Not in My Lobby, You Don’t!

Curated by Ruth Horwich and Chuck Thurow, Not In My Lobby, You Don’t! called upon fifteen Chicago based artists to work collaboratively or solo on site-specific installations across the city. The exhibition was held in conjunction with the city’s 17th Annual International Sculpture Month and Pow Wow. The fifteen artists created pieces of public art that challenged the traditional expectations of public art. During the exhibition, the Ruth Horwich Gallery at the Center served as a documentation site and command center, that contained information about the artists, additional materials related to the pieces, and documentation of the works.

Artists involved in Not In My Lobby, You Don’t! exhibited across the city. Artist Nathan Mason presented a solo installation of woven tie panels in a band as architectural ornament in the windows of the inner atrium at 20 N. Michigan Ave. Lisa Kucharski‘s installation Field, featured a paper sculpture supported by sturdy elements at the Britannica Center. Stephanie Brooks‘ piece displayed at the St. James Episcopal Cathedral appropriated form and text from popular culture. Nyame Brown, also exhibited at the Britannica Center where he presented a replication of his Tar-baby sculpture. The mass accumulation of things has been the focal point in Jocelyn Nevel‘s installation work. Her exhibition displayed at the Santa Fe Center featured a massive grid of her hair gathered from various locations.

The artists involved in the project focused on a variety of themes and concepts. Ben Rubin‘s piece, the Mine Project addressed ownership, and the political ideas of boundaries by placing artificial boundaries on city sidewalks with chalk. Stephen Szoradi‘s photographic and sculptural exhibition was a modern documentary of both the workers and architectural fragments of the steel industry. Barbara Koenen‘s created a month long artwork, entitled GriGri 4 Spring. Koenen’s GriGri was a ritual of daily painting performances that took place throughout central Chicago. The temporary artworks made out of environmentally friendly material were photographed and displayed at the Hyde Park Art Center. Adelheid Mers‘ used light projections in her installation piece to address her concerns with how sound, rhythm, time, space, and her experiences as an artist within different spaces interact with each other. Artist Pablo Helguera‘s, site-specific installation Swan Song utilized history as a medium to explore the correlation between art and function- telling the story of a signer who helped to win a war.