Chief Curator Alice Gray Stites brings Pop Stars! Popular Culture and Contemporary Art to 21c Chicago. The multi-media exhibition explores the evolution of contemporary iconography and the ongoing influence of the Pop Art Movement. Pop Stars! features over 90 works of art by 55 artists from around the world.
Guided Tour of Pop Stars!
Wednesday, April 6 at Noon
Friday, April 8 at 5pm
Meet in lobby
Wage Gaps, 2019 © Michele Pred / Courtesy the artist and Nancy Hoffman Gallery
Michele Pred and Equal Pay
April 5 – May 1, 2022
Gallery 3
Michele Pred and The Art of Equal Pay is a multi-media installation inspired by her ongoing collaborative project, The Art of Equal Pay. The exhibition features Pred’s Wage Gaps flag alongside The Art of Equal Pay pink dollar bill; Equal Pay Grill, a photographic collaboration with Autumn Breon; and the Vote Feminist Parade film. These works are created within Pred’s practice that shines light on historic and present-day inequities while demanding specific and concrete action. Pred writes, “I created this piece, Wage Gaps, to highlight the connection between the ongoing wage disparities in our country and the political and economic mechanisms that support them. Economic power both drives and reflects political and personal power in our world and change requires we keep those realities in mind. Our country has contained these inequities since its founding and, while positive change has occurred, the pace of that change has been glacial and unacceptable.”
**There will be a special Equal Pay Performance Saturday, April 9 at 12:45pm in Main Gallery.
Blue Alice
Performance by Irene Hsiao
Costume by Vin Reed
Friday, April 8, 5-7pm
Main Gallery
“Only the light that falls continually from the sky gives a tree the energy to push powerful roots into the earth. The tree is actually rooted in the sky.” — Simone Weil
Blue Alice explores 21c Museum’s current exhibition, Pop Stars! this Friday from 5 to 7pm. Enter and leave as you wish. Recording is allowed. Feel free to participate. Part of a curiosity-driven series by Irene Hsiao and Vin Reed.
Wide Awakes Chicago and For Freedoms presents Expo Chicago Forum
Saturday April 9, 12:30pm-4:30pm
Main Gallery
Register on Eventbrite
Wide Awakes Chicago and For Freedoms will present the Expo Chicago Forum, a series of conversations with local artists and advocates, co-hosted at 21c Museum Hotel. We will kick-off these talks with a short performance by Michele Pred followed by three dynamic panels that will explore and investigate the aspiration of justice and healing through the lens of community.
Schedule of events:
12:45pm Equal Pay Performance featuring Michele Pred
1:00-1:45pm Abolitionist Creativity: The Role Of White Womyn | Black Womyn Allyship In Social Art Movements
Moderator: Toni Anderson (Consciousness Engineer + Freedom Curator)
Panelists: Mecca Brooks ( Black Ecologist + Arts Strategist | Eileen Rhodes (Co-Gallerist @ Blanc Gallery) | Michele Pred (Conceptual Artist)
2:00-2:45pm Expo Chicago For Freedoms Artists Town Hall
Moderator: Anisa Tavangar (Curator, For Freedoms)
Panelists: Anwulika Anigbo | SHENEQUA | Maria Gaspar | Jasmine Harris
3:00-3:45pm What’s Next? An Exploration Of Post Pandemic Trends And The Way Ahead
Moderator: Dwight Smith (Art Collector + Arts Strategist)
Panelists: Sho-Joung Kim-Wechsler (CEO of XVERSO) Clif Rome (Blanc Gallery) | Seed Lynn (Chicago Artist) | Raphael Dapaah (Polo Lifestyles/Dapaah Gallery) | Michelle Hartney (Artist)
More information and registration here
All events are held at 21c Chicago and are free and open to the public. Learn more online at 21c Museum Hotel.
