APRIL Friday 30
All the big-time art fairs on the east side of town have goosed the west-side galleries of Wicker Park, Ukrainian Village, and Bucktown into taking some competitive action. But the gallery owners and managers of the West Side Gallery District Association would rather switch than fight: they’ve pooled their resources and rented out a space in River North for a group show. Go West, a sampling of art from the WSGDA’s 25 member galleries, opens tonight with a free reception from 5 to 9 at the new space, 730 N. Franklin. The group also plans to occupy a booth at the New Pier Show (see Wednesday). More-adventurous art hounds–those who aren’t afraid of a little public transportation–can visit the galleries themselves tomorrow: all 25, most of them within walking distance of the el stop at Damen, North, and Milwaukee, are participating in an open house running from noon to 9. Maps and information about WSGDA galleries will be available at the opening and all participating galleries. Call 772-6965 if you need more info.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
It’s National Astronomy Day! Chicagoland’s two centers of astronomical interest, the Adler Planetarium and the Cernan Earth & Space Center, both have daylong activities planned. At the Adler, 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr., 12 hours of rocket launching, exhibits, planet-gazing, and films and lectures kick off at noon. It’s all free. Call 322-0304 for more. Out at Triton College’s Cernan Center, 2000 Fifth Ave. in River Grove, members of the Chicago Astronomical Society have similar goings-on scheduled from 2 to 10 PM. It’s free as well. Call 725-5618 for details.
Sunday 2
Legend has it that more than 750,000 people attended the first Chicago Day, part of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, at a time when Chicago’s population totaled one million. For the last five years some of the city’s leading–and oldest–cultural institutions have celebrated with free admission and special Chicago-oriented exhibits and programs. The Art Institute, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Chicago Historical Society, the Field Museum, and a dozen others will continue this tradition and throw open their doors from 10 till 5 today. There will be free CTA service among them and accompanying support from radio station WBBM (78 AM), which will broadcast live from the Chicago Cultural Center. For information on the programs call 230-4884.
Wednesday 5
The first of Chicago’s three competing art exhibitions opens tonight. (For the other two, see Thursday.) Art 1993 Chicago: The New Pier Show will feature local, national, and international exhibitors in a novel 47,500-square-foot tent between North Pier and the Chicago River. Tonight’s opening party is a benefit for Gallery 37, the summer arts program held on Block 37, the vacant Loop lot across the street from Marshall Field’s. The event runs from 5:30 to 9:30; the $60 ticket gets you a first look at the show, a banquet buffet, and music from the Sherwood Conservatory of Music. Call 744-7528 for details. Accompanying the show will be a six-day exhibit of floating sculpture made specially for this event in Ogden Slip. The show is presented by Flo-Tilla, the group that sends the sculpture parade floating down the Chicago River each August. The buoyant art will be on view from 1 to 10 daily through Monday. Call 772-3879 for info.
