This is the first in a five part series I will be writing about Chicago art for the Belgian art magazine H-Art. This first article appeared in their 44th issue in early December 2008.

Series Description: Chicago Illinois USA is a place where people pass through and people settle. In terms of cultural work, it is a city where people work hard, build community and navigate the dynamics of little economic support for their work, intense local politics, harsh conditions and a level of affordability in living (compared to other major urban centers) that opens up room for experimentation. In the absence of economic and institutional support for this experimentation, the city has produced a robust infrastructure and community for self-organized and independent culture – often committing much of its energy to addressing local and regional political concerns and social issues. This series of articles will be an introduction to the city and its critical cultural experimentation, written from the perspective of a young magazine editor, writer, and curator committed to navigating the city. Look for five such glimpses into Chicago socially and politically engaged culture to appear in H-Art over the next year. The next article will survey a number of the groups and spaces currently dotting the landscape in Chicago.

November 15th 2008 – Article #1 – Chicago: Introduction and History
by Daniel Tucker

In the late 1960s, cities in the U.S. saw its people struggling for civil rights, protesting the war in Vietnam and fighting for their lives. Chicago, nestled on the southern edge of Lake Michigan and in the center of “mid-western” agricultural and post-industrial States, saw more than its fair share of social unrest in that period. The third most populous city in the U.S., its unique migration patterns over the course of 100 years produced a diversity of heritage and backgrounds with the potential for cross fertilization as well as cultural clashes. In 1966 southern civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. moved his operation to Chicago in a symbolic effort to fight for fair housing and jobs in the North. The next year, in the majority African-American neighborhood of Bronzeville, a massive mural project slowly came into being, with every day of painting producing an informal public arts festival and forum for thinkers, activists and cultural producers to gather. The mural was dubbed “The Wall of Respect” and was initiated by the Organization of Black American Culture (OBAC), a short-lived coalition of artists and thinkers. The diversity of portraits on the wall featured historical figures from the struggle to abolish slavery, labor leaders, Marxists, civil-rights organizers, Afro-centric nationalists, jazz musicians, poets and philosophers. The depiction of a broad spectrum of historical and present day figures provided numerous points of entry for the surrounding community to connect with the work, while they brought their own experiences literally to the streets as the Mural unfolded. One of the photographers of the wall, who was also associated with the broadly defined Black Arts Movement of the time, Bob Crawford has called the Wall of Respect “An outdoor community center.”

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