School of the Art Institute of Chicago
112 S. Michigan Ave., suite 512
Chicago, IL 60603
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) presents a new season of Conversations at the Edge—a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
Organized by the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and the Video Data Bank, events take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street, unless otherwise noted.
Sally Cruikshank’s Cabaret
September 29, 6pm
Since the 1970s, Sally Cruikshank has produced some of the most mind-bending independent animations of her generation. Cruikshank presents work from throughout her four-decade career, including contributions to the popular children’s series Sesame Street and recent projects.
Jenny Perlin: The Perlin Papers
October 6, 6pm
Jenny Perlin (MFA 1998) presents The Perlin Papers (2006–12), an unsettling exploration of the United States’ culture of paranoia during the Cold War. The project draws from an archive of FBI files kept on hundreds of people tangentially related to the case and brings the era’s darkest moments into conversation with state surveillance today.
Temporary Highs
October 13, 6pm
Temporary Highs is a series of linked exhibitions by curator Lindsay Howard that explores how the structure of the internet enables reward-seeking behavior in a compulsive cycle of sharing and consumption. This screening features works by Pascual Sisto, Addie Wagenknecht, and Petra Cortright, among others.
Sara Magenheimer: Slow Zoom Long Pause
October 20, 6pm
Sara Magenheimer’s arresting videos mix humor and playfulness with a sophisticated inquiry into language and meaning-making. Using visual puns, graphics, and text-to-voice computer programs, her work explores the slippery dimensions of communication. Presented in collaboration with the Video Data Bank.
Nicolás Pereda: Minotaur and The Palace
October 27, 6pm
Nicolás Pereda’s extraordinary films intertwine documentary and narrative to portray everyday life in Mexico. In his first Chicago appearance, he presents The Palace (2013) and Minotaur (2015). Presented in collaboration with the Mary and Leigh Block Museum.
Paul Kos: Sympathetic Vibrations
November 3, 6pm
A key figure in West Coast performance and conceptual art, Paul Kos makes poetic and often playful works from humble materials. In this rare evening with the artist, Kos presents a collection of videos made across 40 years and discusses the principles of his practice. Presented in collaboration with the Video Data Bank.
Jacolby Satterwhite
November 10, 6pm
Jacolby Satterwhite combines dance, 3D animation, and the family archive in vast digital phantasmagorias that explore memory, desire, and black gay identity. He shows selections from his groundbreaking Reifying Desire series (2012–14) and new work.
Brett Story: The Prison in Twelve Landscapes
November 17, 6pm
Award-winning filmmaker and geographer Brett Story presents The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, an absorbing meditation on the unexpected ways prison shapes lives and landscapes beyond its walls. Shot across the United States, the film highlights ordinary places tied to the penal system by location, family, and economy.
Text of Light and Films by László Moholy-Nagy
December 1, 6pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium
230 S. Columbus Dr.
Free, registration required (see website for details)
Film and photography played central roles in the work of pioneering artist and designer László Moholy-Nagy. For this program, the improvisational music group Text of Light (Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, Tim Barnes) performs alongside a selection of Moholy-Nagy’s radically inventive works including the spectacular Lightplay: Black-White-Gray (1930). Presented in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the exhibition Moholy-Nagy: Future Present.
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. For more information, please visit saic.edu.
