“Split Level” exhibition in a retail space in NYC [10/4/25]

We dropped our bags at the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea and headed to see our friend Ro’s teensy exhibition on an expensive table in a high-end design shop. So named “Split Level” because the exhibition was split across the two-floor showroom, with work of various sizes and types scattered across the space. I’m pondering curating an exhibition in a vintage furniture warehouse in Chicago in the coming months and the way this exhibition deftly took over an existing space with minimal intervention but a massive impact had my creative juices flowing. I especially loved the sculpture of a rat by ESSAY that was also a light fixture, and the really cute map they handed out at the entrance telling you where all the galleries were located. Who needs a big art fair when you can plop your work into a chic store?

P. Staff exhibition at David Zwirner UWS [10/4/25]

Nothing better than reading a very weird review of an exhibition in ARTnews on a Thursday, forwarding it to your husband with the caption “Should we go?”, and then seeing it on Saturday. This exhibition did almost nothing for me, but it got me into one of Zwirner’s satellite locations on the UWS, which let me tell you, was stunning. How galleries have the means to own empty town houses and manage to fill them with sparse video and sculpture exhibitions is a mystery to me (it’s actually not, it’s money). This show was described as being anxiety-provoking, but really, it just reminded me of “The Substance”, especially the yellow film on all the windows and the weird, lumpy, bag-o-bones-like sculptures. The pounding and persistent heartbeat were very Edgar Allen Poe. Glad I went, if only for the stellar selfie I managed to snap.

“11,000 Strings” at The Park Avenue Armory [10/4/25]

What do you mean we flew to New York City to listen to 50 pianos tuned slightly differently from one another played with an experimental orchestra from Germany? I went in with very little knowledge and left having formed my own opinions about this work. Turns out that 50 pianos doesn’t guarantee you an interesting score, even though it was immersive as hell. Reading that Apple was one of the leading sponsors because they’d donated a shit-ton of iPads to the composer / musicians so they could have all of their music synced and have the iPads turn the pages in unison was a very 21st century experience. Glad we made the trip! I’m all for experimental art, even when it’s decidedly not for me.

Those silly Tom Otterness sculptures in the 14th Street Station [10/4/25]

Making my late-night transfer at the 14th Street Station had me fondly remembering being an 18-year old in New York for the first time and seeing these weird brass sculptures. Every time I visit this station, I stumble upon yet another creature/sculpture by surprise. It would take me 12 years to finally learn the artist’s name, while researching his work for a museum exhibition. Am I still a little bit pissed I didn’t secure an interview for the MTA Public Art Curator job I applied for twice last year? Maybe a little, if only to care for these funny little guys.

Stereolab at The Metro [10/9/25]

True story No. 1: Todd brought a mixtape into our home either late last year or early this year (we’re fuzzy on the timing). This one track immediately caught our attention, and after reading the tracklist, we learned it was by a group called McCarthy. We were OBSESSED. We spent months scouring used CD stores in Chicago trying to find a copy, to no avail. Todd wound up getting me a McCarthy box set for my birthday, because that’s the man I married. What does this have to do with Stereolab? Turns out, McCarthy was the precursor to Stereolab. So naturally, when one discovers music organically, we started listening to Stereolab at home. Then at some point in 2025, I thought it would be cool to get us tickets to see Stereolab when they came through Chicago, and went in having no idea what to expect. Turns out, they are fronted by an effortlessly cool and chic French woman named Lætitia Sadier. She plays her guitar upside down. She plays the tambourine with skill and care and literal je ne sais quoi. She plays the trombone, for crying out loud. And, importantly, she stopped mid-set to acknowledge that ICE and the National Guard were currently in Chicago wreaking havoc and abducting people and that radical joy IS resistance and wow was that cathartic.

True story No. 2: On the train ride home, I was kvetching about how rare it was for me to be up so late, commuting on transit when normally we’d be in our car or already in bed. Then these very cool looking people sat down next to us and I heard the guy tell the girl about this show he had read about. It was an experimental sound piece that had a ton of pianos, all played at the same time. I’m so sorry, I never do this, I said, but I have to say something. We were at that concert in New York this past weekend and it was wild. I then proceeded to describe the show to them and answer his questions, and at some point in the conversation, she pulled a flier out of her purse for a show he was playing at a cemetery that weekend. Long story short, we made new friends on the train home from Stereolab by keeping our ears open and sharing experiences organically. 10 points to me for riding the train after my bedtime and talking to strangers. Todd wound up going to see the cemetery show and now he has a new friend to go to experimental sound stuff with.  

The Elizabeth Catlett Exhibition and the Textile Show at The Art Institute of Chicago [10/10/25]

Every season I make a list of all the things I will cook, all the DIY projects I will finish/start, and all the exhibitions and movies I will see. After having a meeting with an artist friend in the AIC Member’s Lounge, I mentioned a strong desire to pop downstairs to see the Elizabeth Catlett exhibition. I came for the woodblock prints and stayed for the stellar sculptures nearby the exit. In exchange for seeing the Catlett show with me, my friend insisted we head to the basement to see the contemporary textile show on mourning, funerals, and rituals. Reader, I would NOT have found myself in that gallery otherwise, but I am already plotting my return to read all of the labels and spend time with the video work. Let your friends guide and surprise you, lead with an open heart.

My friend Adam Soto reading a short story and an excerpt from his new novel at Knox College [10/11/25]

I drove three hours each way to see Adam do a reading because I hadn’t seen him in three years and he lives in Austin, TX. There was no pomp and circumstance with our 15-year homecoming anniversary, but seeing him read to a full house filled my cup. An additional bonus was hearing JoAnna Novak do a reading on motherhood and contemporary art that had Adam and I mouthing to each other “oh my god” and “This makes me want to have kids so I can write about them and art like this”. The moral of the story is, show up for your artist friends. They are magic.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Chamber Music at the University of Chicago [10/12/25]

Did I want to go to this classical exhibition in a chapel on UChicago’s campus? No. Did we enjoy the first half of the show? Yes. When they started playing the opening notes to Mozart’s “Overture to The Magic Flute, K. 620” all I could think of was Salieri played by F. Murray Abraham in “Amadeus” being super jealous of his friend’s talent and effortlessness. We left at the intermission. 

Premiere of “So, Boom” at the Sulzer Library [10/13/25]

A friend I haven’t seen since I was 9 or 10 reached out of the blue to let me know she was coming to town and asked if I’d be open to grabbing coffee and catching up. We wound up meeting for lunch in Lincoln Square and then walking to the Sulzer Library to attend the premiere of the short film “So, Boom” directed by one of my old friend’s old friends. Written by and starring a formerly incarcerated woman (Tiny Cruz) and Piven alum Abby Pierce, this film is a how-to-guide for those about to enter prison. It was written with love and care, filmed and edited beautifully, and was screened by and for an audience of prison abolitionists. My old friend had no idea that this movie would so deeply resonate with me, but it did and I hope you have a chance to see it some day. It’s set to screen at the San Quentin Film Festival this week—the only film festival located in a prison.

Monogamy practicing for their set in the basement of their house [10/17/25]

Our friends Don and Adriana host a backyard movie night that we are lucky enough to attend. We arrived way too early this past Friday and were treated to a mini-concert while they prepped for their set the following day. Sitting in their semi-finished basement, I was reminded that there are cathedrals everywhere for those with the eyes to see. I sat across from them marveling at how good and how cool they are, and had to wipe the silly grin off of my face after they finished their cover of Belle and Sebastian’s “Dirty Dream #2”. 

Theater Gates’s “Unto Thee” at the Smart Museum [10/18/25]

I learned about this exhibition when I interviewed for a curatorial job at the Smart in March. Though I didn’t get the job, I did get the seven month countdown waiting for the exhibition to open. Reader, this show has everything: radical archival practice, heartwrenching letters, so many books and records, very good ceramics, an ethos that is welcoming and warm, music that plays through the duration of the exhibition, DJed by members of Gates’s Rebuild Foundation, poetry, storytelling, pieces and moments of Chicago history you didn’t know you needed to know. I’m hoping to return and also visit the partner exhibition at Gray Gallery in the coming weeks.

“The Love That Remains” at the Gene Siskel [10/18/25]

After going to a film festival in Santa Barbara this spring, I am now “film festival pilled”. While I can’t exactly afford one of those primo passes to attend as many movies as I please (though that is now a bucket list goal for my future life of leisure), I did attend “The Love That Remains” with out of town friends on Saturday night. Without spoiling the magic, I will say that this movie IS magic and surreal and beautiful and intense and funny and wow, women are incredible. Artists are magical. Iceland is beautiful. If you see one movie this fall, please choose this one.