressure to deliver a fresh, innovative story that will sell, which ultimately affects the sound principles of journalism – ethics, accuracy, and professionalism.”
Cooke also touched upon athletes being even more reluctant to talk to the press due to the accessibility of Twitter, Facebook and many of their own personal websites. There have even been instances of athletes speaking out against the press due to a disagreement with the story. While playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, Mike Richards (now on the Los Angeles Kings) tweeted, “Tim Panaccio thinks I’m moody and withdrawn with him. Maybe because he writes articles that are nowhere close to being true.”
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Social media has become such a trend in professional sports that there have had to be regulations set in place for these athletes. The National Football League instituted its policy in 2009, after many of their players were seen focusing more on Twitter and Facebook than the field. The rule states that all athletes, coaches, league officials, and some media cannot tweet or text up to 90 minutes before games and after post-game conferences. As of September of this year, the National Hockey League has been even more tight-laced. The NHL’s “blackout period” is set in place two hours before and after games for all players and coaches. All operations staff must put their accounts on hold at 11:00 a.m. on game days.
What exactly does this mean for the sports journalists in the world? What about the public relations professionals who have also had to adapt to the social media phenomenon? Like everything in life, good and bad will come of this situation. Public relations professionals, especially the ones working within professional sports teams, will be able to make their players more accessible to fans. Granted this will require constant monitoring and maybe even an extra media training step to ensure the accounts remain friendly and engaging. Fans will have the chance to possibly communicate with some of the most talented athletes in the world. However, it will be interesting to see how this will continue to change the world of journalism. If athletes, coaches and personnel continue to speak out against journalists it will hinder their relationship and may even compromise its existence.
Citations:
Cooke, Suzanne L. “Stop the Presses! | The Sport Journal.” Volume 14 | The Sport Journal. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. .
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“NHL Institues New Social Media Policy.” NHL.com. NHL News, 15 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. .
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Reisinger, Don. “NFL Bans Tweeting Before, During, after Games | Webware – CNET.” Technology News – CNET News. CNET, 1 Sept. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. .
Posted on 6.12.2011
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Uncategorized Tags: espy, sports, sports journalism, Tweet ban 0 Comments
This is my story about how the Internet, a YouTube video and a video blogger changed my life. A friend once asked me, “What is happiness to you?” It made me think about it and it took me awhile to give him an answer, but happiness to me comes in many forms. In the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. It’s okay to let yourself be happy, because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be.
Before everything changed, I was always lost and confused about what happiness was to me. Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, the idea of being gay was out of the question, and I always found myself trying to run away from the fact that I am who I am. I tried dating girls just to make my parents happy, even though I would feel miserable inside. I also endured constant nagging from relatives about the needs of a man to have a wife and kids.
All that changed when I came across a YouTube video on the Internet. It was Tyler Oakley, a well-known YouTube celebrity in the LGBTQ community, sharing about the Be the Change campaign for the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project was the first organization I had come across that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. And that really inspired me to want to be part of the change.
It became clear to me that running away from who I really am was only tearing me apart inside. And seeing how many people shared their response to the Trevor Project Campaign on Be The Change got me thinking about it all, and what happiness really means to me. That was when I decided to come out from the closet and put my fears away, and tell others that it’s okay to be yourself, it’s okay to be different. Because different is also normal, and there’s nothing abnormal about being gay. We are all the same, we are all humans and revolution to me is accepting change.
My Be The Change video went up on June 19, 2010, it now has a total of 976 views, 17 comments, and 11 likes. I had emails, comments, and was messaged on Twitter about how I’ve helped. It really says a lot about how a video from a kid in Singapore can make a difference. Even if it’s not a major difference, at least it starts somewhere. It starts with the YOU in us wanting to make a difference in society and a change for revolution.
Sidney Reuben Lim, a freshmen at Columbia College Chicago, is on the executive board as the National Liaison for PRSSA. He’s also the president of the newly found club Planeswalkers of Columbia; Social Media Manager for Muggles Association of Columbia; and was the winner of the 2010 Listerine Bloggers Challenge.
Posted on 29.11.2011
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions Tags: Be the Change, bloggers, change, Muggles Association, Planeswalkers 0 Comments
Burned out Flame
by Steve Mulcahy, Marketing Communications
We all have the capacity to be revolutionaries. Indeed, it is in our cultural DNA. America was practically founded on the principles of revolution and the ideas of radical change in the name of progress. With the natural desire to be free from tyranny and injustice, the colonials risked their lives to win independence from the British Empire. This revolutionary spirit has always been a major force in American life. From Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy, to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the American way has always been one of tireless pursuit towards the freedoms of choice, happiness, and the born rights of mankind.
And yet somewhere along the line it seems we have lost the thread. Though we are no longer an extension of the British Empire, we are still indentured to other powers: Corporate and financial institutions relentlessly tax our interests for profit, exploiting the concept of democracy for personal and financial gain. What’s more, we are free men and women in a country that allows us rights that citizens in other nations kill for, and yet we fall short in so many ways: Our economy continues to decline, our dependence on foreign oil has made us vulnerable to other countries, and our lack of political organization has led to an apathetic disregard for the very rights our ancestors fought and died for. We have the power, rights, free will, and access to information to affect a revolutionary change. We could unify and fight back—we have the democratic power to do so. So why do so many of us choose to do nothing?
I believe the root of the problem to be two fold, with both problems stemming from the current technological trend. The first of the problems can be summed up with a simple, modern phrase: technological apathy. Where once we waited we wait no longer; we receive every piece of information, video stream, song, and communication feed instantaneously. This instantaneousness has compromised a major part of our human character: patience. A huge prerequisite to any real progressive movement is patience—the ability to really hold out for the changes you desire—and patience is a trait not often exercised in modern times.
The second problem could be phrased this way: technological overload. There is simply too much information available to us. From twitter feeds, to face book postings, to you tube videos, every citizen truly has a public voice. But there is no filter for the system and, since anyone can say anything at anytime, it leads to fragmented, uninformed thinking. In short, it is simply too easy to get too much information. Many citizens simply cover their ears to the roar of it all.
This behavior leads to apathy, and apathy leads to doing nothing, and doing nothing leads to nothing changing. If we want the revolution that is required, then we need clear, informed messages; we need to take control of the media and use it to organize exactly.
When Obama took office, he made it a major point to mention that the change he promised to bring about might take more than one term to actualize. This is because he knew what type of generation he was facing. Bush drove the country into the doldrums over an eight year term, and yet we expected it to be fixed six months after Obama swore in. Surely this is due to our “right now” mindset, the fact that we not only want it now, but we expect it now, right now.
Unless we can find ways to counteract the current trend, to reverse the road down which we are heading, we will become increasingly petulant and out of touch with how to effectively use our democratic rights to change this country.
Posted on 22.11.2011
Post by Kathleen Beste
Categories: Rights, Radicals, + Revolutions 0 Comments
