On the northeasternmost edge of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Columbus meets Monroe, stands an arch in a small plot of land, fenced in with tall grass and dead flowers. Shorter than the glass-and-aluminum facade of the Modern Wing, it hovers over nothing and allows no roads through it. Viewed from the north, it is blank limestone; from the south, terra-cotta dense with ornate detail. “Chicago Stock Exchange Building,” it announces, more like a tombstone than an entryway. “1893.”
“The theme of my piece is the uncanny—the strange discomfort we have with things we recognize but no longer know,” says Swiss-Greek choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis about Chasing a Ghost, commissioned by the Art Institute as part of its new performance series “Iterations,” curated by Hendrik Folkerts. “The Stock Exchange Room calls for that through its aesthetics, its colors, its history.”
Chasing a Ghost, Thu 10/31, 6 PM, and Fri 11/1-Sat 11/2, 8 PM, Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room at the Art Institute of Chicago, 230 S. Columbus, 312-443-3600, sales.artic.edu, $10 members and students, $15 nonmembers. Sold out. Private: Wear a Mask When You Talk to Me, Sun 11/3, 6 PM, Cathedral Hall at the University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe, eventbrite, $10.
