Typeforce 4: Showcase of Typographic All-stars
(March 2 through March 15, 2013)
In conjunction with Firebelly, PMI hosted our 4th annual showcase of art and design at our gallery, The Co-Prosperity Sphere. Over 4o artists from around the world took part in the exhibition. Over 1,000 members of the art and design community attended the event.
SMALL is Ordinary Shop
From October 15, 2012 through January 1, 2013 The Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMALL), a project of the Public Media Institute, created the SMALL is Ordinary Shop. The Shop was part of the Sic Transit Gloria Mundi: Industry of the Ordinary exhibition which took place in the Chicago Cultural Center. The Shop was be located on the first floor, re-imagining the former Cultural Center gift shop. Over 150 local boutique manufacturers had their products represented and sold at the Shop.
The SMALL Showroom
The SMALL Showroom was launched May 2012 during Version Festival 12 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere (3219 S Morgan Street) in Chicago. SMALL Showroom is a nomadic shop created to launch awareness of SMALL members’ products and services. Think of it as the People’s Macy’s. Public Media Institute helped launch SMALL with financial and operational support.
Version Festival 12: Bridgeport The Community of the Future.
Each year we produce Version Festival. It is an annual arts festival that intersects, art, activism, social practice, urban development and design. In May 2012, Version festival created twelve pop-up store front projects and businesses which formed the basis of a neighborhood-wide social intervention. The spaces were open from a month, projects ranged included an artisanal donut shop, a record store, a bookstore, a new art gallery to the SMALL shop. This year’s festival features over 500 participants and reached over 8,00o attendees.
Public Media Institute Research Library
The PMI Research Library is a collection of art, architecture and design periodicals . The library is a site of interaction and research for individuals interested in hard to find and unique publications. PMIRL was created to establish a dialogue about new urbanism, contemporary art, and graphic design in Chicago.
Printervention
Printervention debuted in Chicago in the Spring of 2010 as part of the annual arts festival Version Festival.
Printervention underscores the necessity for the support of artists and the idea of civic responsibility to the greater society. Inspired by the Depression era’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) that hired artists to make murals, posters and other art for the everyday, Printerventionists are asked to recreate that era’s style of communication.
The inaugural exhibition featured over 70 posters and prints by artists from around the US who created work inspired by the WPA of the 30s. The exhibition included a mobile silkscreen cart, public art installations, as well as workshops, demonstrations and collaborations at the Chicago Tourism Center Gallery.
Typeforce
Typeforce is the annual showcase of emerging typographic artists that takes place at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. It is the only typographical art and design showcase in the midwest.