It’s understandable that when someone hears the name “The Floating Museum” they might think it’s a museum that floats on water, or in midair. Instead it floats from place to place, moving across communities and manifesting itself in programs that take place in various Chicago neighborhoods. But for its summer exhibition, “River Assembly,” the Floating Museum will be literally seabound, occupying a 100-square-foot shipping barge for a three-week voyage up the Chicago River. The traveling vessel will showcase artwork, media, and performances from ten Chicago-based organizations and more than 30 local and national artists, including Hebru Brantley, Maria Gaspar, Cauleen Smith, and Edra Soto.
“The city is the Floating Museum,” Majeed says. “The neighborhoods are the galleries, and all of the organizations are the players. It is just about figuring out thoughtful moments of beauty, moments where those things can come together.”
“The project is less like a mobile museum and more like a cloud or a network of people and places,” Hulsebos-Spofford says. “When the structure is needed, it happens. But when it’s not, it can go away. On the river it will be aggregating and congealing into a form, but because it is modular it can also disperse.”
Through 8/28: Various dates and timesfloatingmuseum.org Free
