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Art Thu May 19 2011
Detention in West Chicago
ArtXposium is upon us once again, in it's fifth year in West Chicago IL, this multidisciplinary arts weekend is being brought to life by People Made Visible. "A non-for-profit organization with a mission to facilitate community while fulfilling the artistic, social, educational and cultural needs of the community through an innovative physical and web based presence."
I had the pleasure to speak with one of the featured artists Stine Marie Jacobsen who has been working with teens of West Chicago for her video project Detention Club. Stine has a history of working with reenactments of all sorts from popular films to urban legends, she enjoys repurposing stories to help get across ideas the story was not originally intended to address.
As any good Chicagoland native, I am aware that John Hughes filmed a lot of his movies in the area, especially Breakfast Club. This information led Stine to talk to the local teens of West Chicago about detention, not only as it relates to schools but how it translates to prisons and military detention centers like Guantanamo Bay. During the three weeks that this dialogue went on, Stine was surprised at all the things that could land a high School kid in detention, and found it remarkable how many of the teens she was talking with reiterated that they have never been asked about their thoughts of the process.
After all the talking was over everyone agreed to create a one-hour silent protest within the West Chicago Community High School District 94 library. This protest was recorded and edited by Stine, and titled "Detention Club". This 10 minute video will be played as a loop in the Gallery 200 Studio as a feature in this weekends artXposium.
Dates
Friday, May 20, 6pm - 10pm, Opening Reception in conjunction with Local Music Night featuring: 51 Strings, John Keeney & Algebro.
Saturday, May 21, 9am. - 8pm
Sunday, May 22, noon - 4pm
Location
203 Turner Court, West Chicago, IL 60185
