Introducing: Platypus
The producers are more than ever thrown back on theory … by virtue of insistent self-criticism. … Following the schematic division of physical and mental labour, they split themselves up into workers...
View ArticleContested Chicago: Pilsen and Gentrification
The term “parachuting” is probably familiar to anyone who has ever worked on a community-specific public project. It is a word that public artists and activists alike dread, as it is usually remarked...
View ArticleDaniel Block
Daniel Block’s recent study is entitled Where are the Tomatoes? Supermarket Access and LINK Card utilization in the Chicago Area. The geographic study explores the distribution of food markets...
View ArticleNeoliberal Appetites
I’d like to begin this text with a little anecdote. Recently, I spent some time in New York City. Having lived outside the US for some fifteen years now, one of the things you wonder about when you...
View ArticleCoercive Consumption
In October 2005, the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC)* published a study mapping the distribution of major player supermarkets in Chicago, against the racial and economic patterns of the city...
View ArticleInheriting The Grid #1
AREA Begins In the mid-spring months of 2005, I started meeting regularly with Jim Duignan, an artist and educator who has been initiating a wide range of collaborative projects under the name of the...
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Inhabiting and Learning Together: Tracing the first five years of AREA Chicago
An earlier version of this essay was written in May 2011 for a “Pedagogic Notebook” edited by Sitesize (Spain), but was revised in March 2012 for publication in areachicago.org. “Healthy social...
View ArticleIntroducing: InCubate
Institute for Community Understanding Between Art and The Everyday (InCUBATE) is a research institute and residency program dedicated to challenging current infrastructures, specifically those which...
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Crayola Architecture: Architecture for Humanity and Public Interest Design in...
In April 2013, Charlie Branda, a long-time Old Town resident and mother of two, brought together the Near North Unity Program and Architecture for Humanity Chicago to help realize her vision of a...
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Protecting Children? Race and Child Welfare in the United States
A previous version of this piece appeared on usprisonculture.com. The American Child Welfare system is characterized by significant and durable patterns of racial disparity. While the character of...
View ArticleIntroducing… Chain Reaction
“Chain Reaction: Alternatives to Calling Police” was a grassroots effort organized in Chicago from 2011–2013 by members of Project NIA and the Chicago Prison Industrial Complex Teaching Collective. We...
View ArticleGiven and Chosen: Talking to Family About Sexuality
Participatory Action Research on Family-Supported Conversations About Sexuality From October 2012 through June 2013, youth at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH) set out to expand dominant...
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