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Art & Design|New Public Art Rides the Rails in Chicago, Timed to the Convention
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/12/arts/design/chicago-art-trains-elections.html
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When the Democratic National Convention kicks off on Aug. 19, an array of art tied to the election season and the El will greet visitors and Chicagoans alike.
By Laura van Straaten
Reporting from Chicago.
Aug. 12, 2024, 5:04 a.m. ET
Public art by world-renowned creators is a seminal part of Chicago’s urban landscape. Anish Kapoor’s beloved 2006 silver sculpture in downtown Millennial Park, known as “The Bean” (officially “Cloud Gate”), is as much a symbol of the city as Chicago’s sports stars and its skyscrapers.
Now, timed to the Democratic National Convention (Aug. 19 -22), Chicago is debuting a new array of public art throughout the city, much of it by local talent, and all on democratic (with a lowercase “D”) themes.
Starting Aug. 12, a handful of the city’s famous elevated trains covered in the work of emerging artists and designers will take to the tracks of the Chicago Transit Authority, accompanied by a series of cultural events in neighborhoods throughout the city.
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The project, called “Track(ed) Changes,” along with the related community events, jibes with the city’s promise to Chicagoans to broaden the limelight and to spread the economic impact of the convention through many of the city’s 77 neighborhoods. More than 50,000 people are expected to descend on United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls of the N.B.A. and the Blackhawks of the N.H.L.
“It’s not just downtown,” said Clinée Hedspeth, a former art appraiser and curator who in March became commissioner of the city’s department of cultural affairs and special events. The department provided more than $100,000 in funding for “Track(ed) Changes.” With attention from all over the world, Chicago is eager to showcase the art it has long created for the public, dating at least to 1899, “in an uplifted and intentional way that reflects the city,” Hedspeth said.
