The Great Good Place, organized by Brandon Alvendia, is a multi-layered set of exhibitions which considers the poetic, political, and aesthetic potential of curatorial practice within the setting of everyday life. Tasking artists, independent curators, and collectives based in Chicago with the challenge of outfitting spatial interventions in architectural structures sited in Threewalls gallery spaces, the exhibitions within the exhibition will take inspiration from Chicago’s make-do and artist-run culture and reconsider the one-car garage workshop, the living room sleepover, the backyard bbq blowout, the networking dinner party potluck, the closet office conference, the second bedroom studio visit, and the illegal basement nightclub, all as sites of artistic inquiry. The exhibition will also serve as the studio/office and launch site for the first issue of Alvendia’s new publication ATLAS DRIFT, a nomadic web and print-based platform being documenting alternative art networks operating at the periphery of the mainstream contemporary art discourse.
Biography of Speaker/Presenter:
Brandon Alvendia is a Chicago-based artist, curator, writer, publisher and educator. His interdisciplinary practice playfully engages spatial and social architectures to envision temporary utopias, regularly performing and exhibiting around North America in collaboration with various artist-run initiatives. He is the founder of multiple Chicago alternative spaces artLedge (2004-2007), BEN RUSSELL (2009-2011), The Storefront (2010-2014), and art-publishing house Silver Galleon Press (2008-present). As an artist-curator, his work supports the efforts of local and international artists by creating platforms for experimentation, discussion and collaboration. He is currently working on a large-scale nomadic publishing project ATLAS DRIFT, initiated through the Independent Curators International, based on North American artist-run culture with upcoming stops in Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia and the Bay Area.
