Advocacy Organizations: Bird-Friendly Chicago, Chicago Ornithological Society, Audubon Great Lakes, Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Bird Collision Monitors,

Architects: SOM, Studio Gang, Perkins & Will

NOVEMBER 3, 1 - 3PM SUNDAY

BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF CHICAGO: OVERCOMING THE PERILS OF BIRD MIGRATION WITH ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION

Each year, hundreds of millions of migratory birds pass through the Chicago region on their journeys to their breeding and wintering grounds. Species travel thousands of miles, some coming from as far south as Argentina and as far north as the Canadian tundra. During migration, birds are susceptible to the imposing built environments of human cities. Specifically, bright lights and glass buildings can disorient birds, resulting in high-speed collisions. Tragically, it is estimated that over one billion birds die annually in North America from collisions with buildings. Bird-building collisions are also one of the largest contributors to the large-scale decline in bird populations across the continent.

Since humans designed and built the structures and windows that injure and kill many migratory birds, that means it also falls in our hands to change and innovate ways to make our buildings more bird-friendly. We invite you to discover why birds congregate in Chicago, how adopting bird-friendly building policies can help save birds, and how we are building better, safer buildings for birds, using design elements that deter birds without forfeiting aesthetics.

Join Chicago-based bird conservation and advocacy organizations (Bird-Friendly Chicago, Chicago Ornithological Society, Audubon Great Lakes, Chicago Audubon Society, Chicago Bird Collision Monitors) and architects (SOM, Studio Gang, and Perkins & Will ) for a series of presentations that will explore Chicago from both a bird’s and an architect’s unique point of view. Birds that are most affected by collisions will be highlighted, as well as best practices for construction, focusing on some of Chicago's most bird-friendly buildings.

Artist Group: ATOM-r in collaboration with Abraham Avnisan

NOVEMBER 3, 3:30 - 4:30PM SUNDAY

ATOM-r BRIDGEHOUSE ARTIST RESIDENCY

ATOM-r (Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality), in collaboration with Abraham Avnisan, will culminate their residency at the Bridgehouse Museum with a talk about their work in progress, The Tenders: A Last Dance. Blending live performance and their unique work with augmented and virtual reality, The Tenders uncovers multiple histories encapsulated within the site of the DuSable bridge in order to trace the relationships between land, power, capital, and colonialism from the 18th century to today. The work will make interventions into the accepted narrative of public monuments using augmented reality, 3D scanning technologies, projection mapping, and the staging of a “last dance” of precarious belonging that mourns the continual removal of marginalized bodies from the spaces they inhabit while performing a queer celebration of multiplicity.

http://atom-r.com/

Artist Group: Experimental Sound Studio featuring Artist Ryan Ingebritsen

OCTOBER 17 - NOVEMBER 3

RYAN INGEBRITSEN - COMPARTMENTS

Compartments takes the audience inside of a unique water feature on the Des Plaines River, at the Ryerson Woods Nature Area in Deerfield which eventually flows into the Chicago River. This special place features shallow water that quietly flows over and through a rock bed forming several different "compartments" through which the water flows creating a variety of sonic effects. In this installation, the architecture of the bridge house is used to emulate these sonic compartments, allowing the audience to move through this environment. Re-synthesis of very close up sonic perspectives from each of these compartments helps to emphasize the musical nature the waters persistent flow through each compartment forming a circular oscillation between synthesized and found sound.

This program is presented by Experimental Sound Studio: https://ess.org/esscalendar/ryaningebritsen-tenderhouseprojects

Artist Group: Ben LaMar Gay presented by International Anthem

SEPTEMBER 12 5 - 7PM THURSDAY

CONCERTS AT THE BRIDGEHOUSE

Chicago Artist, Ben LaMar Gay will engage audiences inside and the public outside with a series of mini performances within the NW Michigan Ave bridgehouse. 

Ben LaMar Gay is a composer and cornetist who moves components of sound, color, and space through folkloric filters to produce brilliant electroacoustic collages. The Chicago native’s true technique is giving life to an idea while exploring and expanding on the term Americana. Inspired by the vibrant experimental music scene of Chicago, and a three-year residency in Brazil, Gay collaborates with some influential figures in the world of music, dance, and visual arts including George Lewis, Itiberê Zwarg, Onye Ozuzu, Qudus Onikeku, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Catherine Sullivan, Mike Reed, Joshua Abrams, Celso Fonseca, Tomeka Reid, The Black Monks of Mississippi, Bixiga 70 and the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His musical influences derive from his collection of experiences in all of the Americas and the gathered data channeled by technology and its amplifying accessibility. Embracing international vision while remaining true to his roots, Gay’s creative output aligns with the honest notion that he only knows how to be a man from the South side of Chicago

Artist Group: Ben LaMar Gay presented by International Anthem http://www.intlanthem.com/

Artist Group: Deep Time Chicago & Rachel Havrelock

SEPTEMBER 15 1-3PM SUNDAY

Deep Time: Chicago River Walk About It & Water Taxi Tour

Deep Time Chicago will host a “Walk About It,” tour and discussion focused on the ways in which we (humans) have shaped, altered, and harnessed the Chicago River and the waterways of the city and Illinois to serve our purposes. We will be joined by Rachel Havrelock, an expert in, and advocate for, issues surrounding water use in the Great Lakes Region. She is the founder of Freshwater Lab, a humanities-based initiative focused on research, teaching, and public awareness about the Great Lakes. We will also discuss Deep Time’s work on the Mississippi River with their project, Confluence Ecologies, that addresses the human and non-human forms of contemporary life found in the regionally significant meeting place formed by two great rivers, the Ohio and the Mississippi in southern Illinois.

The tour will meet at the Bridgehouse Museum at 1PM for introductions. The group will then proceed to the Chicago Water Taxi dock at the Chicago Riverwalk for a ride to Ping Tom Park and back (round trip tickets are $10, or one way are $6). As the boat head south, our Walk About It tour group will lead a peaceful takeover of the water taxi to continue our discussion of downtown Chicago’s relationship with the river, sites of industry on its banks, and the future“78” neighborhood, the formerly abandoned land known as Rezkoville that was home to wild urban nature and a homeless encampment, ending at the Ping Tom Park dock situated between two of the city’s historic bascule bridges.

Artist Group: Next CC. + The School of the Art Institute of Chicago AIADO

SEPTEMBER 18 12 - 2PM WEDNESDAY

ECO SENSING CHICAGO RIVER WORKS

Eco Sensing Chicago River Works connects the experience of walking along the river with mobile technology; listening and recording data as citizen scientists map the health of the city’s water. As you walk along the path, the sights and sounds of the river system open new awareness to the anthrophonic, biophonic, and geophonic sounds around us. Using the Chicago River Data Worksheet, sonic discoveries combine with light and temperature readings and observations of biodiversity of life and periods of activity and non-activity along the river.  

 Riverworks is an interdisciplinary collaboration of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Eco Design Students with Chicago Organizations that examines the creative possibilities of aquatic bioacoustics and the potential for new approaches to the data driven conservation of urban global river systems. River Works imagines immersive spaces of community engagement with listening labs, field recordings, soundmaps, performances and installations that raise understanding of river health and aquatic and human biodiversity and coexistence. Eco Sensing increases the critical value of water wisdom and elevates the importance of river systems to urban health. Explore the value of acoustics and technology in contributing towards environmental awareness and engagement and Chicago’s new Eco Cruise.

Host: Keefer Dunn / Lumpen Radio

OCTOBER 5, 2 PM

BUILDINGS ON AIR

Buildings on Air is a monthly FM radio show hosted by Keefer Dunn that demystifies architecture through wild speculation, good conversation, a healthy dose of lefty political perspective, and lots of skepticism about the 'power of design’. Each show features guests from the many different facets of the architecture world in Chicago and beyond. In this special episode, Keefer will focus on the architecture and space of Chicago’s rivers.

Tune-In to WLPN 105.5 @lumpenradio today, Oct. 5th at 2 pm to hear stories on our river's past, present, and future. If you missed it on the radio, no problem. This segment is available on BOA’s site right now!

Guests on today's program include Patrick McBriarty of Chicago Maritime Arts, Ward Miller of Preservation Chicago, Mejay Gula of Tender House Project, Joanne So Young Dill and John Quail of Friends of the Chicago River, and Chloe Gurin-Sands of Metropolitan Planning Council.

Artist Group: Red Line Service

OCTOBER 6 1 -3 PM SUNDAY

ART HISTORIES

Red Line Service connects people with a lived experience of homelessness to cultural webs. By being introduced to these artistic experiences and communities cultural, intellectual, and spiritual belonging is created. Unlike other models of service, which maintain inequality and exclusion through a ‘giver of privilege’ and ‘recipient in need’ framework, Red Line Service creates interdependent communities of mutual care through art, in which social inclusion is forged. Red Line Service is premised on the evidence-based research that social inclusion is one key factor in pursuing, securing and retaining housing. 

Art Histories is a Red Line Service program in which participants with a lived experience of homelessness, food or economic insecurity wrote art history essays. In this program, participants will perform their art historical essays to conventional and new art audiences. These encounters create platforms for audiences with different skills and expertise to meet and learn from one another.

Artist Group: Ben LaMar Gay presented by International Anthem

OCTOBER 9 9:30 AM WEDNESDAY

BEN LAMAR GAY - BRIDGE LIFT

CONCERTS AT THE BRIDGEHOUSE

On the morning of October 9th, Ben LaMar Gay will perform a duet with the live sounds of the moving bascule bridge during Chicago's Fall bridge lift. The rare performance will be viewable in two acts. The first act takes place within the belly of the Michigan Avenue bridge, where Ben LaMar Gay will perform with and among the moving gears, proceeded with a second act that takes place on the Riverwalk. Space is limited to the first act of this performance, so we recommend you RSVP today!

Ben LaMar Gay is a composer and cornetist who moves components of sound, color, and space through folkloric filters to produce brilliant electroacoustic collages. The Chicago native’s true technique is giving life to an idea while exploring and expanding on the term Americana. Inspired by the vibrant experimental music scene of Chicago, and a three-year residency in Brazil, Gay collaborates with some influential figures in the world of music, dance, and visual arts including George Lewis, Itiberê Zwarg, Onye Ozuzu, Qudus Onikeku, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Catherine Sullivan, Mike Reed, Joshua Abrams, Celso Fonseca, Tomeka Reid, The Black Monks of Mississippi, Bixiga 70 and the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians. His musical influences derive from his collection of experiences in all of the Americas and the gathered data channeled by technology and its amplifying accessibility. Embracing international vision while remaining true to his roots, Gay’s creative output aligns with the honest notion that he only knows how to be a man from the South side of Chicago

http://www.intlanthem.com/