Where the Future Came From

Where the Future Came From focuses on the role of feminist artist-run activities in Chicago from the late 19th century to the present. This program will consist of a symposium, an exhibition that is an open participatory research lab, and a series of programs, all of which will be documented through a publication. Chicago has a deep history of artist-run activities. These projects are self-propelled programs that have been the lifeblood of Chicago’s contemporary art scene. In fact, many nationally and internationally recognized artists cut their teeth in such spaces. Where the Future Came From seeks to contextualize the role of feminism within that history and expand beyond work previously explored.

The history of artist-run projects in Chicago is one that often lives in the memories of the people who ran and experienced the projects that exist as footnotes on a cv, exhibition history, or small publication attached to any given artist’s career. This creates an anti-hierarchical platform to engage within the history of artist-run spaces, and the programs in Where the Future Came From will reflect that egalitarian process by employing artists, viewers, and art historians as experts based on their experience with any given project.

Where the Future Came From is organized and curated by Meg Duguid, Director of Exhibitions for Columbia College Chicago’s Department of Exhibitions, Performance, and Student Spaces (DEPS).

Related programming:

Where the Future Came From symposium 
Keynote conversation: Thursday, November 1, 5:30–8pm
Discussions: Friday, November 2, 9am–5pm
This symposium will kick off with a keynote conversation bringing together Lynne Warren, Adjunct Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and Courtney Fink, Director, Common Field, to discuss feminism, the artist-run, and money. This will be followed by a day-long program featuring presentations by Estelle Carol of Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective, Arlene Turner-Crawford of Sapphire & Crystals, Mary Ellen Croteau of SisterSerpents, and Beate Minkovski of Woman Made Gallery, as well as a panel discussion with members of current feminist artist-run projects including panelists Gloria Talemantes of Mujeres Mutantes, Amina Ross and Jory Drew from F4F and Beauty Breaks, Jennifer Sova from The Overlook, and Luz Magdaleno Flores and Daisy Yessenia Zamora Centeno from Brown and Proud Press, moderated by Kate Hadley Toftness, Director, Chicago Archives + Artists Project.

November 8, 2018, 5–7pm
Imagining a New Women’s Liberation Movement One Zine at a Time
Led by Rana Liu and Willa Goettling

November 14, 2018, 5:30–7pm
Women with the World at their Feet? Representing Women at Chicago World’s Fairs
Presented by TJ Boisseau, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program, Purdue University

December 6, 2018, 5:30–7pm
Rooms of their Own: Women Artists’ Organizations and Collectives in Chicago (1890-2015)
Presented by Joanna Gardner-Huggett, Associate Professor and Chair of History of Art and Architecture, DePaul University

December 11, 2018, 5:30–7pm
Women’s Work at Hull-House and Beyond: The Feminist Agenda through Arts and Crafts
Presented by Melissa Potter, Artist and Associate Professor, Art & Art History Department, Columbia College Chicago and Jennifer Scott Director and Chief Curator, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

January 24, 2019, 5:30–7pm
Presented by Nicole Marroquin, Artist, Researcher, and Associate Professor in Art Education, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 

January 31, 2019, 5:30–7pm
Feminism in Your Face: Public Art and Practice OR Public Art Resistance?
Presented by Neysa Page-Lieberman, Executive Director, Department of Exhibitions and Performance Spaces at Columbia College Chicago and Chief Curator, Wabash Arts Corridor 

February 7, 2019, 5:30–7pm
Women in the Alcoves: On Alice Browning, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, and the Women of The Catalyst in residence 
Presented by Tempestt Hazel, Director, Sixty Inches From Center and Arts Program Officer, Field Foundation

This project is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy, with presenting partner The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Where the Future Came From is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Illinois Arts Council Agency.