Opening Lecture & Open Call to Artists
The Fish Hotel
Chemical (Re)Actions: On Environmental Struggles in Chicago
Please join Chemical (Re)Actions on Monday April 19, 6 pm CT for the launch of the third and final platform, The Fish Hotel, and for presentations on work within the Chicago River watershed and on the work of how we understand possibilities within ecological narrative.
From the Friends of the Chicago River Annette Anderson, Volunteer and Events Coordinator and Chelsey Grassfield, Policy Specialist, will share the genesis of their organization, the legacy of Bubbly Creek as it relates to the rest of the Chicago River and the innovation of fish hotels. Space sculptor, educator, artist and writer D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem will share her ongoing work and research as it relates to ideas of creating different forms of ecological narrative and mediation.
This event will be offered with live closed captions in English.
D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem is a space sculptor whose award-winning teaching, art, and writing bridge disciplines of ritual, design, ecology, and Afrofuturity. Her fantastical interactive environments and performances interrogate, titillate, decolonize, and empower, asking: "Who controls the future?" She is Associate Professor, Adjunct, at SAIC, Associate Professor at KyCAD, and Founder of Denenge Design and In The Luscious Garden, focused on holistic and conceptual approaches to human-centered design.
Exhibitions and collections include: ICA London with Black Quantum Futurism; Arts Club of Chicago; Kunsthaus Zürich; Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin; ARTEXTE Montreal; U.S. Library of Congress (NASA/Blumberg); Red Bull Arts NY; Schomburg Center, Harlem, NY; AGO, Toronto; MCA, Chicago; NEH Fellowship; Place Lab Fellow, Rebuild Foundation with U-Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Select publications: AFRIFUTURI 02022020 and The Camo Coat Collection; essay on AFRICOBRA co-founder Jae Jarrell for Kavi Gupta Gallery, 58th Venice Biennale; upcoming Vegetal Entwinements edited by Giovanni Aloi and Michael Marder, MIT Press.
Annette Anderson is Friends of the Chicago River’s volunteer and events coordinator. As the lead staff person in volunteer management she oversees the canoe program, organizes volunteer days and recruits and manages volunteers for Friends events. Annette organizes one of Friends largest signature events, Chicago River Day, an annual event that improves river habitat by cleaning up litter, removing invasive species and planting native plants, and connecting people to their communities and the river. She works to provide equitable programming throughout the watershed, partnering with community leaders and reaching out to volunteers to address the unique needs and opportunities of each location. Now in her fourth year with Friends, Annette continues to contribute to the team by crafting compelling strategy and messaging as well as assisting with grant writing and reporting.
Chelsey Grassfield is Policy Specialist at Friends of the Chicago River and engages with elected officials at all levels of government to educate and influence policies and legislation that benefit the river. Chelsey graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a BA in Education, and her Spanish bilingual teaching credential and Masters of Arts in Education from the University of California, Davis. She taught for numerous years in Monterey, California before moving to the Midwest to study public policy at the University of Chicago. Since moving to Chicago, Chelsey has been delighted by and to be a part of the many organizations in the Midwest tackling environmental issues.
About Chemical (Re)Actions: On Environmental Struggles in Chicago
The Goethe-Institut Chicago presents a new project that enables artistic exchanges responding to critical sites of environmental and social conflict in Chicago. This platform transforms the toxic and educational tours given by local organizations into virtual content as a way to generate engagement with larger questions regarding pollution, industry, the environment, segregation and social equity.Project concept and coordination by Joshi Radin and Alberto Ortega Trejo.
Details
online
Language: English closed captions