Art On TheMART Livestream Series Continues Tomorrow

The latest Art on theMART Facebook livestream, scheduled for Wednesday, May 27 at 7 p.m. CT, will feature site-specific commissions by internationally recognized artists Charles Atlas and Petra Cortright as well as passages from John Boesche's "7 soliloquies." The program was originally projected onto the façade of theMART in September 2019.

Charles Atlas' approximately eight-minute piece, "Geometry of Thought," is broken down into one-minute chapters which each feature a characteristic combination of abstract shapes and numerals. Chapters begin with a splash of color that starts at the base of theMART's façade and rises to the top of the turrets, animating and exploring the structure and architecture of theMART.

In Petra Cortright's site-specific commission "Webcam still life with flowers: blue, green, and red," the artist explores merging her painting and video practices.a??The work blurs the lines between the two using a range of technical and figurative modes key to her work in both fields. The result reflects the incredibly intimate and low fi approaches in which Cortright works, translated to a grand scale.

Also on the program is a selection of John Boesche's "7 soliloquies," a multi-part projection piece that was created as part of the 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre celebration including "To Be In Love," a piece featuring performance by Cheryl Lynn Bruce and original artwork by Kerry James Marshall.

Please note that the worksa??will nota??actually be projected onto the façade of theMART and can only be viewed through Facebook.a??a??Following thea??livestream, the program will be available for viewing ata??artonthemart.com/video.

Charles Atlas has been a pioneering figure in film and video for over four decades. Atlas has extended the limits of his medium, forging new territory in a far-reaching range of genres, stylistic approaches and techniques. Throughout his production, the artist has consistently fostered collaborative relationships, working intimately with such artists and performers as Leigh Bowery, Michael Clark, Douglas Dunn, Marina Abramovic, Yvonne Rainer, Mika Tajima/New Humans, Antony and The Johnsons, and most notably Merce Cunningham, for whom he served as in-house videographer for a decade from the early 1970s through 1983; their close working relationship continued until Cunningham's death in 2009.a??

John Boesche

From Broadway theater productions to performances by premiere dance companies, John Boesche is an acclaimed Chicago-based media designer with a diverse creative background. Locally, he has worked on productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Goodman Theatre, Joffrey Ballet Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre and many more. He has also worked on dozens of productions nationwide, including "The Glass Menagerie" on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre. Since 2012, Boesche has been Chair of Digital Media for Live Performance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Petra Cortright's core practice is the creation and distribution of digital and physical images using consumer or corporate softwares. She became renowned for making self-portrait videos that use her computer's webcam and default effects tools, which she would then upload to YouTube and caption with spam text. Cortright's paintings on aluminum, linen, paper or acrylic are created in Photoshop using painting software and appropriated images, icons and marks. The digital files are endlessly modifiable, but at a "decisive moment" they are translated into two-dimensional objects. They become finite, yet their range of motifs and marks, and their disorienting perspectives and dimensions suggest dynamic change.