Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford played a key role in the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Hulsebos-Spofford, an assistant professor in the School of the Arts at Indiana University Northwest, helped coordinate the international event.
Dozens of pieces of artwork are displayed throughout Chicago until February. They are all part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
Hulsebos-Spofford worked with artists from around the world to bring the art installations to Chicago. The artwork is from 86 participants from 10 countries. The pieces are displayed at 14 city sites.
Hulsebos-Spofford is one of four directors of the Chicago-based arts collective, Floating Museum. He and his team, including IUN student Kaitlin Nichols, worked on the Chicago Architecture Biennial for more than a year. They met with city officials and coordinated artists and installations.
“When we were invited to curate the biennial, we were really excited because we’re a small collective and a small nonprofit in the city, and the biennial is a nice international platform,” said Hulsebos-Spofford in a press release. “It was the perfect moment to think about trying to tackle a citywide project.”
Floating Museum’s rendition of the event is titled “This is a Rehearsal.”
“I think the title, we were hoping, would challenge the idea that we have a manifesto totally figured out,” Hulsebos-Spofford said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, but we also have huge problems. We’re interested in finding solutions through practice, conversations. Just thinking about the format of getting to a final performance.”
Floating Museum’s projects have included converting a barge on the Chicago River into a museum and installing inflatable sculptures.
“A bunch of our projects have been wrestling with that question or idea of how could the city be a museum?” Hulsebos-Spofford said.
The Chicago Architecture Biennial began in 2015. This is its fifth edition. Since 2015, more than 400 architects and artists from dozens of countries have participated. More than 1.8 million visitors have viewed the artwork.
