RELEASE PARTY FOR BRIDGE V22N1 OCTOBER 18!!

GUILD ROW SOCIAL CLUB
Tue, October 18, 2022
4:00 PM CDT Early Admission
5:00 PM – 8:00 PM General Admission

SAVE THE DATE! and PLEASE RSVP TO join us at the release of the Bridge Journal's new Volume 22, Number 1 on Tuesday, October 18 from 4-7pm at Guild Row Social Club, 3130 N. Rockwell. Copies of the Bridge Journal V22N1 will be available for purchase and for subscription at the event. A cash bar will be available for attendees.

Cover Image: Animation Frame from Virtual Exhibition by Selina Trepp

At 7pm, Release Party will Host Premiere of New Movement Matters Dance & Performance Series & Live Filming of work by Joanna Meccia, Amanda Saucedo & Juliann Wang

The long-running Bridge Movement Matters series, which investigates work at the intersection of dance, art, performance, politics, policy and issues related to the body, is launching a new periodic performance series this October 18. Bridge has hosted a variety of Movement Matters programming now for seven years, including artist's roundtables, symposia and panels, but this will be our first outing as a performance series. Curated by Michael Workman and Juliann Wang, we hope you will come show your support for the series launch, which seeks to define new intersecting spaces between dance, movement and performance art.

Following on recent collaborations such as 2021’s Source Recursions, this new showcase will host new and revised work by:

JOANNA MECCIA will present an excerpt from her choreography, Imaginary Futures. Image: courtesy Alex Rathbone.

Performers
Colleen Bass
Kimberly Galloway
Joanna Meccia
Heather Zimny

Choreographer Bio
Joanna Meccia is a dance artist, choreographer, and director, with an interest in exploring the human experience through multi-disciplinary dance experiences. Her choreography has been supported by grants from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (2018), and Activate! Chicago (2018), and performed in theaters such as the Athenaeum Main Stage, Stage773, Links Hall, as well as Chicago Public Schools and public spaces. In addition to producing her own work, she has been commissioned for companies including the Trifecta Dance Collective, Project606 Dance, and Esoteric Dance Project, and most recently for New Dances (2020) by Thodos Dance Chicago and Dance Works Chicago. Currently she is developing a new work blending film and live dance through Dovetail Studio’s 3for3 Artist Residency When she isn’t choreographing, Joanna can be found performing with the Dance Avondale Collective and teaching dance in Chicago-land.

AMANDA SAUCEDO will present a solo, Untitled, with music: Si Tu Supieras Companero - Rosalia

Artistic Statement
This piece explores the multitude of emotions that can arise during a challenging experience. Saucedo began this work during the first Covid quarantine. Initially it was a depiction of the struggle between wanting to dance and being restricted (at home). However, it began to morph into a piece of work that played on an internal struggle of the artist- battling between two different worlds. Two dance styles are fused together: Modern and Flamenco.

Choreographer Bio
Amanda Saucedo, of Mexican-Ukrainian descent, is a native of Chicago. She began her dance training with a Mexican Folkloric company while later studying Ballet, Modern and other styles. She continued on with Spanish dance, serving as a Company Dancer and Teaching Artist with Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater for nearly 15 years performing nationwide as well as internationally in Spain. Amanda has performed alongside local Chicago artists, dance companies, and arts organizations at renowned venues such as The Auditorium Theater, Harris Theater, and participated in festivals such as Jacob's Pillow, Dance St. Louis and Chicago's Dance for Life. She continues to dance and teach in the community while partaking in collaborative work in hopes to inspire and share her art with others.

JULIANN WANG will present a solo, Untitled.

Choreographer Bio
Juliann Wang is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist, designer and performer whose work employs a multidimensional creative practice. Juliann received an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and BFA from The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Her work reflects current shifts in culture, functioning as a narrative background for discussions of the personal versus society in the complex place of shared experience. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Susquehanna Art Museum, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, The Cleve Carney Museum of Art, Sullivan Galleries at Art Institute of Chicago, Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at Art Institute of Chicago, Giertz Gallery at Parkland College, Cetys University in Baja California (México), 808 Gallery at Boston University, Hyde Park Art Center, 33 Space in China, etc. Juliann also has created and collaborated in numerous performances throughout Chicago such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Anderson Japanese Garden, Mana Contemporary, 6018 north Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, and others. She is a DCASE Individual Artists Program Grantee for 2021, 2022. Currently, she is an artist in residence at High Concept Labs.

LECTURE: On Making; Methods and Techniques for the Production of Artist’s Publications in Historical Context

“FROM PAN TO BRIDGE”
THE RICHARD H. DRIEHAUS MUSEUM
WED, Nov. 10, 2021 6PM

Save the date for the second lecture in a series at The Richard H. Driehaus Museum: Bridge Journal Editor-in-Chief Michael Workman will be joined by Deborah Maris Lader, Founder and Director of the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, to discuss the print techniques of this more than a century-long history of artist’s publications. Using the Driehaus Museum exhibition, PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe 1895-1900 and William H. Bradley and The Chap-Book from the Collection of Richard H. Driehaus, as a starting point, Workman and Lader will take us through decades of techniological innovations in printmaking and how artists in the avant-garde tradition of artist’s publications used them to help invent and expand modern and contemporary art, and beyond.

This lecture will serve to provide a practicum to accompany Workman’s Sept. 2021 lecture Avant-Garde Publications in Perspective on the history of avant-garde magazines, manifestos and other publications, and delve into both the how and why artists who produced them employed the variety of ancient and modern techniques that they did. Picking up where our previous lecture in this series leaves off, we will discuss how the Bridge Journal, formed from a collective of contemporary artists in Chicago, has its roots in the printing techniques and artistic lineages of previous avant-garde publications that sought to resist the encroaching demands of commerce, which has often historically sought to subordinate artwork to utilitarian interests.

We will further identify the Bridge Journals as emerging specifically out of a number of artistic foundations, notably the Die Brücke (The Bridge) artists movement that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition to questions of artistic autonomy, central to these movements was consistently an intention to bridge the gap between ancient and modern, to demonstrate the ways in which the work of artists in history selected media best suited to their artistic intentions. One widely cited accomplishment of the Die Brücke movement, of course, was the revival of the woodcut, a technique that the collective not only revived but famously used in the printing of their own manifesto by Ernst Ludwig Kirhner. Later, using the relatively newly-developed material linoleum, which was much easier to carve into with blades than wood, they invented the printmaking process of the linocut.

At the lecture, Maris Lader will present a demonstration on one of these historic techniques (either of woodcut, etching, lithography, etc.) that were employed by these artists in the production of their periodicals, and further illuminate the historical context, developments and provide an in-depth discussion about how these techniques have branched off or been displaced by other processes over time.

After the demonstration, we will take more recently developed techniques into art historical account, and consider the invention and cultural consequences of screen printing (in 1911), dot matrix printing (1925), Xerography (1938), inkjet and laser printing (1950 and 1968, respectively), and how artists embraced them to great social effect. This will include a discussion of John Barth’s linotype and handset Janson cloth-cover 1967 “manifesto of postmodernism,” The Literature of Exhaustion, the variety of print techniques employed by publications in the No-ISBN movement, and how Ulises Carrion, for example, published Ephemera magazine by Xeroxing mail art. We will also discuss how Carrion was also famously quoted as saying “Amsterdam has not yet discovered the mimeograph” (1885) prior to opening his bookstore / bookworks project space in the city, citing the necessity of the printing technique to his ideals of avant-garde publishing as community-formation, and how the artist often published using only a typewriter and office-supply style spine-binders. In conclusion, we will also consider the relatively recent evolution of artist’s printing processes, without taking into account the entirety of the digital revolution.

Following the lecture, on Saturday, Nov. 13 from 2-4pm, a second demonstration of one or more additional printing processes will also be presented off-site at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative as a third event in this series.

“FROM PAN TO BRIDGE”
THE RICHARD H. DRIEHAUS MUSEUM
THU, SEPT. 23, 6PM
Tickets are required, and available here for this event.

Save the date for the first lecture in a series at The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, where Bridge Journal Editor-in-chief Michael Workman will trace the avant-garde lineages of the Bridge Journal going back more than a century, as well as, as the museum states: “the evolution of artists’ publications and manifestos. Using the Driehaus Museum exhibition, PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe 1895-1900 and William H. Bradley and The Chap-Book from the Collection of Richard H. Driehaus, as a starting point, Workman will take us through decades of intriguing and sometimes revolutionary visual, literary and social history.”

This lecture will look at the avant-garde magazines as well as the crossover artists who published, contributed new artwork and participated in the social circles that cropped up around them. Starting with the period concurrent with PAN, such as The Savoy and Yellow Book and other “1890’s periodicals,” we will also trace the emergence of more widespread artist’s publications, including Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work, Der Sturm, Der Aktion and of course the establishment of Poetry magazine in 1912, followed by Blast in 1914, Cabaret Voltaire, Tristan Tzara’s Dada magazine, Harlem Renaissance magazine Fire!!, and then heading into mid-last century, publications including Georges Bataille’s Acephale, and the transition of many of these publications in the immediate aftermath of WWII into “manifestations,” or instances of manifesto-writing and publishing, often in direct competition over membership and artistic ideology.

Later publications came to include Agrégation and many other letters, monographs and works published by the various members of the Lettrist movement, the Situationists and other splinter groups, followed by the formation of the Oulipo, the publication of Avant Garde magazine, staffed by writers including now-New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl, AVALANCHE magazine, and John Barth’s 1967 “manifesto of postmodernism,” The Literature of Exhaustion. Additionally, drawing on research for a recent essay in Rain Taxi, Workman will also consider the critical pivot undertaken by Conceptual artist, thinker and theorist Ulises Carrión, publisher of Ephemera magazine, widely considered the foundation of today’s “artist’s book” movement.

Finally, as founder and Editor-in-chief of the Bridge Journal, Workman will discuss the history of the journal and the artistic collective that staffs it, as well as notable precursors such as Semiotext(e) and contemporaries, including examples such as Whitewalls, E-Flux, Cabinet, BOMB, Afterall, the variety of publications in the No-ISBN movement, Martine Syms’s The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto and Philadelphia-based Ulises (so-named in honor of the aforementioned Ulises Carrión). Workman will conclude the lecture with an overview of the available future of work in the medium, and briefly discuss new artist publishing on the horizon.

Please join us next Sunday, August 22 for our second 1-day convening at Evanston Art Center on art and human rights

BRIDGE: ASSEMBLY ZONES
Evanston Art Center (map)
1717 Central St, Evanston, IL 60201
SUNDAY, AUG. 22, NOON - 4PM

You may also join the Facebook Page for this event here.

Launched on June 19, 2021, Bridge collective members oversaw installation of the timeline development mural for the Assembly Zones program designed by Bob Faust and Faust, Ltd. that wraps around the façade of the Evanston Art Center building. The mural showcases architectural drawings and materials from core project team member David Sundry, as well as materials developed through the Your Turn campaign. The mural will remain in place through Sept 15, 2021. 

A listening station utilizing Mat Rappaport’s Range Mobile Lab will be set up throughout the day’s events. Copies of the new Bridge volume will be available for purchase, as well as “Your Turn” sticker campaign sticker sheets.

→ 11:30am Guided Mural Tour & Discussion ……… Tour of the mural panels and discussion of how they relate to the evolution of the Assembly Zones project, with commentary by the architects, writers, thinkers and others involved in its conception and realization. 

→ 12pm Bridge / LOCUS Readings ………………. Readings by poets and writers selected by Bridge in partnership with the LOCUS series, co-curated by Bridge and Whitney LaMora.

→ 1:15pm Movement Matters Symposium: The Uses of Art ……… A long-running Bridge program hosted by Michael Workman, the Movement Matters symposia series investigates work at the intersection of dance, performance, politics, policy and issues related to the body. The archive is available for viewing here. 

This iteration of the Movement Matters series will focus on the role of art with utility or a service element, how this work can help agitate for necessary social and policy changes, and its wider role in the public sphere. As well, we will discuss how this relates to the Assembly Zones initiative and its proposed solutions, as well as the consequences of those in navigating public space.

Panelists:

Andrew Schachman, artist, and Executive, the Floating Museum,

Laurie Jo Reynolds, artist, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2010 Soros Justice Fellow, and Coordinator, the Chicago 400 Alliance with

Leadership Members, the Chicago 400 Alliance, and

Amber Ginsburg, artist and Lecturer, Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago, and collaborator, the Tea Project.

Moderator: Michael Workman

→ 3pm Bridge Presents: Jazz Recommends with the Gregory Artry and Matt Ferguson Duo ……… A showcase of Chicago musicians, DJs and other talent recommended by those in the know.

The mural will remain in place through Sept. 15, 2021.

Supported in part by funding from The Little Village Community Foundation in partnership with Design Trust Chicago.

RSVPS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT - REGISTER NOW
You may also join the Facebook Page for this event here.

This June 2021, we will oversee installation of a timeline development mural for the Assembly Zones program designed by Bob Faust and Faust, Ltd. that wraps around the façade of the Evanston Art Center building. The mural will showcase architectural drawings and materials from the collaborative project team of the Assembly Zones initiative, as well as materials received through the Your Turn campaign. Mural to remain in place through Sept 2021. 

Our first volume of our 21st year of the Bridge Journal will be produced by the core artist collaborative team and released at this event, with section editors publishing research and imagining materials related to Assembly Zones, including writing and architectural drawings, documentation and additional materials related to the project’s current and precedents. 

Special thanks to Back Alley Jazz for recommendations on our jazz programming throughout.

A listening station utilizing Mat Rappaport’s Range Mobile Lab will be set up throughout the day’s events, with a looped video program of local artists projected in the windows. Copies of the new Bridge volume will be available for purchase.

→ 11am // Guided Mural Tour & Discussion ……… Tour of the mural panels and discussion of how they relate to the evolution of the Assembly Zones project, with commentary by the architects, writers, thinkers and others involved in its conception and realization.

→ 12:15pm // Bridge / LOCUS Readings ………………. Readings by poets and writers selected by Bridge in partnership with the LOCUS series, curated by Whitney LaMora.

Readers:

• Emma Casey, reading her short story from the Bridge Journal, “Pacing,”

• Mo Santiago,

• Coelti,

• & others tba.

→ 1pm // Movement Matters Artists Roundtable: Selections from the Journal …….. This long-running Bridge program hosted by Michael Workman, the Movement Matters symposia (https://www.bridge-chicago.org/movement-matters) investigates work at the intersection of dance, performance, politics, policy and issues related to the body.

This iteration of the Movement Matters series will focus on the themes of the Bridge Journal Volume 21, number 1. Artists and writers who edit the various sections from the Bridge Journal and their contributions will discuss how their work for the current volume relate to its overarching themes, including the role of artists around the world in agitating for democracy and social justice, the Assembly Zones initiative, and more.

Panelists:

• Ionit Behar, Assistant Curator at the DePaul Art Museum, Doctoral Candidate in Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Lecturer in Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,

• Michelle Kranicke, dance artist, founder of Zephyr Dance and co-founder of SITE/less Chicago,

• Dianna Frid, artist and Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, art department,

• David Sundry, artist, architect and co-founder of SITE/less Chicago.

Moderator

• Michael Workman

→ 2:30pm // Bridge Presents: Jazz Recommends with the Andy Pratt and Joe Policostro Duo ……… A showcase of Chicago musicians, DJs and other talent recommended by those in the know.

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The safety and security of gallery staff and visitors is essential.

When entering the building, all visitors are required to wear masks and take their temperature upon entry using provided gloves, and share results with an EAC staff member.

Please adhere to 6' social distancing requirements when in the gallery space.