Ballroom Projects

Prospects: Julietta Cheung

Opening April 2, 7:00 pm

Running though April 23, 2016

In a recent conversation about the planning of the exhibition, Julietta mentioned that she became very emotional watching dancers move oddly and for long durations at a couple of performances she saw. It wasn't any romanticism that moved her to tears. She wondered why she is affected so differently by objects and images that seem to say the same things.

Julietta’s visual works comprise a text and derives its content from already existing sources and makes something altogether new. She mediates her observations of the objects and built spaces around them into syntactical arrangements of sculptures to create fiction. It isn’t a fictional narrative but in a qualitative feeling, a fictional sense translating and transcribing  possibilities that already exist in our futures.

In her recent essay, “Minoritarian Enunciation and Global Product Culture” published by Kenning Editions, Julietta writes that our completely designed everyday experience is full of  “forms and systems [that] follow rules, are conjugated, make up clichés, refer to a network of other things….” Her objects however speak more in the style of Jane Austen’s characters in one of her novels. In other words, focusing on aesthetic utility belies the coldness the actual utility her work fictionalizes. Maybe it isn’t something to cry over, but there is a subversive sweetness to it.

Announcing our 2016 Season opener with new work by Ben Gould. DON’T YOU EVER TELL ME TO GET REAL. I KNOW WHAT FUCKING REAL IS, OKAY? Opening February 13, 7:00 with live performance at 9:00 pm. Running through March 5th.

Glass House: Intimacy with Buildings is a two-day program curated by Jeff Prokash and Danny Floyd exploring the intimate experiences that occur between the built environment and its observers. Rocío Azarloza, Jeremy Pellington, Joe Bochynski, and David Badesch present works that interweave personal reactions to the mundane architectural settings that stage our lives in the shadow of iconic, historical buildings. For these artists, inhabiting their surroundings, either domestic or public, is a form of studio research rife with emotion, play, and productivity.

Ballroom Projects also welcomes Mexico City-Based artist and researcher Pablo Rasgado as the keynote Speaker for a symposium on November 8 3pm-7pm of talks by artists in the show and from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For more information and panel times click here.

Opening November 7, 7pm-10pm and running though November 28

Ballroom Projects is happy to announce the first in three programs in Partnership with the Chicago Architecture Biennial!

Join us for Fake Architects opening October 2 7:00-10:00pm and running though October 24.

In Fake Architects, artists Andrea Chiu and Nick Grasso present architectural frameworks and hypothetical structures that are recognizable in form, but reject contextual understanding.These designs and constructions employ common architectural systems while ignoring certified legitimacy. This exhibition offers an opportunity to engage with designed spaces and plans on their own terms; bridging the gap between function and nonsense.

Join us this Saturday for a program of installation and sculpture. One night only! Curated by Jeremy Pauly.

Ballroom Projects presents Orange You Glad! Featuring Dan Mrva, Claire Ashley, Matt Mancini curated by Danny Floyd

Opening June 13 7:00-10:00pm and continuing through July 4.

Humor is usually considered an art of representation. A classic, “What’s the deal with…” Seinfeld joke for instance, hopes to clearly depict a situation you know already so that you can relate to it. But this isn’t a hard and fast rule and certainly doesn’t ensure the joke is funny (sorry, Jerry). Puns, on the other hand, are works of abstraction. Their meaning lies in shifting the form of language away from it’s intended use. The artists in Orange You Glad! are also engaging in formal play, shifting between sculptural and painting forms, and like crafting comedy, they are relying on their wit and intellect to do so. While abstraction is the prominent feature of this exhibition, it is not a “show about nothing.” Rather, the work is about reveling in the joys of visual play, irreverence, and absurdity.

http://www.mattmancini.com/ http://www.claireashley.com/ http://danielmrva.com/

Join us this Thursday and Friday as we kick of Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE)! Thursday we’re hosting a reading by a number of great CAKE artists and Friday features a bunch of great touring bands in town for the festivities. 

More details on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/957780330921340/