Portable Gray Review (PGR), which is published in each issue of Portable Gray, takes stock of the city of Chicago’s thriving cultural scene. With an eye for things that may not get covered by more mainstream media outlets, our critics review recent art exhibitions, films, music recordings and performances, dance, new media art, theater, and literature, as well as other cultural objects and happenings that may fall outside of familiar categories. While Chicago-centric, PGR is not Chicago-exclusive, as we also look for unconventional connections that extend far beyond the city limits.
Interested in having your venue covered by Portable Gray Review? Please send press releases to portablegray@uchicago.edu, with the subject line heading: PGR (title of your event, exhibition, etc).
Fall 2025
Pothole3
Stephanie Cristello
A Match Made in Heaven: Katherine Bernhardt x Jeremy Scott
Thomas Love
Raqib Shaw, Paradise Lost
Pia Singh
Macie Stewart, When the Distance is Blue
Matthew Metzger
Rosa Barba: Poised Compression
Nicky Ni
The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869–1939
Ellen Wiese
Spring 2025
Boris “Amplifier Worship Service” Tour
Matthew Metzger
Having a Ball! with the House of Avant Garde
Jennifer Smart
Catland, by Kathryn Hughes
Erik Wenzel
Zachary Sun: Desynchronized Body
Nicky Ni
C. C. Ann Chen: UNGROUND
Ellen Wiese
Nora Turato, pool 6
Gareth Thomas Kaye
Fall 2024
Nicole Eiseman: What Happened, at the MCA Chicago
Erik Wenzel
John Boskovich: Rude Awakening, at Bodenrader, Chicago
Thomas Love
Fire!, Testament
Matthew Metzger
Lanna in Motion: Spirit and Voice of Nature, at the Thai Consulate General-Chicago
Regina Victor
Museum of Post-Punk and Industrial Music
Jennifer Smart
Spring 2024
The Healing Circle by Coco Picard
Anna Searle Jones
Since Time Is Gravity. Natural Information Society Community Ensemble with Ari Brown
Matthew Metzger
Illinoise: A New Kind of Musical
Regina Victor
Fall 2023
Mona Hatoum, Early Works, at the MCA Chicago
Nicky Ni
The Insect Asylum
Ellen Wiese
Natasha Moustache: Lerozyon (L-EURO-ZHUHN), at C33 Gallery
Zaria Sawdijah El-Fil
Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us, by Rachel Aviv
Jessica Musselwhite