Stockyard Institute , an ongoing civic and artistic practice founded in 1995 by artist Jim Duignan in the Back of the Yards community of south Chicago, was influenced by community artists, revolutionaries, youth, activists, and radical teachers. Together, they instrumentalized the arts in Chicago neighborhoods to reimagine social, civic, and personal forms of public engagement. This retrospective brings together for the first time archival material, objects, installations and a radio station that exemplify a subversive art practice on the margins rooted in love, relationships, collaboration, and self-determination.
The first museum publication on Stockyard Institute will accompany the exhibition. Distributed by University of Chicago Press, the exhibition catalogue will feature contributions and essays from Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Director of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive ; Rachel L. S. Harper, Ph.D. and Professional Lecturer for DePaul’s Department of Teacher Education; Allison Peters Quinn, Hyde Park Art Center Director of Exhibitions and Residency; Jorge Lucero, artist and Associate Professor of Art Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Jennifer Gray, Curator of Drawings and Archives at Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University; and Nato Thompson, founder of The Alternative Art School.