Related Recs

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Western Pole

Located at the intersection of Western and Cermak in Chicago, the Western Pole is a makeshift rotating exhibition space on a city-owned light pole. It’s run by the artist and curator Jesse Malmed and is one of the single most delightful things in my life. I get to walk by it on my commute to the train and see the exhibitions change at a seemingly random cadence. They’re usually poster-based in format but I’ve seen a very cool sculpture of a birdhouse affixed to the pole and sometimes the work is interactive, using phone numbers, QR codes, and even links to artist’s Venmo’s. I’m aching to know how artists are picked and what the general “infrastructure” of running the pole is. But also, I’m addicted to the mystery and in love with the reclamation of The Commons. Chicago has a gorgeous and historied community of alternative art spaces, including an ecosystem of apartment galleries and non-traditional exhibition spaces. We have Barely Fair, a miniature art fair with tiny booths. There’s a gallery run out of someone’s purse and a now-closed space that existed inside of someone’s medicine cabinet! One curator commissioned artists to make earrings and used her earlobes and neck as an exhibition space. I’m even in on it. My husband and I ran Curb Appeal Gallery out of our living room for a year and a half! I guess what I’m trying to say is, be scrappy, be nimble, and be creative. You want to do a show, build up your artist CV, get into curatorial work? Make the spaces you want to be within. They can be as simple as a city light pole.

@salad_valet

Feb 25, 2025

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Chicago art galleries

My recommendation if you’re looking to start going to openings is to sign up for gallery newsletters and plot out who has overlapping art openings (usually on first Friday’s). Organize your gallery-hopping by neighborhood! Grab a friend, plot where you’ll get snacks along the way. West Town / Noble Square: Western Exhibitions Patron Document Paris London Hong Kong Volume ENGAGE projects Rhona Hoffman Andrew Rafacz Monique Meloche Mickey West Loop / Fulton Market: Corbett v Dempsey Chicago Artists Coalition Kavi Gupta Anthony Gallery Arts of Life Gray Humboldt Park / Garfield Park: Tusk Patient Info Goldfinch Julius Caesar Pilsen / McKinley Park: Tiger Strikes Asteroid / MANA Prairie Produce Model University Galleries (go for BFA and MFA shows!): DPAM Gallery 400 Logan Center for the Arts Renaissance Society Block Museum SAIC galleries

@salad_valet

Feb 15, 2025

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Welcome to chi!

Food/Drink: -Iced ube latte + pastries at Kasama are delish. Get order pickup if you don't want to wait in line -Small Cheval for burgers Shopping: -The secondhand combo of Everything and Knee Deep Vintage (right next to each other in Pilsen) Museum: -I love the Marc Chagall America Windows at the Art Institute, they're tucked away in an alcove separate from the other galleries so it's nice to stumble upon and have mostly to yourself 🌜

@lyyn

Sep 11, 2024

Top Recs from @jrpaperstack

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horsegirl

Currently the new kids been doin it(see also Friko and Lifeguard) Shouts to Kara Jackson, Finom, Dehd, and Chief Keef tho who have been holdin it down.

@jrpaperstack

Aug 26, 2024

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Samurai champloo

Not necessarily my fave, but worth goin back to dive into.

@jrpaperstack

Jun 7, 2024

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Handbrake, Disk Utility(Mac), Exact Audio Copy, Command line checksum commands.

Lucius gave you good advice, so I'll just throw in some tools that can help you work with disks. I will echo one thing tho, you prob want the cloud in there somewhere, because if a disaster strikes your house, block, town, or you're concerned about political instability having copies of that material in a very different location is GOOD.

@jrpaperstack

Nov 13, 2024