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Home » Best of Chicago » Arts & Culture

Category: Arts & Culture

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best local conservationist rocking it out on YouTube

by Bridgette M. Redman March 8, 2022March 8, 2022

Julian Baumgartner may be the sole owner of Chicago’s oldest conservation studio, but that doesn’t keep him from being simultaneously the master of old masters and social media. He’s a […]

candlesticks created during a School of Many Questions workshop
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best new inquiry-minded design studio

by Kerry Cardoza March 7, 2022March 30, 2022

“Material artifacts are the most concrete things that surround us in our homes,” writes Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book The Meaning of Things. Most of us, particularly since the pandemic […]

photographs of women from India hanging on a wall
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best new artist-run project space

by Kerry Cardoza March 7, 2022March 15, 2022

In August 2021, the new art gallery Ruschwoman announced its arrival with the group exhibition “Speculative Magenta Hauntology.” The lead image in the exhibition was by the late artist Chiara […]

art from Discover the Horror, a book by Jon Kitley of Kitley's Krypt.com
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best suburban source for horror writing and talk

by Dan Kelly March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Jon Kitley of Aurora has made a friend of horror. For 22 years he’s run Kitley’s Krypt, a site devoted to horror films, ranging from the earliest silent nightmares to […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Arts & Culture

by Chicago Reader March 2, 2022March 18, 2022
Two people stand next to a large white box labeled "Look Inside." A man has his face pressed against a flowered window in the box.
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best public performance art series

by Elisa Shoenberger March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Out of Site On your way home from work, you get off the train and there is a giant puppet show featuring a man fighting a puppet hydra in an […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best footwork video displayed on Merchandise Mart

by Leor Galil March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

I generally avoided the Chicago Riverwalk even before the pandemic, but Footnotes gave me a genuinely great reason to spend a night gazing up at Merch Mart.

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best performance space for dealing with interior microclimates

by Amanda Finn March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Lifeline Theatre Anyone who frequents establishments in the summer months knows that there are generally two temperatures: not cold enough and Hell has frozen over. Even so, some locations deal […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best fat daddy dom bitch on TV

by Micco Caporale March 2, 2022March 2, 2022

Minxxx shows brightly with the kinky creativity, intention, and DIY spirit so unique to the Windy City’s gay underground.

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best flash mob by middle-aged Korean women in a Korean market

by Irene Hsiao March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Ajumma Rising February 1, 2022: Serpent Day. Candy-Making Day. World Hijab Day. National Baked Alaska Day. International Face and Body Art Day. And a historic day when the Lunar New […]

A young Black man sands surrounded by foliage outdoors
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best place to read a play

by Bridgette M. Redman March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Perceptions Theatre If you’ve had your fill of dead white male playwrights, or even if you just want to add some variety to your dramatic play reading list, Perceptions Theatre […]

Two men and two women in 1960s evening wear stand holding drinks, looking shocked.
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best reason for a fully vaxxed and boosted person to raise their mask and a glass

by Amanda Finn March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Windy City Playhouse It’s no secret that theater companies (and movie theaters) make a lot of their profits at the concession stand. So curating themed cocktails is not that uncommon […]

The Vixen, wearing a short blue dress made of several kinds of fibers and materials
Posted inBest of Chicago

Best drag queen and successful equality advocate turned mental health advocate

by Wanjiku Kairu March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

The Vixen Fierce, powerful, and incredibly talented, the Vixen is the sweetheart of Chicago’s drag scene. Following her appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race, the Vixen has become a champion and […]

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best new curated streaming channel showcasing Black cinema

by Kathleen Sachs March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

Subscribers to blacknuss.tv (available for $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year, with a seven-day free trial) have access to a wide array of content, including documentary, narrative, and experimental works, both short and feature length.

Posted inBest of Chicago

Best reason to be glad to be back at the theater (no matter what’s onstage)

by Kerry Reid March 2, 2022March 15, 2022

The audience Between Monday, March 16, 2020 and Saturday, July 10, 2021, I saw exactly zero live productions—probably the longest dry spell of theatergoing since my teens. In the 16 […]

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Best of Chicago 2021

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