Cream Co. Press: Chicago Weekly

Press / Reviews : For Real

Real Art, Really

In two weeks, Hyde Park will be the site of an investigation into reality that will make Baudrillard’s head spin. The Hyde Park Art Center (which is real), in order to kick off its transition to grander facilities (which is really happening), is hosting an exhibit entitled “For Real”. By incorporating an unique moment for a historic space into a broader exploration of the reality of art, the exhibit toys with the distinction between artist, administrator and audience.

For over sixty years, the Hyde Park Art Center has been the model of a community art center. It is one of the oldest forums for alternative art in Chicago, featuring a whirlwind line-up of exhibits and events alongside education programs for the young and old. In April 2006 it will move into new facilities more than tripling its space.

“For Real”, as the last use of the Center’s Del Prado space, incorporates the Center itself into its concept. The exhibit is divided into two sections, the first arranged like a contemporary art experience at an art institute, while in the second the administrative offices of the Center will be in the middle of the gallery, and administrators will conduct their work in open view of the public. How the administration workers react to the public, and vice versa, while they contend with the financial and logistical hassles of an impending move is one of the features of the exhibit. They will remain in these conditions through the end of the show, March 26th.

These uprooted workers could have complained and resisted the change, but Marie Bergman, the creative force behind the exhibit, says the marvelous aspect of “For Real” is the administration’s willingness—and even enthusiasm—for it. Bergman studied at Northwestern, earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a primary player in Cream Co., a group that explores the connectedness of art, artists and the collaborative process. A Cream Co. event at Gallery 312 in 2003 entitled “Really Real” attracted the attention of the Center, which approached Bergman about organizing an “institutional intervention”, a re-imagining of the use of the Center’s space. Bergman considered incorporating the history and use of the Center as an institution, and “For Real” was born.

Other than indulging in a little schadenfreude at observing office workers dealing with a difficult environment, what use is looking at an administrative office in the middle of an art gallery? Aren’t they just doing their normal jobs somewhere new? Yes, but according to Bergman, that is precisely the point. One interpretation of the exhibit considers the role of the administrator in an art institution. How is it different from that of an artist? Why are swirls of paint on the walls art, but computers on desks equipment? Bergman is interested in investigating these duplicitous distinctions between artist and administrator, curator and audience.

Bill Brown takes a similar view. The Edward Carson Waller Distinguished Service Professor and chair holder in the Department of English at the University of Chicago served as curator for the exhibit, the exact nature of which he says is polymorphous and “part of the show”. The artists and art he helped select for the exhibit provide a context for the role of the displaced administrators. Says Brown, “The art in the show foregrounds the passing of time and the dialectics of permanence and change,” issues which certainly apply to the movement of a historic cultural center. Brown also sees the show as an almost gleeful exercise in investigating how much reality art can represent. After all, muses Brown, “There’s nothing faux about working on the budget, about preparing the next exhibit, about answering phones.” Whatever reality it ends up displaying, For Real promises to be really thought-provoking.