Chicago Open Studios

Join us October 26th from 4-8pm.

2233 S Throop Street Chicago, IL 60608

Mana Contemporary Chicago and Monira Foundation are pleased to announce our Fall Open Studios. We invite you to tour the current exhibitions, meet our studio artists, and attend our presentations! This event is free and open to the public.

EXHIBITIONS – on view throughout the duration of the event!

Jonas Mekas, Open Archives

Presented by Monira Foundation

Jonas Mekas, Open Archives is a year-long exhibit at Mana Contemporary Chicago featuring artifacts, items and memorabilia from Mekas personal archives.

Since March of 2020 Open Archives has sent out a weekly digital release offering a glimpse into the personal archives of Jonas Mekas. Every item shared was selected by Sebastian Mekas, Director of the Jonas Mekas Studio, with the goal of keeping the studio practice alive and showing its long term relevance through its diaristic and meticulously cataloged collections of artwork, artifacts, and other materials.An Open Archives presumes a veritable archive. That of Jonas Mekas comprises more than eight decades of collected material of the famed filmmaker, poet and impresario of the avant garde.

Widely recognized as one of foremost pioneers of diaristic cinema – a practice now soundly established with the near ubiquitous presence of YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram stories and reels – more than that, Mekas also maintained a physical record of what he witnessed. A diverse body of material that spans from his departure from his native Lithuania and arrival in New York and early ‘50s encounters with luminaries of the Beat generation, to ‘60s censorship defiance that led him to jail and his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and fast-forwarding, all the way up until the 2010s with his relentless writing, doodling, traveling and his embrace of all the new technologies of our present day.

overhearings 

A site-specific installation by Regina Martinez

This collaborative project led by Experimental Sound Studio and Monira Foundation located at Mana Contemporary Chicago

overhearings is a site-specific sound installation by artist Regina Martinez in response to the peregrine falcons who have resided at Mana Contemporary for over two decades. This 2-channel work will be located in the recesses of Mana’s 4th Floor restroom area. It centers on the idea that, despite our close proximity to these creatures, what we know about the peregrine falcon is what we imagine the falcon to be. It is a story of contrasting textures, call and response and a personal reflection on our projections and compassion.

This installation is supported in part by Brightsign and is a partner in the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial.