The 916 Fountains Foundation continues to present challenging and thought-provoking work, which is all the more interesting due to the space and logistical constraints imposed on the artists selected to exhibit there. The space, which was recently awarded a 2013 Art and Activism Microgrant, presents a number of challenges and opportunities, spurring artists to work with haiku-style spareness to present conceptual work in a compressed viewing situation.

This month’s exhibition is by thesis-year Media MFA Dennis Burke, whose work Corporeal Housing investigates the impact the human body has on housing. “While researching for my upcoming thesis project and exhibition, I read this statement by Winston Churchill: ‘We shape our buildings and then our buildings shape us,'” says Burke. “The challenge for me was to discover how to depict this relationship.” An artist who supports himself as a construction worker, Burke has long examined the relationship of between art and labor, specifically as it applies to the idea of “home.” Having constructed several homes, but never for himself, Burke has adopted the house as a metaphor within his work. To read more about the work, click here.

In close proximity to the 916 Fountains Foundation installation space, the InterArts Media kiosk is currently screening Unsuccessful Wrestling Techniques, a new piece by thesis-year Media MFA Megan Pitcher. Pitcher, founder and artistic director of MegLouise Dance, presents a silent video collage that uses metaphors of show wrestling to explore the personal topic of family dysfunctionality with humor and absurd physicality. The experimental film is now on view at Columbia College in the second floor of the 916 S Wabash Building, and is available to travel for showings at film festivals and as a gallery installation.