PUBLIC ADDRESS
Opening Reception:
October 17th, 2008, 7-10pm
On View until November 9th, 2008
CHICAGO: In the final weeks and days before what many are naming the most important election of our
time, artist Ellen Rothenberg has coordinated Public Address: an installation of Rothenberg's large-scale
prints in conjunction with a series of multiples by colleagues in the Chicago art community.
Rothenberg's prints, which preside over tables displaying campaign buttons and stacks of artists' posters,
broadsides, badges, bags and t-shirts, use the language and spectacle of political activism. Enlarging early
20th-century images of suffrage radicals, taken from a 1914 British anti-suffrage publication, Rothenberg
confronts viewers with these powerful images and the captions that once accompanied them. Transformed
through the circumstances of today's politics, these 'picket signs' are haunting reminders of the agony and
power in fighting for conviction.
Public Address looks beyond partisanship to uncover a sense of possibility in the election. It asks that you
use your voice in addition to your vote to advocate for what you want to see happen immediately and locally.
Participating artists include Stephanie Brooks, Janet Eckelbarger, Marianne Fairbanks and Jane Palmer,
Industry of the Ordinary, Carole Francis Lung and Christine Tarkowski, among others. A campaign button
contest solicited an open call for language, images, slogans, and ravings of all kinds, texts from artists,
activists, students, teachers, writers and other discontents.
Ellen Rothenberg's public projects and installation are informed by social movements, politics, and history.
Her work has been presented in the US and Europe at The Institute of Contemporary Art and The Museum of
Fine Arts in Boston, London's Royal Festival Hall, The Neues Museum Weserburg, The Museum of
Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Kent Gallery NYC among others. Rothenberg has received numerous
commissions for public projects including ''Industry Not Servitude!'' installed at The National Historical
Park in Lowell, Massachusetts and ''Shadow Screens'' installed in Chicago. Her work has been supported by
grants and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Bunting I
nstitute at Radcliffe College/Harvard University, and The Illinois Arts Council among others. Currently, her
work is included in ''Experimental Geography'' a touring exhibition curated by Nato Thompson and I
ndependent Curators International NYC. Rothenberg lives and works in Chicago.
Proceeds from the sale of multiples will go to Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, an organization that
promotes transparency, participation, and the democratic process: http://www.ilcampaign.org.
Public Address is headquartered at Phaiz, 673 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago. Phaiz is a small boutique where
fashion and art merge. The fashion items are one of a kind produced exclusively for Phaiz, by visiting
designers. Our concept also features site-specific art installations for Phaiz by visiting fine artists.
Contact Phaiz at: www.PhaizChicago.com p: 312-226-9070
