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Riverfront art previewed larger 2014 project

Photo by Lynn Becker

(Above) Architecture writer Lynn Becker captured this image of Meandering River, a work of art directly across from Marina City between the State and Dearborn Street Bridges. This area is on the south bank of the Chicago River below Wacker Drive. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

September 23, 2013 – It was not heavily promoted but a five-day exhibit of artwork along the Chicago River – that concluded on Sunday – was intended as a preview of a larger exhibit coming to Chicago next year.

Level 2013 showcased art installations that, said its organizers, “embrace Chicago’s rich cultural landscape.”

Four works were installed this year along the main and north branches but next year there will be 16 installations on display for ten days.

Across from Marina City, Meandering River featured a design that was etched onto rolls of a heat-insulating material. Sabrina Raaf created the work after reading an article about mathematical equations that can predict how a river takes form and how its path will evolve over time.

The event was organized by LERATA, a non-profit group founded last year in Los Angeles. LERATA is short for Laboratory for Experimentation and Research in Art, Technology and Architecture.

LERATA

(Above) This exhibit was on display for just four hours each night during the event, in an otherwise empty Riverwalk space next to the Bridgehouse Museum. (Photo obtained from LERATA.)

Contained, by Daniel Miller, is a scale model of Chicago inside an acrylic dome. The dome rotated under a sun and moon and inside the dome, humidifiers simulated smog.

“In this dome,” explains Miller on the Level 2013 website, “I am exploring the closed system that we live in called earth.”

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