Immerse yourself

The WNDR Museum, an immersive artistic and technological experience, has reopened its doors with new exhibitions featuring unique new and ongoing installations created by local and international artists, collectives and studios. New exhibits include the Flux Room, a 360-degree multisensory immersive experience curated by Chicago artist Santiago X, and “I Heard There Was a Secret Chord,” a piece created by Montreal design studio Daily every year. days, which invites participants to participate in a virtual choir hosted by people from all over the world listening to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at any time. Among the current exhibitions is the fabulous immersive work of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama “Let’s Survive Forever”. In addition, “Untitled (FDR NY) # 23 and # 24” by Keith Haring is now on display outside the museum. Find out all about it at the WNDR Museum, 1130 W. Monroe. Timed tickets, $ 30, must be purchased in advance. Visit wndruseum.com.

Across the universe

Art on theMART is collaborating with the Adler Planetarium to transform the facade of the Merchandise Mart into a blend of art and science. The new projection on the art deco building, entitled “Astrography”, consists of four movements – Earth, other worlds, stars and beyond – which take the viewer from Earth to planets and stars and into the depths of the galaxy. The projections were created using real data showing the scale of the universe as well as images from telescopes of the world and Adler’s paper works. The exhibition will be accompanied by music from the archives of Sun Ra Arkestra at the Experimental Sound Studio. The 30-minute “Astrography” takes place every evening at 8:30 pm and 9 pm from April 1 to July 4. For more information, visit artonthemart.com.

For Oscar votes

Copyright ShortsTV

Get a head start in your Oscar pool by projecting the Short films nominated for the 2021 Oscars presented by ShortsTV. Documentaries include “A Love Song for Latasha,” a portrait of a young girl whose gunshot death sparked the 1992 LA riots, and “Do Not Split,” the story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. . Live-action films include “Feeling Through,” about a teenager’s connection to a deafblind man, and “White Eye,” which follows a man as he tries to retrieve his stolen bicycle. Nominated in the animation category is Disney-Pixar’s “Burrow”, about a young rabbit’s desire to build the burrow of his dreams. The films are available from April 2 in various Chicago and suburban theaters and on their virtual platforms. The 93^rd The Oscars take place on April 25. For more information, visit tickets.oscar-shorts.com.

Young circus artists

Dan Roberts

CircEsteem, the Uptown organization whose mission is to unite young people and promote self-esteem and mutual respect through the circus arts, presents Celebration of the social circus day, an online event featuring social circuses from around the world. In addition to live segments, the lineup includes performances recorded by the performance group Youth Acts of CircEsteem, Circus Harmony (St. Louis), ENC of Puerto Rico, Fern Street Circus (San Diego), Red Nose Foundation (Indonesia), Trenton Circus Squad (New Jersey) and Zip Zap Circus (South Africa). Broadcasts at 5 p.m. on April 3. Tickets: free or pay what you can. Visit circestimate.org.

Color your world

Provided

The Chicago Children’s Theater and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute collaborated on “Maybe something beautiful” a new virtual short film for children and families. Inspired by the award-winning book by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael López, the film brings together five CSO musicians performing classic works by Latino composers, bilingual English-Spanish narration and colorful puppets to tell a true story about the how art can transform a neighborhood into a world of hope and beauty. The free movie debuts at 10 a.m. on April 1 at an event co-hosted by CCT and CSO and available on demand thereafter. Visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org or cso.org/tv.

biblical inspiration

Candice Conner

The Conspirators present the return of “Jesus Christ Superstar Do-It-Yourself Messiah Complex,” its annual Easter variety and sing-along extravaganza. The vaudeville-style show features performances of songs from the 1970 recording of the classic musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Performances can range from a simple song on a karaoke track to a modern or burlesque dance piece. On the program: Saint Sparklebear, the Cryptid Kid, David Cerda & Friends, Mari DeOleo, Sid Feldman, les Vaudettes, Danielle Levsky, Nathaniel Fishburn, Carey Farrell & the Clamor & Lace Noise Brigade, Sarah Bullion, Gail Gallagher, Jeff Churchwell, Caroline Shaul, Cocktail Jordan & Pearly White, Brian Nemtusak and Rose Freeman, all hosted by Wm. Lingots. Stream for free at 7 p.m. on April 4. Visit conspirewithus.org.

Virtual stage

Courtesy of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater

In the filmed setting of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater by Tim Crouch “Me, Cinna (the poet)”, the apolitical poet Cinna from “Julius Caesar” seeks the subject of his new poem in this exploration of words and actions, protests and power. Broadcasts from April 5 to May 2. Tickets: $ 25. Visit chicago.shakes.com. … The Remy Bumppo Theater presents “Artist descending a staircase”, a first radio play by Tom Stoppard in which two elderly artists examine their emotional and artistic histories. Free broadcast from April 5 to 18. Visit remybumppo.org. … Ghostlight Ensemble’s launches its new reading series “For Your (Re) Consideration” with Margaret Cavendish’s “The convent of pleasure”, a play about a group of single women who create their own perfect, self-sustaining society. Broadcast live at 2 p.m. on April 4 and on demand until April 30. Tickets: $ 5 or pay what you can. Visit ghostlightensemble.com/for-your-consideration.

Mary Houlihan is a local freelance writer.

PITTSFIELD – Although Van Shields and Elizabeth McGraw are no longer at the Berkshire Museum, they will come together this week to explain the museum’s drive to sell its most valuable art a few years ago. Those who opposed this sale may or may not be heard.

Shields and McGraw will appear on Thursday as members of an online panel in a symposium titled “Dismissal after 2020,” sponsored by the College of Law and the Graduate Program in Museum Studies at the University of Syracuse.

The Berkshire Museum sale predates the coronavirus pandemic. Claiming it needed to get its finances back on track, the museum fended off legal challenges and opposition from local group Save the Art to sell famous works by Norman Rockwell, Alexander Calder and Albert Bierstadt, among others, raising $ 53.25 million. dollars.

Almost three years later, Shields and McGraw will be part of a panel titled “Regional Museums Make Tough Decisions and Broaden Their Horizons”. It is believed to be the first time the two – Shields, the museum’s former executive director, and McGraw, its former board chair – have joined together to speak publicly about the controversial sale.

When Hope Davis of the Save the Art group learned of the panel’s existence, she asked her organizers to be included. The dean of Syracuse Law School refused, saying the panel was not supposed to debate the merits of the sale.

“This session is not a forum to debate the good or the bad – nor the good or the bad – of these decisions,” wrote Craig M. Boise, the dean, in an e-mail to Davis, declining his request. to join the panel.

Davis said in an interview that she believes the museum divestiture still deserves debate. And she believes the panel’s design, which includes the experience of a small Syracuse museum that sold an artwork in 2020, could distort the context for the Pittsfield sale.

“They are de facto trying to legitimize what they have done,” Davis said. “The Berkshire Museum remains very much in people’s minds. Even though it was an outlier, it was the forerunner of what we are seeing now. “

Boise could not be reached on Tuesday to comment on the composition of the panel.

In two messages to Davis, Boise said that an opponent of the Berkshire Museum art sale was pictured on another panel. This is Nicholas O’Donnell, the Boston attorney who represented three Lenox residents who sought, unsuccessfully, to block the sale.

Boise also said the symposium includes “at least two distinguished museum executives – Michael Conforti and Tom Campbell – who are very conservative in their outlook.” Conforti is a former director of the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown.

If organizers intended to foster debate at Thursday’s panel with Shields and McGraw, Boise said a group like Save the Art would have been included, along with people critical of a sale by the other museum represented on the same panel, the Everson Museum of Art. in Syracuse.

“We would certainly have reached out to those who opposed the actions of these two museums,” Boise wrote to Davis. Copies of their electronic correspondence were obtained by The Eagle.

In October, the Eversons sold a Jackson Pollock painting, “Red Composition, 1946,” for $ 12 million through Christie’s auction house. The museum said in a statement at the time that it would use the proceeds to diversify its collection “to focus on the work of artists of color, women artists and other under-represented, emerging and mid-level artists. -career”.

Some of the proceeds from the sale, he said, will also be spent on maintaining his 10,000-piece collection, a use sanctioned by the American Alliance of Museums and New York State Regents. .

The sale of the Berkshire Museum, by contrast, has been criticized by directors of the Association of Art Museum Directors for violating its policy on art sales.

The group ordered its 243 members not to collaborate with the Pittsfield institution. The sale also met with opposition from the executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the American Alliance of Museums. This led the Smithsonian Institution to terminate its affiliation with the Berkshire Museum.

The museum is spending around $ 3.5 million on repairs to its home at 39 South Street, including a sewer line, waterproofing and installing a freight elevator and is now redeveloping the space from its second floor.

The panel

Thursday’s panel with Shields and McGraw is described by the symposium as a time to hear from people who “have been there and done this” and will share what went into their decision-making and experiences, providing important lessons for others involved in the leadership of similar institutions.

In addition to former Berkshire Museum officials, viewers will hear from Everson’s Executive Director Elizabeth Dunbar and Chairman of its Board of Trustees Jessica Arb Danial.

The symposium describes panel participants as people who have worked in smaller communities and on tighter budgets than museum executives in large cities.

“One could argue that museums in places like Syracuse, New York and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, are more closely linked – and perhaps more essential – to their communities than their counterparts in large metropolitan areas,” the panel’s program states. “Their volunteer councils are usually not people who can afford to fill structural deficits or fund bold and important initiatives. “

He continues, “These museums are where the ‘rubber hits the road’ in terms of professional standards and the ability of these museums to survive and thrive in the service of their communities, all within the context of their legal obligations to their institutions. . “

McGraw and Shields aren’t the only local names to participate.

Joseph Thompson, founding director of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, will participate in a panel Thursday titled “Allocation of Museum Resources: The Cost of Collection.”

And two people who have spent long hours on the disputed Berkshire Museum sale – from different perspectives – will sit on the same panel. A session titled “Legal Issues, Strategies and the Role of the Courts” includes Courtney Aladro of the State Attorney General’s Office, who worked in 2017 and 2018 to ensure the Pittsfield Museum follows the law.

On that same program will be the man who initially informed Attorney General Maura Healey’s office of the museum’s plan to sell works of art: Mark Gold, of the law firm of Pittsfield Smith Green & Gold LLP. They will be joined in the four-member panel by O’Donnell, the Boston attorney who filed a lawsuit against the sale.

Gold will also host a Friday morning panel on the ethics of museum sales of works of art. Its title refers to “direct care,” a term used to describe the proper use of proceeds from sales. The panel is titled “Direct care: a critical concept that still struggles to make sense”. And Gold and O’Donnell will be part of an “Ask the Lawyers” panel on Friday.