ALERT – Please Proceed to a Shelter Nearest You is an exhibition created in conjunction with the Artists of the Little City Multi-Disciplinary Art Center. The exhibition responds to the society of fear, to the propagation of anxiety and stress that currently pervade our mental lives. Designed to question the definition of “emergency,” the show explores how our consumer culture perpetuates fear while ignoring concerns such as health care, housing, and education.

Over the course of the ALERT exhibition, Gallery 400 was used as a shelter for relief efforts in case of any emergency: it provided a work site, an information/distribution center, a support system, and entertainment.

Artists of Little City Multi-Disciplinary Art Center respond to our concern for alert/alarm systems for safety and protection by collecting vital information for our general well-being and design systems in the event of Emergency. All of the artists at Little City were asked what they thought was needed in the event of an emergency and how to go about addressing that need. What resulted was a series of contingency plans—exaggerated as the case may have been—that gave one an appearance of solace in the face of an imminent potential threat. Over the course of the ALERT exhibition, Gallery 400 will be used as a shelter for relief efforts in case of any emergency: it will provide a work site, an information/distribution center, a support system, and entertainment.

Together with the exhibition, POST commissioned “Evacuation Plan,” a new poster created by artists of the Little City Multi-Disciplinary Art Center. For their POST project, artists Harold Jefferies, Kathy Kane, and Michael Lyon responded to non-specific crisis situations with the messages, “Don ’t Freeze, Run!” and “If It ’s Really Bad…Take Other Precautions.” Layered on top of a sprawling, line-drawn evacuation plan, the artists consider the protocols of emergency conditions and question the assumptions of personal safety and well-being. Posters are available in limited supply at Gallery 400 during the opening reception and are posted throughout various south and northwest neighborhoods.

The Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center (MDAC) at Little City Foundation (LCF) exists to support the creative expression and the artistic culture of people with developmental disabilities through a variety of artistic media, including video, visual, and performing arts. Artists working at the Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center at Little City Foundation include Harold Jefferies, Charles Beinhof, Dana Duerr, Rita O ’Connell, Ken Hirsch, Mike Lyon, John King, Jack Armstrong, Nick Diedrich, Kathy Kane, Jeanne Reindl, Lori Couve, Charles Seeberg, Martin Markowski, Jeris Reed, Marcellous Williams, and Jerry Rose. Their work is facilitated by Brett Bloom, Jennifer Galicinski, John Grod, Esther Hwang, Pete Liebenow, Laura Piazza, Michael Piazza, John Ploof, and Margo Rush.

ALERT- Please Proceed to a Shelter Nearest You was commissioned as part of the 2003 At the Edge: Innovative Art in Chicago
series.

ALERT- Please Proceed to a Shelter Nearest You is presented concurrently with POST Chicago: April 2003 – April 2004.

Related:

• POSTChicago: April 2003 – April 2004

ALERT – Please Proceed to a Shelter Nearest You is supported by the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Special thanks to the jury that selected the 2003 At The Edge projects: Danielle Gustafson-Sundell (artist and co-director of Deluxe Projects), Paul Ha (Executive Director, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis), Kevin Kaempf (artist), Jennifer Reeder (artist and UIC faculty member), and Lorelei Stewart (Director, Gallery 400).