Tag: version

  • Offsite: Quimby's Opens Pop Up Shop In Bridgeport on May 11th & 12th as Part of Version 12: Bridgeport: The Community of the Future


    Version Festival     is an annual arts festival produced by the Public Media Institute, makers of Lumpen magazine, Proximity magazine and producers of the MDW Fair and other events and festivals. This year Version festival is opening or remixing twelve different Pop Up enterprises in the neighborhood of Bridgeport throughout the month of May. Quimby’s Bridgeport pops up along side cultural workers ,community developers, urban entrepreneurs, artists, designers, foodies, public space hackers, urban planners, cultural geographers, and dreamers.

    Quimby’s was part of the first pop up experiments that the Public Media Institute introduced to the neighborhood back in 2006. This year Quimby’s return to bring the denizens of the neighborhood a taste of Quimbys Bookstore. A selection of the finest independent zines, periodicals and books will be available.

    Quimby’s Bridgeport pop-up will be open May 11th and 12th, from 11AM to 6PM. The shop is located at  755 W 32nd Street, right behind the Blue City Bike shop on Halsted Street.

    More info: www.versionfest.org

    Quimbys Bridgeport temporary pop up shop
    At  755 W 32nd St, Chicago, IL 60616
    May 11th and 12th, from 11AM to 6PM

    Please note this event is NOT at Quimby’s in Wicker Park.

  • Version Festival 12: Bridgeport The Community of the Future Kickstarter

    The Version festival, co-produced by Public Media Institute (PMI), is asking for crowd-funding. See their pitch is below.


    What happens when you invite cultural workers, community developers,  entrepreneurs, artists, designers, foodies, public space hackers, urban planners, cultural geographers, and dreamers to swarm a neighborhood and transform it for one month? Version 12: Bridgeport: The Community of the Future.

    This May 2012, we’re inviting you to come visit us in Bridgeport, a Chicago neighborhood, and join in on our month-long urban experiment. During the Eleventh Annual Version Festival, we will be opening and remixing twelve temporary spaces, businesses, enterprises and projects, all to celebrate the neighborhood we love and call home. And then we’re going to use these places as home bases, networks, and maps, all to energize our local environs for long-term change – but we need your help to make it happen.

    Right now our plans include opening up the following: a bookstore, a music/performance space in a church, a home brewing clubhouse, a department store/gallery showcasing locally manufactured small batch and artisanal products, nomadic collaborative restaurants and community kitchens, parking lot flea markets, a neighborhood tourism bureau, a donut shop /art gallery and couple of exhibition spaces for artists and designers. A new holiday, Bridgeport Day, will be celebrated, and a bunch of new publications and projects will be launched as well.

    One thing we are super excited about is the Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMALL), a new organization that promotes companies and individuals who make locally manufactured products.  The organization will open the SMALL Showroom at our gallery the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and publish the SMALL Directory.

    This year, we’re also launching a new publication: Mash Tun: A Craft Beer Journal. Mash Tun is a paean to craft beer. It follows the pleasures and aesthetics of craft beer and how it intersects with food, culture, and society.  It will come out during Chicago Craft Beer Week ( May 17-27),  with its own mini festival during Version, the Mash Tun Fest.

    All the funds we raise will be used to rent spaces, pay our licensing and permit fees, rent equipment and produce marketing materials to promote the festival.

    Thanks for your support! We’ll see you soon in Bridgeport, the Community of the Future.

  • THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing in Chicago 4/23 and 4/24


    Version 11: The Community. Announces the creation of The MDW Fair: Visual Arts Landing in Chicago

    THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing
    At Geolofts, 3636 South Iron Street, Chicago, IL, 60608
    Saturday, April 23rd: 1-10pm
    Sunday, April 24th: 1-6pm
    www.mdwfair.org
    Admission: $5

    Public Media Institute, Roots & Culture and threewalls have created The MDW Fair, a first annual gathering of independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries, publishers and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond. With over 50 participants, The MDW Fair demonstrates the diversity, strength and vision of the people and places that make up the rich art ecology of our region. Launched at Version 11: The Community, The MDW Fair is a rare chance to encounter the creators of the vibrant art ecology of our region.

    Held April 23-24, 2011 at The Geolofts, 3636 S. Iron Street, Chicago, the fair features 501(c)3, commercial and unincorporated galleries, independent curatorial projects, publishers and media groups in over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space that includes a 8,000 square foot sculpture garden with work by local artists featuring: Mike Andrews, Dayton Castleman, Jacob C. Hammes, Jesse Harrod, Cody Hudson, Daniel Lavitt, Heather Mekkelson, Brian Murer, The Mt. Baldy Expedition: James Barry and Hui-min Tsen, Ben Stone, and Patrick Willi.

    In addition to exhibitions by participating spaces, local podcasters Bad At Sports will host a live game-show and panel discussions will be scheduled throughout fair hours chaired by Britton Bertran, Jamilee Polson, Lorelei Stewart and Steve Ruiz.

    The MDW Fair is a manifestation of the collective spirit behind the region’ s most innovative visual cultural organizers, focusing on the breadth of work done here by artists and arts-facilitators alike. Please join us and see why Chicago remains a center of ingenuity and talent. Participants include: Twelve Galleries, Peregrine Program, Western Exhibitions, Alderman Exhibitions, ACRE, 65GRAND, Roots and Culture, Lloyd Dobler, Flat 9 Prelude, Adds Donna, Johalla Projects, Devening Projects, Linda Warren Gallery, Green Gallery, Sidecar Gallery, Pentagon Gallery, Post Family, Iceberg Projects, Slow, Reuben Kincaid, The Hills Esthetic Center, Ebersmoore, Antenna, University of Illinois at Chicago, LVL3, No Coast, JNL Graphic Design, Roxaboxen, Packer Schopf Gallery, Monument II, Stockyard Institute, Harold Arts, Heaven Gallery, The Suburban, ZG Gallery, Regional Relationships, The Storefront, Hornswaggler, University of Chicago, 2nd Bedroom/TAG TEAM, Chicago Arts Review, Oxbow, Bad At Sports, What It Is, The Hyde Park Art Center, threewalls, The Cultural Center, Rebuild Foundation, The Chicago Urban Art Society and others

    Visit the MDWfair.org website for updates

  • Hear ye Hear ye! Opportunities For You

    Here’s some oppportunities to submit your work or ideas that we thought you might appreciate:

    For Version 11 Festival and Related Activity:

    Version 11: The Community
    April 22 to May 1, 2011
    Chicago • USA

    A Call For Proposals.
    Deadline March 26, 2011

    “These years of recession, insolvency, uncertainty, and calamity have affected us in ways we couldn’tve imagined before. The debt crisis, atomized and divisive political culture, a lethargic economy that sees almost one of out of eight people out of work, and attacks on our collective social welfare can only mean one thing: It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

    But there is hope. In the dusty corners of the world, individuals, friends, collaborators, and affinity groups are cementing bonds and creating methods for survival in this so-called “marketplace” where we all work, play, and inhabit. These artists, art workers, writers, activists, and organizers (also their enthusiasts, supporters, and fans) still believe in growing the gardens of our social and cultural ecology, despite the hardships we collectively endure.

    Version 11 is a celebration of the Chicago communities — projects, spaces, groups, individuals — creating their own strategies for participatory economies,  co-prosperity, and the pursuit of genuine happiness. Version will demonstrate the possible, celebrate the impossible, and showcase the ingenuity, spirit and passion that create The Community we aspire to take part in together. This is an invitation to share your community, your goals, your dreams for a better Community of the Future. It’s all we have left.

    Produced by the Public Media Institute, a non profit 501(c)(3) arts organization, Version is an annual arts convergence that brings together hundreds of artists, cultural workers, and educators from around the world to present some of the most challenging ideas and progressive art initiatives of our day. The ten day festival showcases emerging trends in art, technology and music.

    The festival presents a diverse program of activities featuring an exposition/art fair called The MDW Fair, guest curated exhibitions, a massive reenactment of the Haymarket Square riot, community garden projects, public interventions, video screenings, performances, live art, presentations, talks, workshops, art rendezvous and action.

    Email Proposals with Subject Line: Version 11 to edmarlumpen (at) gmail.com

    Please send us a 100-300 word description of your proposal.

    We are accepting proposals for these platforms:

    Free University (FREE U)
    Each year Version features workshops, presentations, demonstrations, talks, lectures and classes within the framework of the Free University platform. Ideas for provocations and projects as well as instructional guides, lecture and class ideas are welcome.

    Performance/ Interventions/ Mobile Projects
    Performance art in site specific locations, picnics, tours, public interventions, asphalt canoeing, anarchist marching bands, creative disturbances in public space are important components of the festival. Initiatvies by space hijackers and performance artists of all stripes welcome.

    Call for TEXTS Proximity 009
    This year     Proximity magazine will be releasing it’s Community themed issue covering the Chicago art worlds. It’s a revisiting of issues addressed in Issue #1. Send a proposal very very soon.

    The MDW Fair: visual arts landing in Chicago
    CHICAGO: threewalls, Roots and Culture and Public Media Institute announce The MDW Fair, a gathering of alternative art initiatives, spaces, galleries and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area. Held April 22-23, 2011 at The Iron Studios, 3636 S. Iron Street, The MDW Fair will demonstrate the diversity, strength and vision of the people/places making it happen in the art ecology of our region.

    The fair features for-profit, 501(c)3, and commercial and unincorporated galleries, independent curatorial projects and publishers and media groups in over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space that includes a 10,000 square foot sculpture garden with work by local artists. The MDW Fair is a manifestation of the collective spirit behind the region’s most innovative visual cultural organizers, focusing on the breadth of work done here by artists and arts-facilitators alike. Participants include: threewalls, Roots and Culture, Reuben Kincaid, ebersmoore, Antenna, OxBow, The Suburban, ACRE, Iceberg Projects, The Post Family and more.

    The MDW Fair is currently accepting proposals from independent curators due April 1st. Please send a project description and up to 10 images of proposed work to mdwfair@gmail(dot)com. “


    From The Wunderkabinet:

    “We’ve played our exhibitions close to the heart of late and forgone on the open calls, but the upcoming transformation of The Wunderkabinet into No. 3/The Reading Raum has us wanting to reach out to writers and zinesters around the globe. We’ll be splitting the kabinet into two components: ‘for sale’ & ‘read-only’. This means that if you’re more into the collecting than the making, you could lend or donate zines to the exhibition. Of course, if you’re a maker of zines, books, and related ephemera, we want to hear from you, too! The deadline to get in touch with us is March 25 – please do so if you have any questions. Submission guidelines can be found HERE! No. 3 will open in mid-May and run for the summer.”

    Thanks to Edmar  and Becky for the info!

  • Version Fest Time Again

    Spring is in the air and so is impending arty madness. Its the time of year coked out art vampires don sunblock to go out of their bat caves once again and the smelly art kids return to the streets to fight the man and their boredom with a mix of dance moves and wheat pasted stickiness. In a dark void somewhere in between these two groups Version >08 is taking place. So check out the website for full schedule and to make sure you don’t miss any of the fun!