“Chicago Blues and Beyond”/courtesy Matthew Rachman Gallery
1 Dimensions of Citizenship: Architecture and Belonging from the Body to the Cosmos (Wrightwood 659) What does it mean to be a citizen today? A reinstallation of the official U.S. Pavilion from the Sixteenth International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale explores the idea of citizenship and its relationship to architecture and design, as presented by an interdisciplinary team of architects, designers, theorists and artists. Through April 27
2 Mies van der Rohe: Chicago Blues and Beyond (Matthew Rachman Gallery) A collection of original blueprints, artifacts and furniture by pioneer of modernist architecture Mies van der Rohe explores the legacy of the legendary architect and designer in Chicago and beyond. April 13 through July 21
3 The Whole World a Bauhaus (Elmhurst Art Museum) Celebrating the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus, the vibrant German school of vast experimentation in the fields of arts, design, architecture and technology which shaped modern thinking are highlighted in a traveling exhibition. Through April 20
4 Macy’s Flower Show (Macy’s State Street) “Journey to Paradisios: Operation Inspiration” is the theme of the annual Macy’s flower show, unwrapping a whimsical world of floral beauty, breathtaking color and fantastical lifeforms, starting from its famed windows at the State Street location and extending throughout the store, turning the edifice into an elaborate theme garden. Through April 7
5 The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt (Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership) New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein illustrates Hannah Arendt’s encounters with the artists, writers and thinkers of pre-World War II Europe in a biography that sheds light into the work of one of the most important political philosophers of the twentieth century. Through June 23
Greek-born Vasia Rigou is a Chicago-based art critic and pop culture journalist, largely on the subjects of contemporary art, design, and fashion. She moved to Chicago in 2013 to study Arts Journalism at the School of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC,) where she was awarded the New Artist Society Merit Scholarship. She grew up to appreciate art after years of carefully planned, culture-filled travel itineraries and museum-hopping around Europe with her family. During this time, she received a bachelor’s in English Literature, in her native Athens; a master’s in Media, in Nottingham, UK; and studied foreign languages—English, German, and Spanish at the University of Salamanca, Spain. Her writing—reviewing museum exhibitions, gallery shows, art fairs, fashion shows, and music festivals among others—has been published nationally and internationally both in print and online. In 2017, she founded and now serves as editor-in-chief of Rainbowed.—an independently published website focused on the visual and performing arts, digital media, and popular culture. When she’s not writing about art or looking at art—wine in hand, she keeps up with Chicago’s creative entrepreneurial and startup community, makes lists for pretty much everything, drinks immense amounts of coffee and takes cross-country road trips every chance she gets.
