on "The Art of Political Dissent: Exploring New Global Identities through the Lives of Tourists, Soldiers, Immigrants, and Exiles in the Age of ‘McJihad’"
CHICAGO – As corporate and financial interests, war, migration and technology link people all over the world, how are different communities resisting cultural homogenization? Join a Café Society dialogue on this question Tuesday, April 26th, 2005 from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave. This program is free and open to the public.
The Public Square at the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) invites the public to consider global cultural identities and to join us for a FREE tour of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s stunning exhibition entitled Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye. The free tour will be followed by refreshments and entertainment by DJ Warp in the Museum’s Kanter Center and the event will conclude with a conversation that will explore the possibility of creating new and diverse identities in the world of so-called "McJihad."
DJ Warp/ Brian Keigher and anthropologist, Dr. William Mazzarella , will be joining this City-Wide Cafe Society. DJ Warp will spin some tunes and share some comments on how global music is shaping the cultural landscape of Chicago and other places around the world. Dr. Mazzarella , the author of the award-winning book, Shoveling Smoke: Advertising and Globalization in Contemporary India, will provide insights on the intersection of culture, consumerism, political identity and the experience of globalization.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Occupying the entire MCA building as well as its outdoor spaces, the works in the exhibition Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the Tourist’s Eye — ranging from large scale installations and sculptures to more intimate photographs and videos— focus on the phenomenon of international visual artists whose work responds to their experience of traveling and living within various cultures. Addressing issues related to tourism that include spectacle, architecture, authenticity, history, souvenirs, and anthropology, Universal Experience features work by more than 70 artists including Vito Acconci, Chris Burden, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jeff Koons, Thomas Struth, and Andy Warhol.
ABOUT DJ WARP
DJ Warp (Brian Keigher) started out as a percussionist but quickly realized the possibilities of combining different styles of music together by using DJing as a tool to another means of expression. With 15 years of experience, and has shared the bill with many of today’s top musical talent in the realm of world, electronic, hip hop and rock music including Femi Kuti, Zap Mama, Cheb Khaled, The Chemical Brothers, DJ Spooky, Bill Laswell, Poi Dog Pondering, Fareed Haque, Low, and many more. DJ Warp was a resident DJ at Smartbar (2000-02) and has played many venues throughout Chicago. He currently hosts a monthly world music-themed electronica night entitled "Bombay Beatbox" which was recently featured in Time magazine.
ABOUT CAFÉ SOCIETY
The Cafe Society Project began in October 2002 at four area coffee shops. This project fosters a more robust civil society, more cohesive and interactive communities, greater media literacy and a more informed and engaged citizenry through weekly coffee shop conversations about contemporary social issues. Current media reports (along with ample doses of caffeine) serve as stimulants for the conversations. The idea is to cross boundaries of class, race, ideology, and background to facilitate meaningful discussions about the underlying historical and philosophical issues implicated in topics in the news. The Café Society project taps the growing coffee culture in Chicago as a vehicle to promote conversations between strangers (a cornerstone of democratic practice) about relevant social issues, with a focus on the theme of citizenship, broadly defined, and critically examined.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC SQUARE AT THE ILLINOIS HUMANITIES COUNCIL
The Public Square at the IHC fosters debate, dialogue, and exchange of ideas about cultural, social and political issues with an emphasis on social justice. Programs promote participatory democracy by creating space for public conversations. Knowledge is power, yet much crucial knowledge still circulates only in small, isolated communities. We build bridges between theory and practice in order to empower individuals to use ideas as tools to improve their lives.
More information about The Public Square at the IHC and Café Society is available at www.thepublicsquare.org.
D A R E T O K N O W
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