Artists Run Chicago: Here and Now - Hyde Park Art Center

Organized by Hyde Park Art Center in partnership with the Terra Foundation for American Art, this mini exhibition features projects by four of Chicago’s artist-run platforms that engage critical dialogue around Chicago neighborhoods through art interventions in public space. The featured platforms, Contra Corriente, Cooperation Racine: incubated by in c/o: Black women, Roman Susan, and Space Shift Collective, are all recipients of the Art Center’s Artists Run Chicago Fund, a regranting initiative that gives unrestricted financial support to the city’s diverse artist-run platforms. Fifteen selected platforms received additional funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art’s Art Design Chicago initiative, to create new programs contributing to a citywide collaboration that aims to build new understandings of Chicago through the lens of its art and design legacy. The projects exhibited will continue to take place in Chicago neighborhoods through 2024.

Image: Installation view of Porta(til), 2023 with work by Carlos Flores. Photography by Ruby Que, courtesy of Comfort Station.

April 11 – 14, 2024
Navy Pier, Booth 191

This exhibition is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities. The Artists Run Chicago Fund is generously supported by Good Chaos, the Field Foundation of Illinois, and Local South Foundation.

Featured Artist-Run Platforms and Artists

Contra Corriente is a platform that supports artists, activists, and organizations working to advance racial and environmental justice on Chicago’s Southwest Side and beyond. Launched in 2022 as an annual festival, the initiative aims to support artists, collaborate with community spaces, and address environmental racism through disruptive art interventions, bilingual workshops, and events. Planning partners, facilitators, artists, and leaders all come from communities directly impacted by environmental injustices, contributing to cross-community resilience and coalition-building efforts.

Exhibiting artists: Sebastian Hidalgo, Hugo Juarez , Elsa Muñoz, Jassiel Serna

Cooperation Racine (incubated by in c/o: Black women) is a Licensed Worker Cooperative in West Englewood, Chicago. Through economic empowerment, creative expression, and solidarity economy building, Cooperation Racine provides a compelling model for systemic change, inclusive development, and meaningful community transformation. Continuing the legacy of in c/o: Black women, their goals, activities, and partnerships are designed to tackle the systemic barriers that perpetuate inequality and oppression in the arts. They work to drive social change and build power in the arts ecosystem.

Exhibiting artists: Tavia David, Andrés Lemus-Spont, Saleem Hue Penny, Kayla Reefer, Andrea Yarbrough

Roman Susan celebrates and shares the work of artists in the Great Lakes region. The Chicago-based, artist-led, experimental learning platform creates cultural engagements that provide resources and paid opportunities for artists.

Exhibiting artists: Christa Donner, Eliza Fernand J. Kent, John-Michael Korpal, JeeYeun Lee

Illustrations by Madeleine Aguilar

SpaceShift Collective is a creative hub for collaboration and experimentation. It is a collective of artists and culture workers rethinking the ways in which they work, live, and create in their multifaceted communities. Since 2021, their work has activated Devon Avenue, Chicago’s South Asian neighborhood, through art-based programming that sparks joy and creates meaningful connections amongst a diverse and intergenerational community.

Exhibiting artists: Osman Khan, Tulika Ladsariya, Kushala Vora