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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260531
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260601
DTSTAMP:20251212T230504Z
CREATED:20250512T193155Z
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SUMMARY:City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago
DESCRIPTION:City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago is an intergenerational group exhibition that highlights Chicago’s essential\, yet often underacknowledged\, role in the story of queer art and activism. The exhibition examines this history from the mid-1980s\, when activists radically mobilized in response to the US government’s disastrous handling of the AIDS crisis. In this moment of change\, activists reclaimed the historically pejorative epithet “queer” as a liberatory term\, encompassing all who purposefully deviate from heteronormative society. Drawn from the MCA’s collection and other local collections\, City in a Garden follows this paradigm shift in LGBTQ+ history by bringing together work from over 30 artists and collectives working in Chicago from the 1980s to the present. \nThese artists address queerness through diverse media and methods: documenting clandestine queer spaces in photographs\, creating sculptures that challenge normative depictions of gender and sexuality\, and exploring queer intimacy through drawings\, paintings\, and videos. City in a Garden also features archival materials related to groups who innovatively combine artistic practices with their activism. The exhibition takes its title from Chicago’s official motto\, Urbs in Horto\, which translates to “city in a garden.” In the context of this presentation\, this motto speaks to the exhibited artists’ and activists’ utopian visions of a metropolitan sanctuary for people of all races\, genders\, and sexualities. As queer people continue to fight for their lives and livelihoods under ongoing and renewed political threats\, these visions remain as urgent today as ever. \nRuns July 5\, 2025 – May 31\, 2026
URL:https://chicagosocialbutterflies.com/wp-events/city-in-a-garden-queer-art-and-activism-in-chicago/
LOCATION:Museum of Contemporary Art\, 220 E Chicago Ave\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:arts-and-galleries
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260329T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260329T173000
DTSTAMP:20260326T040527Z
CREATED:20250807T060831Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260326T040527Z
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SUMMARY:Atrium Project: Edie Fake
DESCRIPTION:Runs through March 29\, 2026 \nFor this iteration of the Atrium Project series\, artist\, author\, and activist Edie Fake transforms the two-story lobby wall in the museum’s second floor atrium with his mural The Free Clinic for Gender Affirming Care (2024–25). An imagined facade of a clinic for free transgender healthcare\, the mural offers a majestic counterview to the present reality in the United States\, where transgender and nonbinary people are under constant threat of political repression\, restriction\, and scapegoating. The mural\, with its layered architectural motifs and undulating prismatic colors\, invites visitors into Fake’s utopian vision of access and open expression. \nFollowing his earlier Memory Palace series—examples of which are included in the exhibition City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago\, on view at the MCA from July 5\, 2025\, through May 31\, 2026—wherein Fake reimagined the facades of historic queer and feminist establishments in Chicago\, this work underscores the artist’s shift in focus from the past to the future\, from what was to what could still be. \nAtrium Project: Edie Fake is organized by Jack Schneider\, Assistant Curator.
URL:https://chicagosocialbutterflies.com/wp-events/atrium-project-edie-fake/
LOCATION:Museum of Contemporary Art\, 220 E Chicago Ave\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:arts-and-galleries,exhibit
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260307T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260307T160000
DTSTAMP:20260305T050710Z
CREATED:20260219T215519Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260305T050710Z
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SUMMARY:Community Dialogue - LGBTQ+ Activism in Chicago: Past\, Present\, Future
DESCRIPTION:Join the LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago for a community dialogue about LGBTQ+ Activism in Chicago: Past\, Present & Future. Held in connection with the MCA’s City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism exhibit\, this gathering will feature storytelling and exchange across generations to cultivate community\, connection\, and imagination for Chicago’s collective future.\nAll are welcome and encouraged to participate!!
URL:https://chicagosocialbutterflies.com/wp-events/community-dialogue-lgbtq-activism-in-chicago-past-present-future/
LOCATION:Museum of Contemporary Art\, 220 E Chicago Ave\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:education,networking-mixer
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20250718T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20250718T220000
DTSTAMP:20250717T032356Z
CREATED:20250717T032356Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250717T032356Z
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SUMMARY:MCA: Prime Time | City in a Garden
DESCRIPTION:It’s time to celebrate with Queen! at the MCA. Smartbar’s legendary LGBTQ+ party—now more than a decade old—takes over the museum for a special evening of DJs\, drag queens\, dancing\, and more in support of the exhibition City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago. Get ready to work your body and your mind as you experience premier Chicago music and art. \nKicking off the night at 7 pm is Brendan Fernandes’s The Rite (2019). In this durational performance\, dancers Laura Baumeister and Katlin Bourgeois activate Fernandes’s artwork\, featured in City in a Garden\, while improvising within the parameters of Fernandes’s choreography. \nIn addition\, Gerber/Hart—whose extraordinary collection of LGBTQ+ holdings is one of the largest in the world—showcases ephemera from historical LGBTQ+ Chicago\, bringing queer-themed board games like Gay Monopoly\, and is readying other surprises for the night. Also joining the evening is LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project\, who is creating conversations across the past\, present\, and future of queer Chicago. \nCheck out all of the exhibitions on view\, commemorate the evening with a picture from the photo booth\, enjoy a drink from the bar\, and even get something bedazzled! \nPrime Time is an after-hours series that taps into the creative pulse of Chicago with an eclectic mix of live music\, performance art\, film screenings\, and interactive programs that transform the museum in spectacular ways. The series is an electrifying social experience created with artists and key cultural groups in the city.
URL:https://chicagosocialbutterflies.com/wp-events/mca-prime-time-city-in-a-garden/
LOCATION:Museum of Contemporary Art\, 220 E Chicago Ave\, Chicago\, IL\, United States
CATEGORIES:benefit-fundraiser
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