Screen Test at PO Box Collective Movement Studies for Chicago Park District One’s Position (and a route) at Experimental Sound Studio Land Acknowledgment with American Indian Center Bibliothēca in various Public Libraries Community-Hosted Collections in the homes of neighbors Two Summers on Hayes Avenue with ONE Northside COSMiC SERPENT at Arts in the Dark and Mayday Parades Artists Run Chicago at EXPO Chicago Your Gift at MdW Fair Be Happy (SMS) via text messages Consonance in the streets of Rogers Park It makes me wanna at MirrorLab Birchbark, Wiigwaas + Property at Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society Restraint at Leather Archives & Museum Without Within at Experimental Sound Studio Streetlight + Slideshow at Wedge Projects One Thing Leads to Another at Ralph Arnold Annex Water Music on the Beach from 6018North to Lane Beach Woman’s Club at 7077 N Ashland Blvd 777 at Kim’s Corner Food Sungold Pastiché at Salon Pastiché Be Happy at Estes and Glenwood Avenue Be Happy (Street Fair) on N Glenwood Ave Blueprints at Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center Cold In All The Sunshine + Dog Days + Starkfield, Massachusetts at W Birchwood Ave Plants to Prints at Howard Community Garden Streetlight + Parade at 1629 W Howard St Draw a line —> Relay + Peanut Colada + u.127 + The Wide Open + Draw a line —> Trial and Failure, Trial and Practice + Thresh/hold at 1637-1643 W Howard St ANNEX Map
ANNEX is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; CityArts grants from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; and Teiger Foundation; as well as in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
PO Box Collective
6900 N Glenwood Ave, Chicago IL
Saturday, March 28 at 7 PM
Featuring new works by Paul Cathey, Eliza Fernand, hdz, Carole McCurdy, Risé Sanders-Weir, and Xiaolu Wang.
This series operates as an open mic for moving image. Share a video that has never screened in public before, and we will debut the work together! Artists must be in attendance at the screening. Partial edits and work-in-progress are welcome. All artists whose work is screened are paid. We’ll share one question each artist has for the audience, and a discussion of the works will follow. Total runtime will be approximately 60-75 minutes. We are grateful to bring this series to a new location in collaboration with PO Box Collective in Rogers Park!
The first Screen Test on September 21, 2022 featured new work and work-in-progress by Crystal Beiersdorfer, Salome Chasnoff, Ben Creech, Laleh Motlagh, Klaus Pinter, and Elspread (Jane Tao X Hyeji Kang) at Berger Park Cultural Center. The second Screen Test took place on October 18, 2023 with works by Ruth K. Burke, Ali Georgescu, Tracie Kunzika, Kristin McWharter, Alan Perry, Ruby Que, Ramin Takloo-Bighash, and Oona Taper at Berger Park. The third Screen Test occurred April 5, 2025 with works by Leslie Crum, Sky Goodman and Cris War, Felicia Holman, Ro(b)//ert Lundberg, Kim Nucci and Driven Arts Collective, Mina Patel, TAITAI xTina, Tianjiao Wang, and Loraine Wible at Berger Park.
PO Box Collective endeavors to be of the community and for the community. Founded in 2019, PO Box is an all-volunteer, multiracial, multigenerational, antiracist organizing, mutual aid and art hub located in Rogers Park. PO Box brings together thousands of people every year who might otherwise never meet in our cultural programming and mutual aid projects. Through this work we redistribute wealth while learning, organizing, creating and celebrating together. For more information, visit poboxcollective.us.
Next Events
Mooove Voice Thursday, April 2 from 6-8 PM
Two Summers on Hayes Avenue Thursday, May 21 at 7 PM
soccer island Friday, June 12 at 7 PM
Past events: The Puppet Zoo! 1.17.26 What to Keep? 11.5-11.12-11.19.25 + 1.21-2.4-3.18.26 Mooove Voice 5.17.24 + 3.15-6.12-11.13.25 Tending to the Mother in Me 5.23-6.07.25 Screen Test 9.21.22 + 10.18.23 + 4.05.25 FRUTAS 10.23-11.13-12.11.23 + 2.26-4.15-6.17-8.19-10.21-12.09.24 A Girly Show 10.4-10.5.24 On the Edge 9.26.24 Rising Up Angry 11.20.23 *between the tongue and the taste* 4.19-5.17-6.21-7.19-8.16-9.20.23 In the Future Something Will Have Happened 9.1-9.2.23 Where yo Wurkz/Where yo Mental 8.18.23 Reading the Landscape 9.28-11.02-12.07.22 + 1.11-5.31.23 The Collective Mending Sessions 3.25.23 Ende, Taul, Yu 10.18.22 BOUNDARYMIND 5.28.22 Drift 9.25-10.16.21 In-betweening 7.23.21 Twin Cities 3.29-5.9.21
Featuring Mark Alcazar Diaz, Christopher Corey Allen, Crystal Beiersdorfer, Lichen Bouboushian, Jared Brown, Maddie Brucker, Joseph Bryant, Ruth K. Burke, Salome Chasnoff, Ben Creech, Leslie Crum, Shir Ende, Eliza Fernand, Noa Micaela Fields, Ellie Durko Finch, FRUTAS, E. Mar Garcia, Rojo Génesis, Ali Georgescu, Amber Ginsberg, Laura Glover Rivera, Laura Goldstein, Sky Goodman and Cris War, Remy Guzman, Andres L. Hernandez, HIJACK, Felicia Holman, Michael James, Linda Jankowska, Lucky Pierre, Hyeji Kang, Mel Keiser, Robert Kelsey, Tracie Kunzika, Maya Lea, JeeYeun Lee, Elaine Lemieux, Ro(b)//ert Lundberg, Matt Martin, Regina Martinez, Lynneah McCarrell, AJ McClenon, Carole McCurdy, Kristin McWharter, Ana Mercado, Mitch Monroy, Sofía Moreno, Laleh Motlagh, Craig Neeson, blake nemec, Kim Nucci and Driven Arts Collective, Lola Ayisha Ogbara, Abby Palen, Willy Palomo, Mina Patel, Alan Perry, Carissa Pinckney, Klaus Pinter, Ruby Que, Catherine Reinhart, Jordan Rosenow, Christine Shallenberg, Karen Sherman, Anna Marie Shogren, Aurora Tabar, TAITAI xTina, Ramin Takloo-Bighash, Jane Tao, Oona Taper, Paige Taul, Gizeh Trejo, Tianjiao Wang, Loraine Wible, Emilie Wingate, Katherine Young, Cherrie Yu, Sara Zalek, Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson, and visitor-participants.
Elaine Lemieux and Sara Zalek
Mooove Voice
Loyola Park Fieldhouse
1230 W Greenleaf Ave, Chicago, IL 60626
Next Workshop RSVP
Thursday, April 2 from 6-8 PM
Mooove Voice combines classical vocal techniques with fundamental Butoh exercises, exploring the physical sensations of vocal sounds in our bodies and in the space around us. We work up to group improvisational scores by playfully passing sound and movement in simple patterns. No experience necessary, all are welcome!
RSVP now to ensure a spot at the next Mooove Voice. Walk-ins are encouraged as well! If we are at capacity, you will be added to the first spot in the next workshop.
Elaine Lemieux, mezzo-soprano, received Master’s and Post-Master’s degrees in Music Interpretation in Voice from the University of Montreal, Québec. Elaine has been teaching singing for more than 20 years. As a music lover and voice teacher, she feels that her responsibilities are to help young children, teenagers and adults to discover their vocal and singing abilities in a natural and healthy manner. She is the founder of VOIX-DE-VIVRE.
Sara Zalek (@00sharkey) is a transdisciplinary artist, producer, and curator. Rooted in physical investigations of trauma, resilience, and transformation, their work is intimate, raw, poetic. They make performances into learning situations, workshops, and sensing environments to encourage thoughtful interpersonal connections. They have performed and curated performances at the Chicago Cultural Center, High Concept Labs, Elastic Arts, Experimental Sound Studio, Links Hall, Lumpen Radio, dfbrl8r, Urban Guild in Kyoto, Japan, and so many more.
Mooove Voice is being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
What to Keep?
(a talk circle guided by Carole McCurdy)
Berger Park Cultural Center
6205 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Next Sessions
TBA
We all own physical items—clothing, photographs, mementos, to name a few—that we aren't sure what to do with. We may no longer use or even see them on a regular basis. Some may feel burdensome and hard to think about.
This is an invitation to talk about such items, to think aloud about what you want or need to keep . . . and what you want or need to let go of.
Our supportive talk circle will encourage discussion of:
- things that hold stories about you or loved ones;
- things that you’ve intended to sift through (and maybe discard) for a long time, but it’s been too overwhelming;
- things that you absolutely need to hold on to, or save for others;
- things that are hiding away in storage, and who even knows what they are;
- things that you’ve already discarded, and how you managed it.
The goal is to share our experiences and ideas without any judgment, advice, or insistence on solutions. Talking and listening together may help us find our individual solutions at our own pace. In other words, no pressure! If you can, please bring an item you’d like to talk about, or a photo of it. If you have questions, please reach out to us!
Carole McCurdy is a Chicago-based artist whose work addresses grief and anxiety, duty and resistance, and the absurd mysteries of embodiment. She has performed at spaces including the Chicago Cultural Center, Epiphany Dance, Links Hall, Hamlin Park, High Concept Laboratories, Defibrillator Gallery, and Movement Research (NY). She received a 2016 Lab Artist award from the Chicago Dancemakers Forum and was a Fall 2016 Sponsored Artist at High Concept Laboratories, Chicago. She created and directed an ensemble piece, WAVER, with support from Chicago Dancemakers Forum, High Concept Labs, and 3Arts Chicago. Recently, she created Just Passing Through (2022) and Death Cleaning (2024) at Roman Susan. For more information, please visit carolemccurdy.com.
These events are being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
Two Summers on Hayes Avenue
Berger Park Cultural Center
6205 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Screening Thursday, May 21 at 7 PM
Join us for a screening of Two Summers on Hayes Avenue, a documentary examining the relationship between Rogers Park and Loyola University, looking to the future on how the university can better support the community, and how the community can better examine issues of gentrification and displacement in light of the current environment. A discussion will follow the screening.
Two Summers on Hayes Avenue is a project created by the production team of Tess Lacy, Lauren Sims, Elias Eshu, Emery Arevalo, Jo Swan, Nathan Yuen, Tenzin Chozom, and Dominic Bonelli, with Justin Anderson, Tara Lewis, Hnin Thazin, Solomon, and Vince Ahmadi. Screening discussions are imagined in partnership with the ONE Northside housing justice team, as well as other organizations around the city working for tenants rights and fighting rising rents, and educators in local public schools.
This event is being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González
soccer island
Berger Park Cultural Center Theater
6215 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Readings
Friday, June 12 at 7 PM
Saturday, June 13 at 2 PM
Gabriel Chalfin-Piney-González is a craft-centered artist from Poughkeepsie, NY.World building, oral and ecological histories, prison dismantling futurism, self taught artistic practices and multi-sensorial reciprocal performance centers much of their artistic practice. Chalfin-Piney-González has shown work at Patient Info (2026), Evoke Gallery (2025), Design Museum of Chicago (2024), Heaven Gallery (2024), WeatherProof (2024), apexart (2024), Arts of Life/Circle Contemporary (2024), Comfort Station (2023), Tiny Table Gallery (2023), Bird Show (2023), Speedwell Projects (2022), Buoy Gallery (2022), Chicago Artists Coalition, (2021, 2020), Terrain Exhibitions (2020), High Concept Labs (2019), The Kleinert James Center for the Arts (2017), The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (2017); and featured on WBEZ, ArtNews, New City Magazine, Spaces Archive, The Chicago Sun Times, The Chicago Reader, Hey Alma, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, and The Chicago Humanities Festival.
These events are being shared as part of Movement Studies – a programming series investigating social and environmental transitions. This project is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; and through in-kind support from Chicago Park District.
Experimental Sound Studio
5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago IL
April 17, 2026 - June 6, 2026
Opening Friday, April 17 from 6-9 PM
Activations Saturdays from 1-4 PM
If you were going to guide someone around where you live, where would you take them? This exhibition is a showcase of projects in and about public space. Each week, a different artist is featured on the Audible Gallery sound system, amplifying work that is taking place across the City.
One’s Position (and a route) includes elements of:
Dear Human by Christa Donner
at West Ridge Nature Park
What is a Tree? by John-Michael Korpal
at Warren Park
1-833-NATR-XXX by Eliza Fernand
via Toll-free Hotline
Shore Land by JeeYeun Lee
on Lakefill into ᒥᓯᑲᒥ
mille tendresse-mille fleurs by J. Kent
as Worn Garments
Umwelt by Mark Alcazar Diaz
through Uptown Alleyways
A Girly Show by Jared Brown and AJ McClenon
at Berger Park Cultural Center
Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to artistic evolution and the creative exploration of sound.
As an international hub for sonic experimentation, ESS nurtures artists, cultivates new works, and builds a broad, supportive community of makers, enthusiasts, and creative partners through production, presentation, education, and preservation. Collaboration and resource sharing propel ESS’s activities. Our Edgewater facility is home to a full-service recording, mixing, and mastering studio; Audible Gallery, a small public space for exhibitions, meetings, workshops, performances, and artists’ projects; a beautiful garden for performances and gathering; and the Creative Audio Archive—an invaluable collection of recordings and ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music of the last seven decades. For more information, please visit ess.org.at West Ridge Nature Park
What is a Tree? by John-Michael Korpal
at Warren Park
1-833-NATR-XXX by Eliza Fernand
via Toll-free Hotline
Shore Land by JeeYeun Lee
on Lakefill into ᒥᓯᑲᒥ
mille tendresse-mille fleurs by J. Kent
as Worn Garments
Umwelt by Mark Alcazar Diaz
through Uptown Alleyways
A Girly Show by Jared Brown and AJ McClenon
at Berger Park Cultural Center
Mark Alcazar Diaz, born in Manila and lives and works in Chicago, Illinois, is an artist, educator, and arts administrator. He works in a variety of media, including video, drawing, and object making, to examine issues around migration, memory of place, and natureculture. As an extension of his artistic practice, Diaz has facilitated youth art collaborations through several community arts organizations in Chicago. He also develops and leads interactive workshops for teachers and artists to form dynamic collaborations to explore the intersection of aesthetics and pedagogy. He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois Chicago. For more information and work, please visit markalcazardiaz.com.
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. Follow @jsbxse.
Christa Donner is an artist and organizer whose practice combines material exploration and social exchange to move between the emotional architecture of our own bodies and the layered histories of the world we inhabit. As a volunteer at West Ridge Nature Park she helped to redesign its nature play area in 2018. Donner's work is exhibited widely, including projects for the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin, Germany), The NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore), Chiaki Kamikawa Contemporary Art (Paphos, Cyprus), and throughout the United States. For more information, please visit christadonner.com.
Eliza Fernand is an artist and educator who works primarily with video, sound, fabric, and clay. With a BFA in Sculpture from Pacific Northwest College of Art, and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Sierra Nevada University, they have led a cross-country career, attending over a dozen artist residencies and exhibiting internationally. A new citizen of Chicago, she continues to pursue artmaking and teaching opportunities, with the aim of provoking acceptance of loving practices outside of the norm, and promoting experimentation on all levels. For more information, please visit elizafernand.com.
J. Kent is an artist Roman Susan has had the pleasure of working with since 2013. For additional artist information, visit compostroses.com.
John-Michael Korpal creates inter-sensory works exploring the visceral shared space between art and the viewer. Korpal has exhibited throughout the Midwest, with work featured at the Grunwald Gallery of Art at the Kinsey Institute, Governor’s State University, Hyde Park Art Center, and elsewhere. Korpal has completed the Visual Art Certificate Program from Graham School-University of Chicago, and participated in the Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center. Korpal is a member of the Rogers Park Art Alliance, Chicago Calligraphy Collective, West Ridge Artists and Third Estate Art. For more info, please visit johnmichaelkorpal.com.
JeeYeun Lee is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist based in occupied Potawatomi territory now known as Chicago. Through performance, objects, and socially engaged art, her work explores dynamics of connection, power, violence and resistance. Her work has been shown in Chicago, Detroit, Santa Fe, Ohio, Missouri, and France. She has worked with social justice and community-based organizations for over thirty years in immigrant rights, economic justice, LGBTQ issues, and domestic violence. She holds an M.F.A. in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art, M.A. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, and B.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University. For additional information, please visit jeeyeunlee.com.
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. More info at ajmcclenon.com.
Nina Montenegro is an American visual artist, writer, and biophiliac. Montenegro's practice crosses disciplines to advocate for an ecologically-vibrant and socially-just future. Her work has been featured in publications worldwide. She is co-founder and co-creative director of the design studio The Far Woods with her sister Sonya. Her published books include Worry Medicine: Remedies and Rituals for Anxious Times and Mending Life: A Handbook for Repairing Clothes and Hearts. More info at ninamontenegro.com and thefarwoods.com.
One’s Position (and a route) is supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Reva and David Logan Foundation; Teiger Foundation; with in-kind support from Chicago Park District. The individual projects featured in this exhibition are a part of Navigations. Roman Susan launched Navigations during the pandemic to support artists creating expansive works in Chicago neighborhoods. Navigations are designed to be open-ended, multisensory, and widely accessible. New projects for the Navigations program are selected through open proposals. If you have an idea for a project, tell us who you are, what you do, and the experience you want to share.
Audible Gallery Activations
A Girly Show April 25
Dear Human May 2
What is a Tree? May 9
1-833-NATR-XXX May 16
mille tendresse-mille fleurs May 23
Shore Land May 30
Umwelt June 6
A Girly Show April 25
Dear Human May 2
What is a Tree? May 9
1-833-NATR-XXX May 16
mille tendresse-mille fleurs May 23
Shore Land May 30
Umwelt June 6
The video above has been compiled from materials and archival images generously shared by the American Indian Center and Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society. During Winter 2021, narration of the video was recorded with Grayson Alexander, Isabella Chamberland, and Edelawite Sasahulih of the 49th Ward Youth Council.
The video has been shared at 1224 W Loyola in Spring 2020, and was subsequently on view as a part of the Summer 2020 exhibition Birchbark, Wiigwaas at Rogers Park/West Ridge Historical Society, featuring new work by Nora Moore Lloyd. The video was also featured as a part of Moore Lloyd’s installation for human / nature: the weight of our actions on the natural world at the Illinois State Museum in 2021-2022. Please let us know if you would like to add your voice.
- Lengths by Jisu Lee
- Untitled by Thomas Kong
- HOLD THAT SPACE FOR ME by Soheila Azadi
- Four Drawings and My translation of essays from Lee Ufan’s Yohaku no Geijutsu by Aya Nakamura
- Microbookmarking by Megan Nugroho
- Untitled by Alicia Craft and David Craft
- Re • sil • ience by John-Michael Korpal
- vs A SIGN IN SPACE by Matt Martin
- Le rêve de chauve-souris by Emanuele Druid Napolitano
- Blurred Vision by Sr. Dorothy Forman and Jean L Smith
- Pattern for Diaspora by AP Vague
- Real Stories by Jennifer Mannebach
- Fortune Cookie by Harald Busch
- Peace by Abdoul-Ganiou Dermani
- Dance 8 by Jin Lee
- Paroxysm by Forrest Brandt
- 13 Notes on Creativity by Matthew Lawson Garrett
- unknown author by Enrique Alvarez Aguilar
- I+CARE by Ahreum Lee, et al.
- The 4th of July in (George) Washington Park by David Vosburg
- In Between the Pages by B Y Kim
Roman Susan Art Foundation assembles exploratory art collections in order to place contemporary works of art in the lives of local residents. Community members help maintain and expand the collections, hosting the work, and sharing it with family, friends, and neighbors at their home. At regular intervals, the art is transferred to another host, circulating the works throughout our community. New artwork (and new collections) will be added periodically, putting art in more homes, expanding the narrative from household to household. If you are interested in hosting work, please visit romansusan.org/host.
The first collection RS1 consists of works donated by the Roman Susan board of directors. Vexillum, the second collection, shares artist-made flags and banners. A third collection Foundation features work from artists featured in Roman Susan programming for each year 2012 to present. Community-Hosted Collections Index (PDF).
Mutual Insurance Building
4750 N Sheridan Road, Chicago IL
Screening Friday, March 20 from 6-8 PM
Please RSVP to Attend
Join us for a screening of Two Summers on Hayes Avenue, a documentary examining the relationship between Rogers Park and Loyola University, looking to the future on how the university can better support the community, and how the community can better examine issues of gentrification and displacement in light of the current environment. A discussion will follow the screening.
Two Summers on Hayes Avenue is a project created by the production team of Tess Lacy, Lauren Sims, Elias Eshu, Emery Arevalo, Jo Swan, Nathan Yuen, Tenzin Chozom, and Dominic Bonelli, with Justin Anderson, Tara Lewis, Hnin Thazin, Solomon, and Vince Ahmadi. Screening discussions are imagined in partnership with the ONE Northside housing justice team, as well as other organizations around the city working for tenants rights and fighting rising rents, and educators in local public schools.
This event is being hosted with ONE Northside, a mixed-income, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization that unites diverse communities. ONE Northside builds collective power to eliminate injustice through bold and innovative community organizing. For more information, visit onenorthside.org.
I was a little surprised when Tess asked me to share a story about my connection to the building at 1226 Loyola Avenue. She said she had seen how much energy I had put into raising awareness about Loyola’s unnecessary demolition of the building and wanted me to explain why it meant so much to me.
I had been to all the businesses on the ground floor — Archie’s, Roman Susan, and Edge Art – I had even been to the shoemaker who used to be there. I’ll admit, though, I wasn’t a regular at Salon Pastiche.
I would often walk past the building on my way to and from the train and on weekend nights, and I’d see people of all ages — Rogers Park residents, Loyola students, people from who knows where — standing and sitting on the sidewalk outside Archie’s enjoying the music, laughing, conversing – a diverse group of people just having a good time together.
Roman Susan had exhibits that were sometimes on-the-wall and sometimes off-the-wall — and one of the great things about it was that the art was often just as accessible – or even more accessible – to people walking by as to people walking in. No charge either way.
And Maggie’s Edge Art Gallery was filled with folk art Maggie collected on visits to Mexico. She would sell the art here, then take the proceeds — along with medicine and supplies — back with her on her next trip.
The building itself was a unique, structurally sound building that also provided low-income housing — something Chicago has a very short supply of. When the building was lost, we didn’t just lose a structure; we lost neighbors – people who were part of the fabric of the community.
So, when Tess asked why the building meant so much to me, I thought about it a while, and realized it was because the building was kind of a physical manifestation of what makes Rogers Park … Rogers Park.
When my wife and I moved here from the Pacific Northwest twenty-five years ago, we found an affordable apartment in the neighborhood. And even though I had lived in the Pacific Northwest for fifty years before that, Rogers Park felt more like home to me almost immediately.
Our new neighbors were friendly and welcoming. We could hear kids laughing outside Kilmer and Sullivan schools. And we had never seen as much diversity as we found here — people of different religions, ethnicities, languages, sexual identities, and incomes all sharing the same streets and respecting each other’s right to openly be who they are.
And when my wife died last year, there were more neighbors at her memorial than there were family members. This was where we belonged.
The demolition of the building at 1226 Loyola Avenue is heartbreaking. But the larger concern is Loyola’s ongoing pattern of land acquisition, demolition, and development that is steadily reshaping the neighborhood and pushing out the very people who make Rogers Park what it is.
What we’re seeing isn’t just the loss of buildings. It’s the gradual erosion of a culture and a community – and it needs to stop.
The first step in that direction is education. Tess has created a very impressive documentary that educated me – and will educate you – about specific details of what was going on behind the scenes that led up to the demolition. The film is an effective example of investigative journalism that lays out the facts, provides commentary, shows interviews with parties involved in the disputes, and in my case, inspired me to take action.
Rogers Park evolved its unique culture because generations of ordinary people cared enough to make it the community that it is. And if we want it to stay that way, it’s going to take people who care just as much today.
Two Summers on Hayes Avenue isn’t so much about a building, as it is about two very different visions of what a neighborhood should be. One vision sees Rogers Park as a community — a place where diversity is valued and where people of different incomes, backgrounds, and identities can live side by side.
The other sees Rogers Park primarily as real estate — land in an affordable neighborhood that can be acquired, redeveloped, and gentrified to increase its value and generate a net profit.
The reason I have invested the time and energy into raising awareness of Loyola’s demolition of the 1226 building, is that I believe the future of Rogers Park shouldn’t be decided by Loyola’s profit-driven Board of Trustees — it should be decided by the people who call it home.
–– Dave White
Spring and Autumn 2025
COSMiC SERPENT is an interdimensional being. It is not knowable but shows glimpses of its infinite manifestations. . . . a 12-to-20-person costume with separate eyes, tongue, and rattling tail! Surrounding COSMiC SERPENT are cosmic entities: planets, shooting stars, clouds and creatures of the cosmos. Together we celebrate the ultramundane!
The first manifestation of COSMiC SERPENT was created through a collaboration by spectacle-maker Blue Lady and Roman Susan founder Kristin Abhalter. The project debuted at Mayday 2025 in Minneapolis, Minneasota. Roman Susan traveled to the Twin Cities with Great Lakes aritsts and paraders Aaron Cody, Molly E, Danielle Euer, Eliza Fernand, Yelena Kalinsky, Elaine Lemieux, Siobhan Leonard, Nathan Margoni, blake nemec, Andy O’Connor, Lara Oppenheimer, Sara Zalek, and Fancy.
maydaympls.org: Our Mayday celebration began in 1974, initiated and shepherded by In the Heart of the Beast Theatre (HOBT) as an annual event with broad community participation. For nearly 50 years HOBT enacted the Mayday Parade, the Tree of Life Ceremony, and the Festival in Powderhorn Park. In April 2023, HOBT announced that it would no longer produce Mayday, and “released it” to the community. Now, in 2025, there is no single organization producing Mayday; the Parade is built by decentralized community groups hosting puppet-making workshops and the Semilla Center for Healing and the Arts is sponsoring an artistic cohort and workshops to create the Tree of Life Ceremony. Festivities in Powderhorn Park following the Parade will be quite different than in HOBT years, with no organized food trucks or large music stages. You are encouraged to bring picnics and enjoy the beautiful park.
The first iteration of COSMiC SERPENT was created through community workshops and making sessions at Berger Park Cultural Center in Edgewater, and at Interfacing Studio in Rogers Park. Traveling paraders were joined by 25+ participants in Minneapolis, and the group were one of 50+ crewes marching in the 2025 Mayday Parade.
The images above were created by artist and parader John William Marks. The image below is from another friendly Minnesotan!
The second iteraion of COSMiC SERPENT was created through a collaboration Rough House Theater. The project processed as a part of the annual Arts in the Dark in downtown Chicago, slithering on State Street, moving south from Lake Street to Van Buren. Rough House is led by Claire Saxe, joined by paraders Kim Campbell, Lynda Cortez, Elisa Farmilant, Andres Fiz, Yelena Kalinsky, Felix Mayes, Ruby Que, Tia Pinson, Janine Saxe, Sion, and Jacqueline Wade.
artsinthedark.com: Arts in the Dark is a magical evening parade celebrating Halloween as the “artist’s holiday” and drawing together world-renowned institutions, celebrated Chicago cultural organizations, important youth programs, and aspiring artists in every field. It is a dazzling production that delights an audience of 100,000 with unique floats, spectacle puppets and creative performances – all set against the backdrop of historic State Street. More than just a parade, Arts in the Dark is a mission-driven and curated event that brings performance and creativity to the street. It draws together cultural organizations and artists from every Ward in Chicago to celebrate our values as artists and cultural organizations – and provide a platform for Chicago’s creative youth to explore a path in the arts.
Navy Pier, Chicago IL
April 11, 2024 - April 14, 2024
At EXPO Chicago, Roman Susan joined fellow artist-run spaces Contra Corriente, in c/o Black women, and Space Shift Collective as a part of the special exhibitions program organized by Art Design Chicago and Hyde Park Art Center. We're grateful to have this opportunity to share elements from ongoing Navigations projects by Christa Donner, Eliza Fernand, J. Kent, John-Michael Korpal, and JeeYeun Lee.
Navigations + Artists Run Chicago (pdf)
EXPO Chicago Puts the Second City on the World Stage | Loyola Phoenix – April 17, 2024
MdW Fair
2233 S Throop St, Chicago IL
September 9, 2022 to September 11, 2022
10 years into the process, Roman Susan is becoming a real nonprofit – we have tote bags for our supporters! If you’d like to share your Roman Susan love with the world through tangible swag, make a personally significant donation via romansusan.org/support.
We know there are too many totes already in the world – and maybe too many nonprofits? Reusable bags are only worthwhile if they are actually used, and reused, and reused, without necessitting more new material production, more accumulation, and more excess.
All of our totes are hand-constructed by RS founder Kristin Abhalter with thrift store fabrics – or printed directly over the top of existing token bags. The work behind this includes many folks – importantly: Kit Rosenberg devised the original reverse ‘Roman Susan’ design; Vida Sačić helps us look sharper in all things graphic-designed; and John Lacefield is doing the printing.
Do you have excess tote bags we can use in this project? Reach out to art@romansusan.org and we’ll make them newly new and reused. Want a tote but can’t donate right now? We are live screen printing bags on Saturday, September 10 in the Printing Zone on the 2nd floor of MdW. BYOTote and then share the Roman Susan icon wherever you go grocery shopping, gathering, foraging, prepping, or hoarding other things. . . .
"An organic cotton tote needs to be used 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production, according to a 2018 study by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark. That equates to daily use for 54 years — for just one bag."
––Grace Cook, The Cotton Tote Crisis
Be Happy (SMS)
(773) XXX-XXXX to (312) XXX-XXXX
March 19, 2022 - April 15, 2022
At the end of Winter 2022, Thomas Kong began sending text messages of daily work to Roman Susan director Nathan Abhalter Smith. After a few days and many collages, the pair decided to share this work in an online project, highlighting daily compositions until this was no longer what they were doing. The correspondence lasted about a month, and more work in this mode by Kong are available daily via @thomaskkong. These images are best viewed on a phone.
Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 1:15 PM. See the full exchange here: romansusan.org/sms
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