If you passed by the corner of Damen and Fulton last Saturday night, a chain-link fence proclaimed your loveliness. Styrofoam cups stuck in the fence spelled out YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL–cheesy as it may have been, it’s always nice to be reminded. It was part of an anonymous international project based in Chicago called, natch, You Are Beautiful, that covers ads with posters bearing that slogan, distributes stickers, dresses up dumpy spots in the city with site-specific warm fuzzies, and encourages one and all to spread its Aguileran message around the world.
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Inside Open End I was greeted by a table bearing gifts: the $5 cover got me a spaghetti dinner; a couple of agitprop posters; a little sack of zines, including an “Urban Gardening Guide” that provides measurements for city fixtures such as signs and lampposts and tips for wheat pasting; and stickers galore, my favorite of which just says OUT OF ORDER, presumably for slapping on gas pumps, vending machines, and parking meters. On one side of the room inhabitants of the art space Diamonds on Archer screen-printed partygoers’ clothing with drawings of roses, intestines, rib cages, and diamonds on the spot for free.
The last time I went to Open End was last month for “Tragic Beauty,” an installation of large-scale found objects turned into sculptures for the show, then dismantled and reappropriated for the street. (See the story by Jeff Huebner in this section for more on that project.) At the gallery the work seemed sterile and forced, but when I saw it outside I loved it.
While walking in the freezing wind and rain to the Damen/North/Milwaukee crotch to catch a cab on Friday night, I spotted a pigtailed brunette in frosty eyeliner wearing a tight T-shirt cropped to expose her midriff, a pair of tiny gym shorts rolled down almost to her pubic bone and hiked up her ass crack, and knee-high tube socks. She sort of reminded me of me.
This year’s festival has felt looser somehow, partly because the partying is better integrated into the events. Gallery shows include lectures, dinners, live music, and the previously mentioned screen printing, none of it as hard-core or goal oriented as the run-up to the election made everything feel last year. Version>05 has stressed doing small things that look pretty and make people feel good.
