October 3 - December 5, 2010
Close Encounters is an experimental curatorial project initiated by the Hyde Park Art Center and in collaboration with a number of other major cultural institutions in Chicago. It provided nine leading New Zealand and U.S. artists with a series of shared experiences related to the nature of community in a variety of Chicago settings in May 2008. The most important of these experiences included a traditional Māori gathering, called a hui, facilitated by Māori elders in the Field Museum’s Māori meeting house Ruatepupuke II and a Powwow conducted by tribal leaders at the American Indian Center. In addition, the group visited twelve other communities around the city.
The artists were then asked to create new works generated by this experience for the Hyde Park Art Center. Five of the resulting commissions were exhibited at the Center in 2009. They are works by Daniel du Bern (NZ), Tania Bruguera (US), Juan Angel Chávez (US), Walter Hood (US), Truman Lowe (US), and Wayne Youle (NZ).
Starting in October, 2010, another series of commissions will be presented at the Center by Maddie Leach (NZ), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (US), and Lisa Reihana (NZ).
Close Encounters is curated by Chuck Thurow, Executive Director of the Hyde Park Art Center, and Bruce E. Phillips, an independent curator from New Zealand. A selection of Close Encounters projects will also be exhibited in New Zealand during 2010 - 11.
Close Encounters is partially supported by:
Image: Artists and Māori elders conducting discussions in the Ruatepupuke II marae at the Field Museum. May, 2008. Photo by Michelle Litvin