The Blue Parrot
2020

Collabiosis
Solo Exhibition + Residency

Chicago, IL
March 5 & 8

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The project was made possible thanks to the support of Emilio Williams and Dr. Robert Murphy

The solo exhibition, Collabiosis culminated a multi-month  artist residency at the Blue Parrot in Chicago, IL.
The name of the  exhibition, Collabiosis, is an invented word that comes from combining - collabi ( the etymological root of  collapse and collaboration) and  osis (a suffix denoting a process or condition of change). Utilizing a wide range of materials which include: locally sourced clay, windshields, projection, and steel spoons, the multi-room installation investigates  transformation, perception, and time, highlighting the inter-relationships of deconstruction and construction, chaos, and order. Throughout the exhibition the  installations responds to the site and different material histories of  Chicago.  

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“A single animal’s rebellion rendering mass destruction while also clearing the stage for a phatasmagoric theater of the future. Old Chicago burned to the ground and modern Chicago grew.”- Hannah B. Higgins

The famous cow mythology marks a genesis of Chicago’s grid, reflected in its’ brick buildings. After the devastating fire on October 8,1871 Joseph Mendill proclaimed in the Chicago Tribune, “Modern Chicago would be a grid.” This installation presents a spectral reordering of grids that lay beneath Chicago’s material and discursive history within The Blue Parrot,  located on 1924 N Halsted St: 41°55’00.3”N+87°38’55.1”W:3.5 miles away from the Zero-Zero Point of the Chicago grid. It consists of unfired spheres made out of clay collected from various open construction sites in Chicago. These locations representative of the continuous loop of (de)construction in everyday life. The sphere, like a seed acts as a symbol for new beginnings built from long embeded material histories. 

Field Notes:
Clay collected from  various locations throughout Chicago Metro Area: Milwaukee Ave, Division, Christiana St, Windy City Antique Brick Company etc.