An interpretation of Chicago’s founders has been floating across the city in an effort to connect communities from Austin to Englewood with the help of the CTA’s Green Line. This interpretation is a part of the Chicago Floating Museum’s latest public art initiative, the Cultural Transit Assembly.
“Ultimately, all the work we do is about dialogue,” said Floating Museum co-founder Faheem Majeed. “It’s not a solution, a perfect depiction. It’s really about getting people to asking questions, or pushing against in a lot of ways.”
The founders will be popping up around the city until Sept. 11. Then they’re headed to Expo Chicago at Navy Pier where they’ll be on display from Sept. 19-22. The week leading up to the Expo, the Green Line train will feature music and poetry performances as another part of its CTA instillation entitled “Soul EL,” inspired by the show “Soul Train.”
But the Cultural Transit Assembly doesn’t stop with its interpretation of Chicago’s founders. Adjacent to the Garfield Park Conservatory Green Line CTA stop sit three new installations, or “color fields,” set to officially debut next week.
Video: Andrew Schachman and Avery R. Young, co-founders of the Chicago Floating Museum, break down the next instillation in their public art initiative, the Cultural Transit Assembly, adjacent to the Garfield Park Conservatory Green Line CTA stop.
“Our partner’s artwork has been installed, because there are the of them,” said Floating Museum co-founder Andrew Schachman. “There’s a red one across the street, there’s this yellow one next to the Conservatory, and then there’s a blue one next to Inspiration Kitchen just down the street. The idea is from above, from the train because we want to activate the landscape from the train, you see a geometric figure that marks space. This might inspire you to come down and look at it. Then from the landscape view, you see a cornfield that shifts as you move around it. The objects collect and then disperse as you move around them. From a car you would see a color field in the landscape, and hopefully you enter and become a part of our public realm.”
“I grew up on the West Side of Chicago,” said Floating Museum co-founder Avery R. Young. “I have a perspective in ways in which I think things are built and who they’re built for. A lot of times, they’re not necessarily in consideration of the people who inhabit the particular community.”
Follow Angel Idowu on Twitter: @angelidowu3
Angel Idowu is the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation Arts Correspondent.
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