Chicagoisms exhibition opens at the Art Institute of Chicago

Jonathan Mekinda, Assistant Professor, UIC School of Design, and Alexander Eisenschmidt, Assistant Professor, UIC School of Architecture, organized key ideas extrapolated from their recent publication Chicagoisms: The City as Catalyst for Architectural Speculation into an exhibition opening on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at the Art Institute of Chicago. Partnering with Matthew Wizinsky, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, UIC School of Design, the team engaged contemporary architects to undertake their own investigations and interpretations of five Chicagoisms. Developed as architectural models with corresponding manifestos specifically for this exhibition, these contemporary explorations are presented with historical black-and-white photographs that are emblematic of the five Chicagoisms. This juxtaposition of the historic and the contemporary underscores how the architectural and urban history of Chicago can act as a catalyst for new forms of speculation and innovation.

Image courtesy of the Chicago History Museum