“A Living Room for Bronzeville: Stories,” an exhibition about the complex origin stories of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Mies Campus and its relation to Chicago’s South Side, opened to the public on the ground floor of the Michael Paul Galvin Tower at 35th and State Street on April 24th. This initiative is supported by the John Vinci Distinguished Research Fellowship of the College of Architecture Ph.D. program, the Driehaus Foundation, Illinois Tech’s Office of Community Affairs and Outreach Programs, Paul V. Galvin Library, and the Mies Society.
“It is wonderful to see archival artifacts and materials from the Bronzeville neighborhood sources alongside commissioned photos, written materials, and objects from Mies Campus. They tell different stories while revealing perspectives behind the neighborhood, buildings, residences, landscape, and people in our community,” says Cynthia Vranas Olsen (M.Arch ’01, Ph.D. ’17), executive director of the Mies Society.
A short film, website, and upcoming book co-edited by College of Architecture Professor Michelangelo Sabatino and Lewis College emeritus Professor Kevin Harrington –Building, Breaking, Rebuilding: The IIT Campus and Chicago’s South Side—will soon add to the program. The short film will be created by award-winning Bronzeville-based director Carlos Javier Ortiz in collaboration with Ashley Lukasik of Murmur Ring. The film will be screened in the “Living Room” exhibition, as well as on the project’s website, launching in late summer.