School of the Art Institute of Chicago is hosting PechaKucha tomorrow! (Oct. 23, 2010). Two of my favorite things! Check out more about PechaKucha here.

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[BRIDGEPORT, Chicago] Terrific art is not limited to the worlds of museums and traditional galleries, thank God, and lucky for us in Chicago, we have a world-class city with visual wonders exploding all over the place, and a broad definition of what constitutes art and inspiration. While Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport has been around a while (their graffiti show was a fantastic and mad highlight of last year), it really seems to be ramping up its act, and leading the pack in what truly seems to be an organically forming arts district (versus those elsewhere in the city promoted by private business – not that there’s anything wrong with that).

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The current Co-Pro show, TYPEFORCE: The Annual Chicago Show of Emerging Typographic Allstars (extended through March 19, 2010), shows off an amazing array of beautiful and challenging lettering. Mechanically typeset, produced by hand, some barely legible but with merits galore to compensate, including one large piece (in the gallery window) of the likes I’ve not quite seen anywhere. When viewed from just about any angle, it may appear to be an abstract fabric installation or flight of fancy predicting the impending onset of spring breezes. (Let us pray, anyway.) But squint, and know what you’re looking for, and it’s a larger than life depiction of the show’s title/logo (which you can view on the Co-pro web page promoting the event.).

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Shown here and on my Flickr page are just some quick highlights of some of the pieces I enjoyed the most, during a whirlwind visit on the day after the opening on Feb. 26, 2010. (While I love a good happening as much as the next guy and love chatting up the artists and other patrons, I often find it challenging to really enjoy the art and to focus on details, and especially to try to photograph if there is something I wish to promote for you, the gentle reader.) Read more

Ever wonder what goes on inside a day-long crit session at a top school like CalArts? Behind the scenes at Art Basel or the Venice Biennale? Inside the judging for the Turner Prize?

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Author Sarah Thornton takes the reader inside each of these phenomena of contemporary art in Seven Days in the Art World (W.W. Norton, 2008). In addition, she takes us along for a visit to the studio of art world superstar Takashi Murakama, unveiling a masterpiece for museum curators for the first time; we spend a day inside the pressure-cooker world of influential Artforum magazine; and we get a front-row seat at Christie’s auction house, inside the minds of bidder, artist and auctioneer alike.

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Each chapter is a fascinating glimpse of the multi-billion dollar world of contemporary art. From the CalArts students with their eye on the big time, to those who have made it, each story weaves a complex global tale of power, money, ego, beauty, history, publishing and politics. Though Thornton said in an interview with ArtWorldSalon that “I was never trained as a journalist,” the book comes off as impeccably reported. (My view as a journalist who has taught much about the craft.) Stories are told out of fairness from multiple points of view; the author never judges. Colorful details abound from her interviews with more than 250 people were interviewed. In the end, a “you are there” feeling prevails.

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Some favorite quotes from the book:

• Artist Keith Tyson, winner of the Turner Prize in 2002, at the Christie’s auction: “Unlike gold and diamonds, art has this other value, and that’s what makes it fascinating. Everything else is trying to sell you something else. Art is trying to sell you yourself. Read more

Proving that art is what, and where, you make it: Here’s a short video of an original work by composer Eric Roth and performance artist Hugh Musick, in Chicago on Oct. 6, 2007, a large group of “percussionists” making music on the Clark Street Bridge.