There will also be several other exciting projects including Woven, the light of the dark, and continued showings of The Obama Portraits.
The stunning art spectacles that light up the facade of the Merchandise Mart returned at the beginning of April for a spring program in collaboration with Adler Planetarium. ‘Astrographics‘ transported viewers “from Earth to other planets and stars, then out to deeper and more speculative realms” but now it’s time has come to pass the baton on to a collection of new projections. Art on theMART has now begun a new summer schedule packed with exciting contemporary artwork a well as shows inspired by “The Obama Portraits” and “Frida Kahlo: Timeless” exhibitions.
Holding the title of the “largest permanent digital art projection in the world”, Art on theMART attracts thousands to the Riverwalk and Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago every week by transforming the 2.5-acre river-façade of the Merchandise Mart. It provides a public platform for local artists, national artists, and international artists with work ranging from schools to renowned exhibitions and everything in between.
The Obama Portraits are already on show across the Merchandise Mart having gone up after arriving at the Art Institute of Chicago on June 18 and will be projected onto the Merchandise Mart longer than they reside in Chicago. They will stay in Chicago for their first stop of a national tour until they leave for New York on August 14 and then, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Houston before returning to The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in D.C. but they will be visible on the Mart hrough September 16.
From July 5 through September 16, Merchandise Mart will be also displaying projections inspired by the “Frida Kahlo: Timeless” exhibition at the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage. Famous works by the surrealist Mexican painter including a number of self-portraits will be featured alongside an orchestral score from Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.
The two exhibitions come in addition to an already exciting summer schedule featuring three animated projections running from July 5 through September 16.
Produced by artists and filmmakers Wills Glasspiegel and Brandon K. Calhoun, Footnotes focuses on Chicago footwork dancing from some of Chicago’s leading footwork artists. It features original music by DJ Spinn, the Chicago Bucket Boys, Angel Bat David, Elisha Chandler, and Amal Hubert from Hypnotic Brass Band.
This is joined by the light of the dark which exhibits the work of new media artist and filmmaker Xuana’s piece with music from Chicago-based, four-time Grammy-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird.
Also running from July 5 to September 16, the Mart is now showing Woven – the work of collaborators and partners Selina Trepp and Dan Bitney working under their pseudonym Spectralina. Woven displays over 5000 drawings by visual artist Selina Trepp on the 2.5 acres of the facade accompanied by music from multi-intrumentalist and member of the Chicago band Tortoise, Dan Bitney.
The 30-minute shows will run nightly at 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm. The best places to view the projections from the jetty section of the Chicago Riverwalk between Wells and Franklin Streets.
For those who prefer to view it from home, live streams can be found on Art on the MART’s Facebook page.
[Featured image from Art on the Mart]