Portable Gray

Dedicated to weirdness found at the heart of the arts and scholarship(s). Portable Gray is an interdisciplinary journal that ranges across practices. Contributors recast their disciplines through evolving models of experimentation with artistic and scholarly form by featuring essays, interviews, poetry, musical compositions, and heretofore unnamed academic research. Subscriptions and individual issues can be purchased in both digital and print formats, with one free article available for download per issue.

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Our tenth issue is dedicated to family, offering a kaleidoscopic view on the subject with contributions from Brook Andrew, Aalap Ooha Bommaraju, Leslie Buxbaum, Isis Ferguson, Michelle Millar Fisher, Natasha Ginwala, Paul Gray, Ghenwa Hayek, Brent Heyl, Shane Heyl, Kyrin Hobson, Megan Jeyifo, David J. Levin, Glenn Ligon, Duncan MacKenzie, India Martin, Devin T. Mays, Erin McKeown, Deborah Nelson, Julia Phillips, Haynes Riley, Qudsiyyah Shariyf, Justin D. Williams, Kate Zambreno and the Chicago Abortion Fund.

 

Our ninth issue, edited by Seth Brodsky, centers on the theme "Arts of Psychoanalysis" and features wide-ranging contributions from Adam Blum, Ric Burns*, Eve L. Ewing, Melissa Friedling, Peter Goldberg, Max Guy, Pierre Huyghe, Anna Kornbluh, Michael Levin, Ruslana Lichtzier, William T.S. Mazzarella, John Neff, Lara Sheehi, Lawrence Rothfield*, Cassandra Troyan, and Hannah Zeavin.

 

Our eighth issue is our Earth issue and features contributions from Tenley Bick, Ron Broglio, Andrea Carlson, Alvin Curran, Sean Griffin, Susan Gzesh, Karin Hellqvist, Julie Marie Lemon, Jacob Henry Leveton, Liza Lim, Damon Locks, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, W.J.T. Mitchell, Dan Paz, Jennifer Scappettone, Paul Sereno, Jill Sterrett, and Abigail Winograd.

 

The seventh issue is the FarBar issue, a program developed by Gray Center Interim Director Ghenwa Hayek in response to limitations imposed by early COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Contributions to this issue come directly from FarBar participants or individuals whose work extends from the program: Kyle Beachy, Mark Bradley, Zoe Butt, Stephanie Cristello, Jen Ding, Patrick Flores, Mark Gonzales, Amira Hanafi, Nathalie Joachim, Dr. Omar Kholeif CF FRSA, Emily Hooper Lansana, Wale Lawal, Maud Lavin, Ryan Lay, Bea Santiago Muñoz, Sid Nagel*, Aram Sabbah, Alexis Sablone, Nick Sharratt, and Jacqueline Stewart.

 

Our sixth issue doubles as the exhibition catalog for Another Idea, which was organized by the Gray Center's Zachary Cahill and Mike Schuh during the summer of 2020 and features contributions by Zarouhie Abdalian, Carris Adams, Victor Burgin, Julia Eckhardt, Chelsea A. Flowers, Theaster Gates, Liam Gillick, Renée Green, Susan Hiller, Kyle Bellucci Johanson, Gloria Maximo , Devin T. Mays, Antoni Miralda, Pope.L, Cauleen Smith, Mami Takahashi, Philip von Zweck,  Gillian Wearing and a catalog essay by Jan Verwoert.
 

Our fifth issue of Portable Gray centers on the theme "horror as a way of life" and features contributions by Carris Adams, Morehshin Allahyari, Fadi (the fdz) Baki*, Robert Bird*, Greg Burris, Zachary Cahill, Peter Cole, Franklin N. Cosey Gay, Alireza Doostdar, Anthony Elms, Marc Fischer, Myles Francis, Danny Giles, Corinne Halbert, Nancy Rose Hunt, Jenn M. Jackson, Omar Kholeif, Sydney Lawrence, Catherine Malabou, Mike Mignola, Natacha Nsabimana, Antoinette Raggs, Jared Richardson, Dieter Roelstraete*, Amelia Umuhire, and Hamza Walker. (Cover by Mike Mignola)

 

Fourth issue explores the theme of reality theater with contributions from Peter Ablinger, Kyle Beachy, Seth Brodsky, Zachary Cahill, Elizabeth Chodos, Sarah Curran, David Finkelstein, Pamela Hieronymi, Joshua Jay, Sarah J. Johnson, Julia Kuo*, David J. Levin, Antoni Miralda*, Stephan Palmié*, Monica Peek*, Mike Schuh, Edra Soto, Catherine Sullivan*, Elizabeth Tung*, Philip von Zweck, and Andrea Zittel. (On the cover: Pamela Hieronymi (center) in a scene from The Good Place. Photo: Colleen Hayes/NBC.)

 

 

Third issue takes up the the themes of documents, plans, schemes and dreams with contributions from Bill Brown*, Ted Brown*, Zuleikha Chaudhari, Romi Crawford*, Edgar Garcia, Wills Glasspiegel, Judy Hoffman, Omar Khouri, Lisa Yun Lee, Karega Kofi Moyo, Carla Nappi, Canice Prendergast, Mike Schuh, David Schutter, Jacqueline Stewart, Studio R-A, Adam Szymczyk, Abigail Winograd*, and Jamila Woods, with special edition insert (print only) by Theaster Gates*. (This issue has three different covers by Karega Kofi Moyo, courtesy of The Black Image Corporation).

 

Second issue is organized around the twin themes of  sound and music with contributions from Lawrence Abu Hamdan*, Robert Bird*, Seth Brodsky, Africa Brown & Maggie Brown, Yao Chen*, Majel Connery, Stephanie Cristello, Mladen Dolar, Robyn Farrell, Kim Gordon, Ted Gordon, Shannon Harris, Hannah B Higgins*, Jessica Hopper, John Kannenberg, Glenn Kotche*, Barbara McCullough, W. J. T. Mitchell*, Steven Rings*, Jennifer Scappettone*, Cauleen Smith*, Naomi Waltham-Smith, Ytasha L. Womack, Judith Zeitlin*, and Philip von Zweck (cover by Kim Gordon).

 

First issue  brings together  thematic materially having to do with art and politics with contributions from Gwen Allen, Tania Bruguera, Ben Caldwell, Eve L. Ewing, Leigh Fagin, Susan Gzesh*, Sandi Hilal & Alessandro Petti (DAAR), Patrick Jagoda*, Pope.L*, Deiter Roelstreate*, Thenmozhi Soundararajan*, Jacqueline Stewart,  Yesomi Umolu, and Jan Verwoert (cover by Dieter Roelstaete* and Pope.L*). 

 

* Indicates recipient of the Andrew Mellon Collaborative Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry.

 

Executive editors: Seth Brodsky (2019-2020, 2021-ongoing), Ghenwa Hayek (2020), Jacqueline Stewart (2018-2019)
Editor-in-chief: Zachary Cahill
Senior Editor: Mike Schuh
Managing Editor: Naomi Blumberg
Contributing Editor: Sabrina Craig
Design: David Khan-Giordano