Chicago, IL
Artist-led projects in and about public space. If you were going to guide someone around where you live, where would you take them?
Ongoing Projects
Dear Human by Christa Donner
What is a Tree? by John-Michael Korpal
1-833-NATR-XXX by Eliza Fernand
Shore Land by JeeYeun Lee
mille tendresse-mille fleurs by J. Kent
Umwelt by Mark Alcazar Diaz
A Girly Show by Jared Brown and AJ McClenon
This Land is Alive by Mari Miller
In 2026, this program is supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; as well as in-kind support from Chicago Park District. Between 2023 and 2025, this program were supported in part by CityArts grants from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Hyde Park Art Center’s Artists Run Chicago Fund in partnership with Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art; and by federal assistance listing number 21.027 awarded to Roman Susan Art Foundation NFP by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $50,000, representing 17.5% of total project funding.
This Land is Alive
Austin, Edgewater, Lincoln Park, Little Village, Near West Side, Rogers Park, and elsewhere
Little Village Public Library
April 21 through Early June, 2026
Visit artiscraftisdesign.com for expanding narratives and collaborations of This Land is Alive.
Though we traverse pavement, cocoon ourselves in plastic clothing, and may live several stories up in the air, Chicago is a living, breathing place. Just because we’ve paved over so much of the land, doesn’t mean the land isn’t alive.
In this moment of climate catastrophe, what do we want to preserve for future generations and what do we want those future generations to remember? This Land is Alive maps overlooked places, people, and plants in Chicago. So that we can treasure what we have now and to preserve a record for future generations.
To date, This Land is Alive led by Mari Miller has published engagements with Elgin Bokari, Shuo Cai, and Starla Thompson, while creating public exhibitions and workshops in Austin, Little Village, and Rogers Park. This project is built on growing interactions with people and places across the City. This Land is Alive is moving slowly, with the intention to give every participant and site the respect they deserve.
Mari Miller (they/she) is a Eurasian Toisanese maker from Chicago. They believe that art, craft, and design are colonial constructs; all creative work is valid, with no one type inherently worth more than another. Though they were formally educated in art and design, Mari credits their early creative education to watching their grandmother invent small things to make her everyday life easier. As an experimental maker, Mari’s work is interdisciplinary, often combining creative processes with science and history. She is interested in experimentation and illuminating the poetic similarities between disciplines. Recurring themes include: DIY as a source of empowerment, the environment, fiber-based crafts, and food. While Mari has worked in a range of media, their recent work has focused on connecting to nature via citizen science. Inspired by Indigenous ways of relating to the world, she uses soil chromatography and cyanotypes to illuminate the spirit, or qi, of the land. Their primary inspiration has been Indigenous Chinese farming and tea culture, as well as Asian animism.
A Girly Show
Edgewater
A Girly Show is a collaboration between local artists, Jared Brown and AJ McClenon. Featured contributors include: Noa Micaela Fields, Remy Guzman, Andres L. Hernandez, Imani Jackson, Regina Martinez, Lynneah McCarrell, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, and Carissa Pinckney. Two iterations of the collaborative variety show took place October 4 and October 5, 2024 at the Coach House of the Berger Park Cultural Center in Edgewater.
This project began as a residency at Roman Susan, to incubate and inspire new work that reflects the ethos of Edgewater. McClenon and Brown have practices intersecting at sound, installation, text, and performance. A Girly Show at Berger Park Cultural Center is a variety show that will present the collaborative work between McClenon and Brown, while uplifting a variety of practices from their beloved community members. Poetry, drag, comedy, experimental sound, and improvisation are a few tools that will be used to inspire guests to examine their intimate relationships to what they deem entertaining and why.
Above is an audience-view video of the October 4, 2024 iteration of A Girly Show at Berger Park Cultural Center.
Download audio of the event here, recorded by Kate In from Experimental Sound Studio. Two of the works created during this process and shared in the variety show were jingles for favorite neighborhood spaces of AJ and Jared. Check out the videos for the Edgewater Library and Kim’s Hardware below.
Jared Brown is an interdisciplinary artist born in Chicago. In past work, Jared broadcasted audio and text-based work through the radio (CENTRAL AIR RADIO, 88.5 FM), in live DJ sets, and on social media. They consider themselves a data thief, understanding this role from John Akomfrah's description of the data thief as a figure that does not belong to the past or present. As a data thief, Jared Brown makes archeological digs for fragments of Black American subculture, history, and technology. Jared repurposes these fragments in audio, text, and video to investigate the relationship between history and digital, immaterial space.
AJ McClenon is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Washington, DC, currently residing in Chicago. Alongside artistic experiences, A.J. is passionate about teaching and community collaborations with the goal that all the memories and histories that are said to have “too many Black people,” are told and retold again. To uphold these stories, AJ creates performances, installations, objects, sounds, visuals, and writings. These creations often revolve around an interest in water and aquatic life, escapism, Blackness, science, grief, US history, and the global future.
A Girly Show is a part of Navigations, a series of artist projects in and about public space. In 2025, this project was supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; CityArts grants from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; as well as in-kind support from Chicago Park District. In 2024, this program was supported by Hyde Park Art Center’s Artists Run Chicago Fund in partnership with Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities. In 2023-24, this program were supported in part by federal assistance listing number 21.027 awarded to Roman Susan Art Foundation NFP by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $50,000, representing 17.5% of total project funding.
This event is being shared at Berger Park Cultural Center as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions.
Mark Alcazar Diaz
Umwelt
Alleyways
Audible Activation at Experimental Sound Studio
Saturday, June 6 from 1-4 PM
Umwelt presents an auditory journey through the alleyways of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Delve into an intricate urban ecology of sounds that define these corridors.
Through meticulous field recordings captured with a binaural microphone, Umwelt unveils the nuanced sonic landscapes of each alley, offering a glimpse into the unseen rhythms of daily life. From the rhythmic clatter of ventilation systems echoing against brick walls to the distant hum of traffic permeating the air, each sound serves as a thread weaving together the fabric of this urban environment.
Visit mark-a-diaz-umwelt.com to experience this work. The site is intended for desktop or laptop interface. Headsets are recommended.
The website launched with an event on November 23, 2024 at HAIBAYÔ featuring a responsive performance by Ayako Kato. Brian Kirkbride is the website engineer, and Alex Inglezian is the audio engineer. Umwelt is a part of Navigations, a series of artist projects in and about public space.
Umwelt
Alleyways
Audible Activation at Experimental Sound Studio
Saturday, June 6 from 1-4 PM
Umwelt presents an auditory journey through the alleyways of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Delve into an intricate urban ecology of sounds that define these corridors.
Through meticulous field recordings captured with a binaural microphone, Umwelt unveils the nuanced sonic landscapes of each alley, offering a glimpse into the unseen rhythms of daily life. From the rhythmic clatter of ventilation systems echoing against brick walls to the distant hum of traffic permeating the air, each sound serves as a thread weaving together the fabric of this urban environment.
Visit mark-a-diaz-umwelt.com to experience this work. The site is intended for desktop or laptop interface. Headsets are recommended.
The website launched with an event on November 23, 2024 at HAIBAYÔ featuring a responsive performance by Ayako Kato. Brian Kirkbride is the website engineer, and Alex Inglezian is the audio engineer. Umwelt is a part of Navigations, a series of artist projects in and about public space.
mille tendresse-mille fleurs
This body of work was first shared as an exhibition at 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago IL from October 6 to October 22, 2023, with new garments shared as a part of EXPO Chicago from April 11 to April 14, 2024 as a part Artists Run Chicago: Here and Now. You are encouraged to dress for the occasions – wear florals.
J. Kent on feelings, fragrances, florals | Chicago Reader - October 4, 2023
mille tendresse-mille fleurs | Bad at Sports - October 5, 2023
For additional artist information, visit compostroses.com.
In 2025, this project was supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; CityArts grants from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation. In 2024, this program was supported by Hyde Park Art Center’s Artists Run Chicago Fund in partnership with Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities. In 2023-24, this program were supported in part by federal assistance listing number 21.027 awarded to Roman Susan Art Foundation NFP by the US Treasury through the American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds in the amount of $50,000, representing 17.5% of total project funding.