Yo! Summer is here! The river is flowing, the beaches are glowing, the bullets are flying, and the city is at its annual peak of fabulousness! Everything looks great—including the plans for two major new arts initiatives the city recently rolled out.
The fact that Grima was cocurator of an inaugural design biennial in Istanbul in 2012 raises the question whether we might be coming late to the biennial party. But the organizers have thought about the competition: the odd-year launch was chosen so as not to compete directly with the well-established Venice Architecture Biennale, which runs on even years and isn’t likely to be shaking in its handsome Italian boots.
For which he ought to get the first annual Chicago Chutzpah Award. It could be bestowed at the biennial, followed by a little excursion for the architects to the Streeterville clearing where Prentice so recently stood.
The criteria: “artists whose work has forever changed and enhanced our city; artists who have made Chicago their muse, their stage, and their canvas; artists who have been our ambassadors, bringing Chicago to the rest of the world, and the world to Chicago; and artists who have inspired and mentored new generations of artists who call Chicago home.”
