Revolutionary Frequencies: exhibition, roundtable, performance, dance party (2025)

A celebration of music, dance, art, friendship, queer life, love, thought, and resistance!

This project at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry for Revolutionary Frequencies,  brought together artists and scholars to celebrate revolutionary frequencies and their embodied and gestural histories. Built on oft quoted adage: “If I can’t dance it’s not my revolution” we invite you to join us to dialogue, listen, and move together to build on the histories of dance and resistance from ACT UP to Chicago’s House scene and Tbilisi’s underground queer resistance.

The evening began with “Chronicles of Resistance,” an exhibition by photographer and DJ Dato Koridze documenting the role that the underground queer dance scene has played in the recent demonstrations in Tbilisi, Georgia.  After the exhibition reception, we convened a roundtable discussion about dance and resistance with Theaster Gates, Thomas DeFrantz, Kris Trujilo, Jonathan Flatley, DJ Duane Powell, Dato Koridze, and Uta Bekaia, moderated by Leah Feldman. This was  followed bya performance by drag artist Miss Angelíca Grace, Empress Darling Shear and Uta Bekaia featuring costumes by Bekaia.  Which immediately led kicked off a dance party with DJ sets by Citizens Union (Dato Koridze) and DJ Duane Powell.

Awi’nakola Chicago (2023)

Awi’nakola means “we are one with the land and the sea.” It was also chosen as the name for a foundation started by a group of Indigenous knowledge keepers, scientists, and artists working together to find effective responses to the climate crisis and educate others through the process.

Art forms a central part of Awi’nakola through the work of artists Rande Cook (Ma’amtagila), Lindsay Katsitsakatste Delaronde (Kanienke’haka), Kelly Richardson, and Paul Walde—all based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia—and Chicago-based curator Stephanie Smith. Awi’nakola Chicago 2023 was a week-long visit of conversations during which the artists connected with Chicago-area colleagues and members of the public, shared ideas, and planted seeds toward future collaborations.

For more about Awi’nakola, visit https://www.awinakola.com

On Drawing Drawing On (2022)

This program brought together almost 40 artists and scholars from various genres and disciplines to explore how drawing is at once a catalyst for shaping reality, a middle place between being and becoming, and a fully realized work of art in its own right.

Download the exhibition guide and essay.

Watch two video tours of the exhibition led by curators Zachary Cahill and Mike Schuh.

Busan Biennale (2021)

In partnership with the Busan Biennale, the University of Chicago’s Center for East Asian Studies Committee on Korean Studies, and Empty Bottle Presents, the Gray Center was pleased to support a year-long series of projects with artists, musicians, and writers.

The Busan Biennale 2020 was originally conceived and presented in South Korea by artistic director Jacob Fabricius. Together with curator Stephanie Cristello, they reimagined Words at an Exhibition《열 장의 이야기와 다섯 편의 시》an exhibition in ten chapters and five poems for a Chicago audience as The Chicago Chapter.