Last Friday I met my friends Lynn (the West one), Feresdei Azad plus Caroline Johnson at the opening of the show, Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s at Gallery 400 near University of Illinois at Chicago Circle (is that still the name?)
A familiar person greeted me, but I could not quite place them in the first few minutes. I guess I kind of looked at them like a former student recently looked at me in a grocery store as with surprise (as if I she could not believe that I existed outside of the classroom.)
The person (they) said they were transitioning and thinks of themselves as a no gendered person, being male or female is too limiting and their name was Heraclitus Here Vernon. She said she preferred to be called they rather than he or she which explains my pronoun usage her.
I once went to her apartment in Pilsen to interview her (she reminded me of the incident). But the last time I saw her she was very feminine dressed in white Victorian attire and she read her poetry from a 15 floor scroll that she unrolled as she read. She also turned her back to the audience and you could see her image reading in the mirror
I had someone take a picture of us together and I plan to send it to our old mutual buddy, Dan Miles, the founder of Lovechaos. She also gave me her card which was titled Trans Art Is and said she was performing at the same location on Saturday (I could not go because I already had a Riot Fest ticket.)
Also, I saw a woman with metal on her head. I asked if she was an artist but she replied she was a clothing designer really into mermaid culture. She added, “I am so excited I just came back from mermaid camp.” I told her I was not familiar with that.
Because of the background noise I could not hear everything she said. I think she told me that at the camp they made and wore mermaid outfits and they spent time performing stunts in the water (one of my friends told me that mermaid performers sometimes use a breathing tube so they can stay underwater longer.) She also said she had nothing against people who prefer the land and she calls herself, Sky Hein Cubacub. To my surprise I later found a camp website that might be for the place she went to. Here is the link.
Has website (titled Rebirth Garments) features mostly androgynous models wearing clothes (cannot tell if that are male or female) new movement called queer crips.
Many of the artists in the exhibit seemed to be part of or related to Queer Crip, a new subculture I had never heard of. There is even a literary anthology named after the subculture. Someone there said queercrips are handicapped people who do not identify as male or female, but maybe there are different definitions.
Barak adé Soleil the main performer in the show danced gracefully while using crutches and he later led an encounter group like session in which audience members got to ask him questions. Another room had had video footage of man on skateboard with crutches doing stunts, and there was also sexy samples (I love alliteration) of Sky Cubacub’s gender nonconforming lingerie.
Later on, my friends and I had dinner in Greek Town and that food was fairly good. I was afraid that I would not be able to find my car but I located it right away. The ladies were good company.
That same weekend on Saturday (it was a great weekend) I went to Riot fest. I saw a bit of Twin Peaks, Gary Numan who was surprisingly good (even without hearing “Cars”), the folky, melancholic Cat Power, the subversive industrial band Killing Joke. During the Killing Joke set I ran into Holly the singer/bartender and we hung out for a while (it was good to see her.)
There were several acts I liked that played at the same time so I could not see everyone. I picked Killing Joke over Elvis Costello because I had never seen them. I arrived just I time to see Elvis Costello close his show with his immortal, “What’s so funny about Peace, Love and Understanding? “
The biggest reason why I picked the Saturday lineup was because I wanted to see the one and only killer, Jerry Lee Lewis. He is in his 80’s (roughly the same age as my mom) and he even called himself the last one standing (Little Richard is still alive but he is confined to a wheelchair.
Lewis did a great set of pure country and rockabilly classics. Of course did great versions of “Roll Over Beethoven, ““Whole Lotta Shaking Go’in On” and “Great Balls of Fire,” but he did not move around on stage much (he just moved his legs a bit art one point). I wanted to leave early too see a bit of Gwar’s show but Lewis kept getting better and better also I ended up seeing the whole thing.
The headliner Beck, opened with a rousing version of “Where it’s at,” he also did the song live once on SNL , and early on he did a fantastic version of his anthem and breakout song, “Loser.” I did not hear too much from his folky sad breakup masterpiece, Sea Change (that might be a good title for Sky’s website, but I had to leave early because I was just too damn tired.
Unfortunately I missed most of the critically acclaimed smaller bands such as Mannequin Pussy, Lower Class Brats, Bully, and The Voidz (Julian Casablanca’s follow-up band to The Strokes) as well as Andrew WK, the competing other headliner.
On the train ride back I ran into my old buddy Mike Pocius. He offered me a ticket to Sunday’s show (it would have been great to see Fear and Blondie) but one day of riot fest took much out of me. I used to be able to watch music all day for several days, but now that I am in my 50s I get tired out much easier.
Here is the press release for the art show.
Opening Reception: Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today
With performance of “from here to there” by Barak adé Soleil
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OPENING RECEPTION
Friday, September 14, 2018 – 5:00PM to 8:00PM
Gallery 400
400 S. Peoria St.
Join us in celebrating the opening of Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today at Gallery 400.
Orient yourself to the gallery with a social story.
Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today explores how Chicago artists and designers with disabilities were integral to the development of a local and national disability rights movement, creating radical change for more than one fifth of the US population, as well as for all of American society, and influencing lasting transformation in the visual art and design fields. At its heart a research project and inviting new contributions, the exhibition focuses on the history of the disability arts movement in the late 20th century, the role artists played in that activism, and the development of a disability aesthetics, as evidenced in work artists are making today.
Through artworks (paintings, drawings, sculpture, installation and video), graphic design, architectural documents, oral histories, archival documents, and other ephemera, the exhibition will tell the stories of how Chicagoans with disabilities and their allies broke barriers, created change in policy and federal law, and changed culture at a time when the reality of life for many people with disabilities was the restrictions imposed by institutionalization and segregation. People with disabilities in Chicago changed the cultural agenda, challenged the medical model of disability, and told the world that ‘disability’ wasn’t a people with disabilities’ problem; it was society’s problem for having disenfranchised people by creating barriers to full participation and engagement. Artists with disabilities have played—and are playing—a central in that activism and have created work that formulates a disability aesthetics, an aesthetics that challenges traditional modes while exploring conflicting categories and definitions.
At 6:30pm, movement artist Barak adé Soleil presents a performance within the exhibition space. from here to there is a live art installation with a performance component, presented as part of the opening and closing of the exhibition at Gallery 400. “Archive” from Barak’s lived experience will also be on display as a performative installation throughout the run of the exhibition, including a film of the opening performance.
