Infinite Games: An Extended Invitation

A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

In 2013, despite significant protest, the City of Chicago closed 50 Chicago public schools (CPS), displacing 12,000 children in the city's south and west side neighborhoods. Chicago artist, John Preus gained access to CPS materials that were slated for the landfill, and redirected six semi-loads of damaged desks, tables, chairs, and bookshelves to a vacant storefront in Washington Park. The political nature of the material demands reflection upon the fate of these schools, of education more broadly, the children forced to relocate, and of the communities that will be changed by the closures.

An "infinite game" (a term coined by James P. Carse, is one in which the primary objective is to keep playing the game, not to win or lose. Like a relationship or a conversation, it is an exchange in which the necessity of the opponent is implicit. These works of art and design by some of our most exciting artists, speculate upon the relationships between art and politics, and the capacities of the material world as a vehicle for transformation. Twenty-seven participating artists have produced a rich assortment of objects, installations, instruments, and functional prototypes. As a way to prolong the game, Preus' 2017 show, Infinite Games 50/50, which featured the works of 50 artists, designers, and architects, has been reimagined as an extended invitation for new participants.

Curated By: John Preus and Mejay Gula

Works By: Alberto Aguilar, Iris Bernblum, Tadd Cowen, Douglas Ewart, Peter Fleps, Iker Gil and Thomas Kelley, Seth Keller, Misha Kahn, Walter Kitundu, Laura Letinsky, Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, Matt Metzger, Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth, Dan Peterman, Erik Peterson, John Preus, Karen Reimer, Kevin Reiswig, Edra Soto and Dan Sullivan, Marvin Tate, Norman Teague, Dan Wang, Amanda Williams, and Titus Wonsey

On Friday, October 26th, writer/historian Glenn Adamson gave a lecture in SAIC's Neiman center and joined Infinite Games curator John Preus in conversation about the Infinite Games Hallway gallery show. Watch the full lecture and conversation here.