SIDEBAR

Sidebar is an ongoing conversation series organized by the Gray Center. We open our doors to the public for an evening of food, drinks, and productive engagement with our invited guests. 

In 2020-2021, Sidebar morphed temporarily into FarBar. Conceived as a way to maintain the ethos of Sidebar for the pandemic moment, FarBar is a vehicle for artistic and scholarly dialogue with practitioners from around the world.

Past events

9

Nov

 Nov 09, 2023, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.

The Gray Center welcomes director, interdisciplinary artist, dancer, and producer, Robyn Mineko Williams to our SIDEBAR series along with current fellows Meredith Dincolo (professional dancer and dance instructor) and Tara Zahra (Hanna Holborn Gray Professor of History at UChicago) for a conversation about dance as history and how artists and historians might develop new forms of embodied historical and artistic practice.

5

Apr

 Apr 05, 2023, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

929 E 60th Street (Midway Studios next to the Logan Center), Chicago

Join us for a conversation with artist Tiffany Chung and curator Zoe Butt, moderated by the Gray Center's Zachary Cahill and Mark Bradley, Faculty Director of the Pozen Family Center for Human Rights. 

29

Sep

 Sep 29, 2022, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
  Logan Center for Arts

915 E 60th Street, Logan Center for Arts, South Lawn

Please join us for a special outdoor Sidebar conversation with Gray Center Fellows Amber Ginsburg,  Sara Black, and Samantha Frost, co-hosted by the Department of Visual Arts' Open Practice Committee (OPC) on Thursday evening, September 29th, on the South Lawn of the Logan Center for the Arts, from 6 -8 pm. 

10

Nov

 Nov 10, 2021, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

929 E. 60th St., University of Chicago
(next to the Logan Center for the Arts)

Emilio Fantin will be screening video footage from performances made in collaboration with the Casa dei Risvegli, a branch of Bologna's Bellariva Hospital dedicated to the recovery of patients emerging from deep-state coma, and survivors of deep-state coma.  Fantin will be in conversation with Milan-based art historian and curator Gabi Scardi and artist Katherine Desjardins from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.

20

Oct

 Oct 20, 2021, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 YouTube Livestream

Link available on Gray Center homepage in advance

Please join us for a special Sidebar conversation with artists Devin T. Mays and Caroline Kent in conversation with UChicago Professor Theaster Gates and the Gray Center's Zachary Cahill

22

Nov

 Nov 22, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab

929 E 60th Street, Chicago, IL

Join us for a special book launch and raffle for Pope.L: Campaign, featuring a conversation with Gray Center Fellows, artist and DoVA faculty member Pope.L and Neubauer Collegium Curator, Dieter Roelstraete; and Gray Center Advisory Council Member and Logan Center Gallery Curator, Yesomi Umolu.

23

Oct

 Oct 23, 2019, 9:30 AM – 9:30 PM
 Midway Studios, University Of Chicago

6016 South Ingleside Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

An interdisciplinary symposium exploring the history and legacy of the 1919 race riots. As the centennial year of the 1919 race riots draws to a close, there is still much to discuss as we strive to understand the causes and legacy of this brutal period in Chicago history. Join us for an interdisciplinary symposium featuring research, art, and theoretical perspectives on the Red Summer. Followed by screening of Within Our Gates (Oscar Micheaux, 1920), featuring live musical accompaniment by DJ Rae Chardonnay. 

Convened by Eve L. Ewing, Assistant Professor, School of Social Service Administration & John Clegg, Collegiate Assistant Professor, Social Sciences. Presented by the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry. Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited so please visit EventBrite to register and see full schedule.

15

May

 May 15, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab

Midway Studios
929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for an evening with Ben R. Caldwell as the artist, renowned L.A. Rebellion filmmaker, and founder of the KAOS Network community arts center in Leimert Park, Los Angeles discusses his multifaceted work and its connection to Afrofuturism. Since 2017 Caldwell has guided the Gray Center's Sankofa City program.

 

1

May

 May 01, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab

Midway Studios
929 E. 60th St
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for an evening with Seth Kim-Cohen as he presents a new performance/lecture that deals with art, music and neoliberalism entitled, Apocalypse Karaoke. Followed by a conversation with Matthew Jesse Jackson, Chair of the Department of Visual Arts.

22

Apr

 Apr 22, 2019, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab

Midway Studios
929 E. 60th St.

Join us for a screening of artist Javier Téllez' recent film, NOSFERATU (The Undead), followed by a conversation with UChicago's W.J.T. Mitchell (Department of English and Art History). Téllez’ film was inspired by Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, the expressionist silent masterpiece directed by F. W. Murnau in 1922. Téllez made the work in collaboration with people living with mental illness after a series of workshops that he conducted on the subjects of vampirism and the representation of psychiatric institutions in film.

3

Apr

 Apr 03, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for a screening and conversation with recent Gray Center Mellon Collaborative Fellows Shannon Lee Dawdy (UChicago Department of Anthropology) and filmmaker Daniel Zox, moderated by Andrea Ford (UChicago Department of Anthropology), that will explore contemporary American attitudes towards death, the body, and different forms of life as they relate to their documentary short, I Like Dirt.

9

Jan

 Jan 09, 2019, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for an evening with artist Faheem Majeed and community-based researcher Aiyah Josiah-Faeduwor as each present their work, dialogue about their collaborative efforts and think through strategies for impactful modes of collaboration. 

14

Nov

 Nov 14, 2018, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
 Gray Center Lab

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

This project stages an improvisational collaboration between local electronic musician Brother El from the south side of Chicago with actors and musicians from Ilkhom and Bata theaters of the post-Soviet south, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. 

10

Oct

 Oct 10, 2018, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
 Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The second part of an Afrofuturism symposium organized and moderated by Ytasha Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, and architect Antwane Lee. This evening’s panel includes D. Denenge Akpem (artist, School of the Art Institute), David Boykin (Saxophonist/Composer), Dr. Daniel Holz (physicist, UChicago) and Floyd Webb (Filmmaker/Curator).

7

Oct

 Oct 07, 2018, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 Oriental Institute

1155 E 58th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The first part of an Afrofuturism symposium organized and moderated by Ytasha Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, and architect Antwane Lee. This evening’s panel includes comic book expert Dr. Stanford W. Carpenter, and scholars from the Oriental Institute, Dr. Brian Muhs, Dr. Tasha Vorderstrasse and Dr. Bruce Williams.

8

May

 May 08, 2018, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry

Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios, 929 E. 60th St.

SIDEBAR welcomes Gray Center Mellon Collaborative Fellows Patrick Jagoda (University of Chicago Department of English) and Thenmozhi Soundararajan (activist, transmedia artist and theorist) in conversation about their fellowship project, Imagining Futures.

22

Feb

 Feb 22, 2018, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.

SIDEBAR welcomes internationally acclaimed Spanish artist Antoni Miralda, and University of Chicago anthropologist Stephan Palmié to the Gray Center Lab for a conversation on the intersection of food, art, and other forms of cultural exchange.

18

Jan

 Jan 18, 2018, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.

SIDEBAR welcomes art historian Darby English (University of Chicago) and artist and educator Matthew Metzger to the Gray Center Lab for a conversation on how optical, political, physical and historical contingencies impact the ways in which we perceive and understand color.

8

Dec

 Dec 08, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

SIDEBAR welcomes internationally renowned artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, curator Omar Kholeif and scholar W.J.T Mitchell (University of Chicago, Department of English) to the Gray Center Lab for a lecture and conversation exploring Abu Hamdan's work on the politics of listening and visuality. The discussion will center on Abu Hamdan's work as a "private ear," and his projects that deal with the intersection of politics and legality in the Middle East and abroad. 

10

Nov

 Nov 10, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Artist Dan Peterman and physicist Heinrich Jaeger discuss how their collaboration generated the sculptural installation Slipping and Jamming: Variable Installation of Z-Forms, on view in the William Eckhardt Research Center through November 30, 2017.

3

Nov

 Nov 03, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for an evening of food, drinks and conversation featuring a presentation by London-based writer and editor Malu Halasa, followed by a Q&A with curator Omar Kholeif.

30

Sep

 Sep 30, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The Gray Center is kicking off the fall with a new edition of SIDEBAR. Join us for an evening of food, drinks, and conversation with artist Tony Cokes. The discussion will focus on current interests within Coke's practice, which locates itself at the intersection of conceptual art, theory, politics, and pop-music. The conversation will be moderated by Gray Center curator Zachary Cahill

28

Jul

 Jul 28, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Sidebar is back!!! The Gray Center will be hosting a conversation with artist, Cauleen Smith and Robert Bird (University of Chicago, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, The Department of Cinema Media & Studies ) to discuss manifestos, utopian visions, cinema of/for the future, and their work on the upcoming exhibition Revolution Every Day at the Smart Museum of Art. 

2

Jun

 Jun 02, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The Gray Center continues its Sidebar series with a public conversation featuring curator at ICA Philadelphia Anthony Elms, and writer, critic, and curator Jan Verwoert.

26

May

 May 26, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

The Gray Center is excited to inaugurate our Sidebar series with a discussion between art historian Gwen Allen and Gray Center curator Zachary Cahill. Sidebar is a new series of conversations and events hosted by the Gray Center. This edition will focus on the ways in which artists use the magazine as "an alternative medium and experimental space."