tag:www.mocp.org,2012://12 2012-01-31T16:53:39Z Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.mocp.org,2012://12.1230 2012-01-30T20:57:59Z 2012-01-31T16:53:39Z

This Thursday, we will be hosting acclaimed filmmaker J.J. Murphy for a screening of his rarely seen, seminal film, Print Generation, which raises questions about perception, memory, time and the transmission of information. The film, which duplicates the same...

Ashleigh Moyer This Thursday, we will be hosting acclaimed filmmaker J.J. Murphy for a screening of his rarely seen, seminal film, Print Generation, which raises questions about perception, memory, time and the transmission of information. The film, which duplicates the same one-minute piece of film 50 times, maps the deterioration of each generation from abstract to concrete and back again. The screening will start at 6 p.m. in the MoCP at 600 S. Michigan Ave. Afterward, Murphy will answer questions from the audience. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2012://12.1228 2012-01-19T17:20:34Z 2012-01-19T18:08:08Z

With less than a week between shows, the MoCP team has been hard at work putting together its newest exhibition, Limits of Photography. Take a look at the photos below to see the MoCP staff hard at work during this...

Ashleigh Moyer Limits of Photography. Take a look at the photos below to see the MoCP staff hard at work during this short install time, and catch a glimpse of the artwork featured in Limits of Photography, which opens on Saturday! ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2012://12.1224 2012-01-11T17:37:21Z 2012-02-05T17:11:00Z

Christian Patterson, Storm Cellar, 2008 Crime Unseen closes on Sunday, but that doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying the exhibition. Exhibiting artists Christian Patterson and Deborah Luster recently released books containing their works showcased in Crime Unseen. Each book...

Ashleigh Moyer
Christian Patterson, Storm Cellar, 2008 Crime Unseen closes on Sunday, but that doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying the exhibition. Exhibiting artists Christian Patterson and Deborah Luster recently released books containing their works showcased in Crime Unseen. Each book takes a different spin on chronicling real-life murder. In his book, Redheaded Peckerwood, Christian Patterson melds documentary style with creative storytelling as he follows the trail of teenage lovers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, who, in the winter of 1957-58, committed a string of murders in Nebraska and Wyoming. By taking photographs and documents stemming directly from their crimes, Patterson focuses on the inherent emotional responses people have toward these objects even before they know the objects' dark origins. MoCP Curator and Associate Director Karen Irvine wrote the book's forward. In Tooth for an Eye: A Chronology of Violence in Orleans Parish, Deborah Luster explores New Orleans, a city where the murder rate is eight times that of the national average. Each image in the book brings the viewer in through the gun sight to the murder location, which teems with disruptive energy. In this way, Luster––whose own mother was a victim of violent crime--creates a complex and vivid portrait of loss and remembrance. Visit our online shop to purchase these books, or any other title from our bookstore. For more information about Crime Unseen, please visit our website. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2012://12.1220 2012-01-03T21:39:31Z 2012-02-05T17:15:25Z

Featured on PBS News Hour and Time Magazine's LightBox blog, our current exhibition, Crime Unseen, is open until January 15, leaving anyone who has not yet seen it less than two weeks to stop by and take a look at...

Ashleigh Moyer PBS News Hour and Time Magazine's LightBox blog, our current exhibition, Crime Unseen, is open until January 15, leaving anyone who has not yet seen it less than two weeks to stop by and take a look at what New City Art is calling one of Chicago's Top Five Exhibitions of 2011. Need more enticing? Take a look at what other people are saying about Crime Unseen:
Angela Strassheim, Evidence No. 4 "Crime Unseen offers a thoughtful multi-dimensional approach to the genre of crime photography." Art Slant "Gothic-inspired and visually stunning... Crime Unseen is a large show, but each element is strong and adds to the overall narrative." CBS Chicago "Dazzlingly obscene...Most of the images are deadpan, at first glance, presenting locations haunted by crimes ranging from white-collar to terrorism." Photograph Magazine "Crime Unseen is an excellent exhibition because its depictions of violent crime...murders, in most cases, are not horror-film perverse...Most of the photographs on view here are open-ended, as if artists have extra sensitivity for interpreting a crime scene, reopening old cases by coloring their terrible realities with attractive presentations." New City Art "I was struck by two things: the artistry and patience of the photography, with its noticeable attention to tonal balance and symmetry of the different picture areas; and a feeling of guilt, of being slightly appalled at myself for looking at evidence of such a grisly act and getting a real aesthetic pleasure from it." Hyperallergic "There is no slasher movie-like gore in the Museum of Contemporary Photography's Crime Unseen as one might expect guess from the title, but that makes it all the more eerie." FlavorPill Chicago ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1219 2011-12-22T19:10:30Z 2012-02-05T22:02:09Z

Tom Petrillo, 1987 The holidays are a time to stay home with family, go out with friends and eat some crazy good food. So, go do that! Giving you all ample time to enjoy the holidays, the MoCP will be...

Ashleigh Moyer
Tom Petrillo, 1987 The holidays are a time to stay home with family, go out with friends and eat some crazy good food. So, go do that! Giving you all ample time to enjoy the holidays, the MoCP will be closed December 23 through January 2, re-opening on Tuesday, January 3 at 10 a.m. Wishing you all warm, safe and happy holidays! We'll see you again next year. Love, The MoCP Staff ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1216 2011-12-21T15:39:48Z 2012-02-05T22:02:40Z

John Brill, Untitled, 1991 How much can a viewer trust a photograph? Our newest exhibition, Limits of Photography, which opens on January 21, examines the point at which a photograph begins to blur the line between what is real and...

Ashleigh Moyer
John Brill, Untitled, 1991 How much can a viewer trust a photograph? Our newest exhibition, Limits of Photography, which opens on January 21, examines the point at which a photograph begins to blur the line between what is real and what is imagined. The exhibition's title conveys the show's double meaning: at what point is a photograph manipulated to the point where it can no longer be trusted, and how much mixed media can be incorporated before a piece ceases to be a photograph? To read the full curator's statement, please visit the exhibitions page on our website. For more information on programming, please take a look at our events page. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1212 2011-11-30T17:24:57Z 2012-02-05T22:03:02Z

Tuesday, December 6 through Thursday, December 8 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lobby of 600 S. Michigan Ave., just outside the museum Let the holiday shopping begin! For three days only, the Museum of Contemporary Photography will be selling the...

Ashleigh Moyer Tuesday, December 6 through Thursday, December 8 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Lobby of 600 S. Michigan Ave., just outside the museum Let the holiday shopping begin! For three days only, the Museum of Contemporary Photography will be selling the bulk of its bookstore at hugely discounted rates. Books by artists such as John Baldessari, Curtis Mann, Sarah Pickering and Paula McCartney (and many more) will be sold between $70 and $5. The MoCP will also be selling back issues of photography-related periodicals, like Proximity and Aperture, for just $1. So, stop by the lobby of 600 S. Michigan Ave. and pick up a great gift for the photography-lover in your life--even if that means you! ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1210 2011-11-28T19:42:37Z 2012-02-05T22:03:37Z

Please join us this week as we host two programs examining the very nature of physical evidence and how this evidence allows people to return again and again to the scenes of violent crimes. Both events, which run in conjunction...

Ashleigh Moyer Crime Unseen, are free and open to the public. Wednesday, November 30 at 6p.m. Video Playlist: The Evidence Show(s) Featuring work by: Steve Matheson Semi-Conductor Jessie Stead Michael Bell-Smith Noah Klersfeld Steve Reinke Jacob Ciocci In criminal cases, physical evidence is paramount, offering tangible proof of a violent crime. Before becoming evidence, however these things were just things and these places were just places. The perpetrators were just people, not criminals but strangers and neighbors. The work in this program considers the potential for everyday objects, ordinary surroundings and average people to become evidence of something beyond the familiar. Curated by Jesse MacLean. @MoCP, 600 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago Thursday, December 1 at 7 p.m. Murder in a Nutshell: Corinne May Botz at the Glessner House Corinne May Botz examines real-life crime scenes one step removed, photographing dollhouse "nutshell studies" created by criminologist and heiress Frances Glessner Lee that meticulously recreate unexplained deaths. These models, based on actual homicides, suicides and accidental deaths from the 1940s and '50s, were created to train detectives to assess visual evidence. Botz will speak about her time photographing the grisly nutshells at Glessner's childhood home, the Glessner House Museum. @ Glessner House Museum, 1800 South Prairie Ave., Chicago ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1207 2011-11-17T21:21:19Z 2012-02-05T22:04:16Z

It was a time of outlaws, bootleggers and speakeasies. But, for our prohibition-themed annual Benefit and Auction tomorrow, it will be a night of jazz music, custom 1920s-era cocktails, and a live and silent auction featuring prints by both...

Ashleigh Moyer It was a time of outlaws, bootleggers and speakeasies. But, for our prohibition-themed annual Benefit and Auction tomorrow, it will be a night of jazz music, custom 1920s-era cocktails, and a live and silent auction featuring prints by both established and up-in-coming photographers. The event, which runs 6 to 10 p.m., will be held at Room 1520, located at 1520 W. Fulton St. in Chicago. The auction includes works by Penelope Umbrico, Olivo Barbieri, Dawoud Bey, Nick Kline, Lori Nix, Ken Fandell, John Sparagana, John Opera, John Baldessari, Jeremy Hobbs, Jennifer Ray, Sandro, Jan Theun van Rees, Guy Tillim, Dave Jordano, Corinne May Botz, Christian Patterson, Carrie Schneider and Alejandro Cartagena. We can't wait to see you all there!]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1205 2011-11-14T20:52:07Z 2012-02-05T22:04:47Z

Luc Sante, author of Evidence, to speak tomorrow at 6 p.m. Even a seemingly empty photograph can tell a remarkable story, according to acclaimed writer Luc Sante, who will be speaking in conjunction with the MoCP's current exhibition, Crime...

Ashleigh Moyer Luc Sante, author of Evidence, to speak tomorrow at 6 p.m.

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Even a seemingly empty photograph can tell a remarkable story, according to acclaimed writer Luc Sante, who will be speaking in conjunction with the MoCP's current exhibition, Crime Unseen, tomorrow at 6 p.m. The lecture will be held at Columbia College Chicago's Hokin Lecture Hall, located at 623 S. Wabash Ave., Room 109. Sante, who will be armed with a collection of nearly 100 unpublished New York City Police Department photographs from the 1930s, will discuss how even seemingly benign photographs can be used to document real criminal evidence. Admission is free and open to the public. About Sante: Since 1984, Sante has written on the subjects of film, art, photography and a variety of cultural phenomena. Among his numerous awards, Sante received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship; a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters); a Grammy for album notes; and an Infinity Award for writing from the International Center of Photography. His books include Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (1991); Evidence (1992); Walker Evans (2001); and Folk Photography (2009). ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1200 2011-11-07T21:16:22Z 2012-02-05T22:05:47Z

Corinne May Botz, Three Room Dwelling (gun in kitchen), 2004; Courtesy of the artist. When it was invented, photography almost immediately became a tool for law enforcement, turning photographs into a seemingly infallible way to identify criminals, document evidence...

Ashleigh Moyer Corinne May Botz, Three Room Dwelling (gun in kitchen), 2004; Courtesy of the artist.
When it was invented, photography almost immediately became a tool for law enforcement, turning photographs into a seemingly infallible way to identify criminals, document evidence and solve crimes. Our current exhibition, Crime Unseen, looks into the ways that photography works--and doesn't work--as an objective way to solve violent crime. The following events will take place in conjunction with Crime Unseen, which runs through January 15, 2012: Thursday, November 10: Exhibiting artist Deborah Luster will discuss her archive of contemporary and historic homicide sites in New Orleans--a city with a homicide rate nearly eight times the national average--creating a complex portrait of loss and remembrance. 6pm @ Ferguson Lecture Hall, 600 S. Michigan, 1st floor. Tuesday, November 15: Acclaimed writer Luc Sante will examine criminal evidence captured within more than 100 unpublished photographs from the New York City Police Department's 1930s files. 6 p.m. @ Hokin Lecture Hall, 623 S. Wabash, Room 109. Thursday, December 1: Exhibiting artist Corinne May Botz will literally bring viewers to the home of her photography: the Glessner House, where criminologist and heiress Frances Glessner Lee created models based on actual homicides, suicides and accidental deaths in order to train detectives to assess visual evidence. 6 p.m. @ Glessner House Museum, 1800 S. Prairie Ave., Chicago. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1199 2011-11-02T21:24:25Z 2012-02-05T22:07:08Z

You don't need a secret knock or a password to get into the MoCP's speakeasy-themed annual Benefit and Auction on Friday, November 18. So, men, put on your spats and, ladies, break out your fringe. Come ready to drink...

Ashleigh Moyer You don't need a secret knock or a password to get into the MoCP's speakeasy-themed annual Benefit and Auction on Friday, November 18. So, men, put on your spats and, ladies, break out your fringe. Come ready to drink custom cocktails, take pictures in a classic photo booth and dance the night away to a four-piece jazz ensemble. And when we ask you to "stick 'em up," we really just mean your auction paddles, as we auction off a selection of photographs and unique experiences, all to benefit the museum's programming. Please take a look at our website for a full list of auction items. Tickets can be purchased through the gala page on our website or by calling 312-369-7104. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1195 2011-10-26T16:06:29Z 2012-02-05T22:07:33Z

Christian Patterson, House at Night; Courtesy of the artist. Angela Strassheim, Evidence No. 4; Courtesy of the artist. When a violent crime happens, it sends a shock that can be felt long afterward in the people and places affected....

Ashleigh Moyer
Christian Patterson, House at Night; Courtesy of the artist.
Angela Strassheim, Evidence No. 4; Courtesy of the artist. When a violent crime happens, it sends a shock that can be felt long afterward in the people and places affected. Our newest exhibition, Crime Unseen, explores the lingering affects of violent crime. Join us on Thursday, for a preview of the exhibition with a gallery talk and reception from 4 to 7 p.m. Beginning at 4 p.m., exhibiting artists Angela Strassheim and Christian Patterson will lead guests through the museum, discussing the pieces they have on display, all of which examine real-life crime scenes long after the crimes have been committed. From 5 to 7 p.m., guests can mingle with the visiting artists and get a sneak-peek of the exhibition, which opens on Friday. Admission is free and open to the public. Crime Unseen, which runs through January 15, 2012, features work by Richard Barnes, Corinne May Botz, Christopher Dawson, Deborah Luster, Christian Patterson, Taryn Simon, Angela Strassheim and Krista Wortendyke. To learn more about the exhibition, read curator Karen Irvine�??s curatorial essay. More about the lecture artists: In her work, Strassheim seeks out homes where violent acts and murders have occurred. Using a chemical spray called Blue Star, she reveals remnants of blood remaining on surfaces long after they have been cleaned and repainted, exposing the disconnect between the banality of seemingly normal surfaces and the violent history sometimes concealed within. Similarly, Patterson exposes the long life of violent crime by following the trail of teenage lovers Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, who, in the winter of 1957-58, committed a string of murders in Nebraska and Wyoming. By taking photographs and documents stemming directly from their crimes, Patterson focuses on the inherent emotional responses people have toward these objects even before they know the objects' dark origins.]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1192 2011-10-24T19:46:38Z 2011-10-24T20:00:41Z

Been missing your weekends at the MoCP? Starting this Sunday, the MoCP will re-open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, allowing photography enthusiasts and the general public access to our collection of renowned local, national and international photographers....

Audrey http://mocp.org/ Been missing your weekends at the MoCP? Starting this Sunday, the MoCP will re-open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, allowing photography enthusiasts and the general public access to our collection of renowned local, national and international photographers. Our newest exhibition, Crime Unseen, opens on Friday and will be on display through January 15, 2012. ]]> tag:www.mocp.org,2011://12.1189 2011-10-13T17:45:46Z 2012-02-05T22:08:15Z

Last week, we invited you to come out and see stars with us in Grant Park. This week, Chicago Astronomer Joe Guzman posted his photos of the event, which was held in conjunction with the MoCP's current exhibition, Our Origins....

Audrey http://mocp.org/ see stars with us in Grant Park. This week, Chicago Astronomer Joe Guzman posted his photos of the event, which was held in conjunction with the MoCP's current exhibition, Our Origins. If you haven't seen it yet, Our Origins runs through Saturday. If you'd like to see more photos of the event, visit Guzman's blog. In the meantime, thank you all for coming out and enjoy the photos! All photos courtesy of Joe Guzman]]>