Chicago Artists Coalition is pleased to present social distortion, a HATCH Projects exhibition featuring new works by Rebecca Himelstein and Joseph Wilcox.

Dissonance can be generally described by a lack of agreement on something, two similar frequencies create a discordant drone or sets of information don’t quite add up. The incongruity presented can be jarring, delightful, or comically absurd.

The work presented in social distortion considers data, systems of comprehension and context as one. Two artists inspired by theories, respectively manifest interpretations of their studies. Rebecca Himelstein’s research driven studio practice surfaces sound installations and minimal works on paper that articulate personal metaphors for affective spaces between people, and a curiosity for affect theory. Joseph Wilcox’s deep dark internet probing reveals the conspiracies surrounding a man named Martin Klein, uncovering the evidence of his findings as images, video and sound.

social distortion is curated by Meg T. Noe.

Reading/Performance

Saturday, November 18, 2017, 3-5pm

Join artists Rebecca Himelstein and Joseph Wilcox for a performance or reading of select texts that stem from their projects on view in social distortion.

Joseph Wilcox will read selections from his English bootleg edition of the novel Close to Zero by Natan Dubovitsky, a pseudonym for Vladislav Surkov, who is a personal advisor to Vladimir Putin.

Rebecca Himelstein will present a reading/performance, part of her new series of works that explore personal metaphors for affective space. At the event, Rebecca intends to distribute the 4 untitled handbound books from social distortion for free.

*Light refreshments will be provided!

This event is free and open to the public.

ARTIST BIOs

Rebecca Himelstein is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, researcher, and writer. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a curator of Gather, an experimental music series at the Comfort Station, and a member of Chicago Balinese Gamelan. She has performed in the [Tiny Garage] Series at Defibrillator Gallery, Andy Slater presents at Café Mustache, as well as the Comfort Station, Archer Beach Haus, and Ballroom Projects.

Joseph Wilcox is an artist and educator living in Chicago. Adopting the roles of image gatherer, object maker, documentarian, curator, and organizer, his practice explores how institutional control and social power structures undermine the autonomy of the individual. He was most recently the co-founder of LDOC, a free yearlong arts publication distributed on the Red Line train in Chicago, and an artist-in-residence at LATITUDE. Wilcox is a graduate of Kendall College of Art and Design (BFA) and Lesley University (MFA). He is a current HATCH Projects resident and teaches high school students in Chicago.

Curator Bio

Megan Taylor Noe is an interdisciplinary artist and curator.

Meg likes dark things. Her artworks express a fascination with morbidity, the material of memorialization, and questions what death and ritual looks like in contemporary life. Her first book, Black Sun, was published by Oranbeg Press in early 2014. Her work has exhibited extensively in Chicago and recently in Mute Annotations at Black Bear Bar in Brooklyn, NY hosted by V1 gallery. Meg received a BA in Photography from Columbia College of Chicago in 2013.

Meg also maintains a curatorial practice, formerly as Exhibitions and Programming Director at Weinberg/Newton Gallery (Chicago, IL) where she curated exhibitions focused on issues of social justice in partnership with organizations. Meg is currently a HATCH 2017-2018 Curatorial Resident at the Chicago Artist Coalition. In addition to all these other things, Meg provides documentation for Radius, an experimental broadcast platform based in Chicago, IL.

She currently lives, laughs and loves in Chicago, IL.