On Sept. 2, The Chances Dances Collective kicked off its 10th-anniversary celebration with the gallery opening of "In a Plain Brown Wrapper" at the Gray Center for the Arts, 929 E. 60th St.
As the official starting point for what is planned as a multi-venue retrospective featuring 75 Chances Dances community members, organizers and allies, the anniversary event, titled "Platforms; 10 Years of Chances Dances," is set to run with various events until Oct. 24.
Chances Dances was founded in 2005 as an inclusive, welcoming alternative queer dance party with monthly events in non-LGBTQ spaces such as The Hideout. In the years since, the collective has gone far beyond organizing parties with a mission to build safe spaces and support local art and activism through direct funding and other resources. The purpose of the group has always been to bring together Chicago's varied LGBTQ communities while welcoming individuals of all gender expressions and racial identities.
In 2008, Chances Dances launched The Critical Fierceness Grant, which is awarded to Chicago-based artists and collectives who identify themselves or work as queer. In 2012, the grant was expanded to include The Mark Agular Memorial Grant, which funds projects by queer, feminine spectrum artists of color.
In a Plain Brown Wrapper is a multimedia presentation inspired by the life and work of the late educator and artist Barbra DeGenevieve. The idea for the show came from the practice of shipping and wrapping pornographic merchandise in a plain brown wrapper. The exhibit's Facebook page stated, "Poetically, this negotiation of public and private sensitivities is made possible by an almost aggressively anti-aesthetic container, echoing a philosophical argument about porn itself as the inverse of art."
According to curator Oli Rodriguez, In a Plain Brown Wrapper approaches and bridges the gap between pornography and art. The Facebook event page also describes the works as "an exhibition of marginalized bodies." The exhibit will continue until Sept. 18 and can be viewed by appointment only.
DeGenevieve, who succumbed to cancer in 2014, was an interdisciplinary artist who taught and lectured using photography and video-performance art to approach subjects as varied as human sexuality, gender, trans sexuality, censorship, ethics and pornography.
The opening-night event featured a live performance by performance-art rockers Xina Xurner ( life partners Marvin Astorga and Young Joon Kwak ) as well as photography, sculpture, print making, video works, archival presentations, and hand-crafted fetish wear and gear. Among the artists who participated in the showing were Rami George, Margaret Bobo-Dancy, Amina Ross, Andre Perez and the Trans Oral History Project, and Michael Sirianni.
Upcoming Platforms/Chances Dances events include Making Chances on Sept. 11 ( at Gallery 400, at 400 S. Racine Ave. ) and Chrysalis, which has its opening Sept. 19 ( at both the Rainbo Club, 1150 N. Damen Ave., and The Subterranean Tavern, 2011 W. North Ave. ). Chrysalis also includes a "party bus" with performances.
For further information, visit the Platforms event page on Facebook as the full schedule of events will be rolled out in the coming weeks.