Version Festival

Version>09 planning blog

2009-01-24T15:01:00.001-08:00

We have a new blog for version>09 Immodest Proposals

http://version09blog.blogspot.com is the location

Juxtapoz pimps The Upset Dark matter participants

2008-05-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Art-goers at the Co-Prosperity Sphere space buzzed around the work of over 30 artists at the Dark Matter opening April 18th—part of Version>08 Fest in Chicago—where one of the centerpieces was a graffiti wall installation by The Upset, a group of graffiti artists and photographers from Chicago and New York.

Last nite of Version

2008-05-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

On Saturday April 26 we were at NEXT. NEXT Art fair rocked. we loved seeing all of our buddies' work and discovering some refreshing and titilating stuff. here are some pics.

the Dutch guys were basically the Version staff this year. they even manned our PRoximity booths. This guy jeroen prolly drank a case a Grolsch beer every day and you would never know...

Goffo kicked ass.

Rachael of Version and CPS

the elevators were always packed...

After NEXt we had our closing paty for version>08 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere. We had about 1500 people come through the show over the course of one week. The final nite was crazy.

This guy Neville basically ruled the show. he made the bikes and the kissing robots in the window.

It was packed again/.

party steve with the Bike for looking at art by Neville

Neville's other bike

Brilliant Monika getting ready for the show.

Chris Hammes mound of road kill

.. a dude who loves tim and eric posted some pics from NEXT and the Dark Matter group show at C-PS here

We want to thank all of you for joining us for this year's Version. It was a very tight and out of control affair. see you next year.

Field of Dreams and Anarchist Wedding

2008-05-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Field of Dreams:
Last day of Version.
We went to the Plaines Project Field of Dreams after going to NEXt art fair to pick up the Proximity Magazine and the ceremony for the Malooly wedding. WE booked over to the FOD but no one was there! Well, we were late. We scanned the huge lot and saw some great sculptures and projects.

While there Rachael installed of one of her space tree tops.

Sweet planter

Pilism.

Awesome job mathew!

Even better. The whole lot was cleaned up and trash was brought to this zone.
These guys are gonna do this weekly!

We got back just in time for grub. Here's the lucky Groom!
Good Luck you guys!

Bridgeport Space Walk

2008-04-24T08:09:00.001-07:00

We knew that with five participating spaces that many of us not going to make the whole journey on schedule. But that was ok. We started off at Mutherland and joined Vicki Fowler in progress with her performance and installation. The Mutherland Space is gonna be busy this summer.

Afterwards we went back to the C-PS where hours earlier the unlucky dutch guys and the version staff humped hundreds of sheets of OSB and lumber (NFO XPO booths) into our basement. Minutes after they chucked the last piece of wood down the stairs Musket began to confound our ears. They seriously kick ass. we thought we were on time but we forgot that we had to finish the Grolsch.

At this point we figured we were in trouble. We meandered over to Bernice's to catch Cathy of Gynoslayer in her mesmerizing set. Cathy waited for the Villagers and Version staff to make it over to hear her debut.

We tried to get everyone to join us for a short and beautiful set over at 32nd and Urban by Via Tania, but everyone was drinking at Bernice's.. they missed out. Bridgette Buckley curated the great group show and the space looked awesome.

Finally we made it over to Kaplan's and ended our traditional Version pub crawl turned space crawl in style with Mystery DJ Matt Malooly at the Ipod. At every stop of the crawl we noticed a surprising number of people in attendance. Perhaps the port is becoming the Community of the Future after all.

Kelly Noah's and other Flickr photos

2008-04-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ms Noah always takes the best photos of our events especially Version time.
Here is a recent batch at a flickr site:

Mr Fotoflow Oscar Arriola has blogged some pics too!

DROO has rocked out his own Dark Matter Set! Thanks DROO!

Demise of Sampson's Space 1026 documentation.
And the list is going on... here are some from bound.

NXO XPO pics

2008-04-20T11:20:00.001-07:00

the NFO XPO was steady and busy all day saturday . the world premier of the mulinauts was packed! wafaa bilal, greg sholette and jack bratitch had packed rooms for their talks. they
gave great presentations. After a korean plish bar-bq break some films and live music prevailed to make this our best ever NFO XPO program.
The promised tofurkey kilbaasa was sorely missed.
Take a look at some of the booths and projects:

opening at cps

2008-04-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

off the hook

1026 Show

2008-04-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

The opening of Version with the Space 106 show rocked.
here are some pics!
You will not be able to see it again. it closes today and parts of it are moving to the NFO XO this Saturday and Sunday.

proximity magazine was delivered!

2008-04-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

We are super excited that our new art magazine is now in our hands.
It will be at NEXT throughout April 24 to April 28.
The launch party is Friday April 25 at Sonotheque.
1444 W Chicago Ave.
More info at the version website.

A few nites of work

2008-04-17T00:27:00.001-07:00

We are currently setting up three seperate amazing shows this week.
The Philly kids are at Country Club rocking out the space. and it's opening today! don't miss the show! for some reason CC have not posted our shit on their site..

Meanwhile in Bridgeport we are setting up the Dark Matter Group Show which opens this Friday April 18. here are some work in progress pics.. Prepare to have minds blown again.

sarah figuring out the "8" in version>08

Rachael placing the Last can on the Beeramid

Ray Noland dropped by a few hours after he drove in from the East Coast and justed kicked out a "Go Tell Mama" installation like it was no one's business. The dude is seriously efficient.

In the meantime Michael Genovese is building a crazy ass elotes cart in the basement findind shit in every nook and cranny of the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Oscar and his crew are putting on the finishing touches and basicall just own this place.

Aron and gymkata the drill are working hard.

Oh but sometime earlier that day...

Riley Christine and JJ arrived early this morning from Telefantasy Studios in LA. I remember seeing them for a few moments but they took the red eye and are all freaky and tired i think..
That afternoon we then picked up the kick ass Dutch guys. they are some pretty amazing artists and Niels is some bad ass in the Dutch art blog world.... (no pictures of them yet but they are blogging here... in Dutch!)

/////

yesterday... was it yesterday? we were at the Viaduct getting booths set up for the NFO XPO
CLick april 19 on the calendar!!

Matt is like "What the F*Ck!"

Ringo is happy that he sent Edmar out to get food.

there is a lot of wood.

But look at what you can make with it.. we went back today to finish up the painting action by Rachael, Luca and Mariapaz .

We are pretty tired already. But ready for the next ten days that we hope will change the way you see Art in Chicago.

After this weekend we are taking it easy and just going to five different spaces in The Community of the Future on monday.. then the Berlin based Der Weisse Salon exhibition will open on Tuesday and then...

Version artists are coming to town

2008-04-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Space 1026-ers have arrived and are setting up their show at Country Club Gallery. the Berlin group organizing Der Weisse Salon and the Dutch guys from Trendbeheer� are also arriving. We just installed the booths at the Viaduct theater for the weekend NFO XPO jam...
theDark Matter Show is almost hung...pics and more info coming soon...

e

new media

2008-04-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

"Renz" made a nice video intro to the Version>08 dark matter festival.

http://www.middlemindproject.com/mov/Version8_lumpen.mov

Edmar goes on Hello Beautiful and talks about Version and some other stuff.

A PDF program to download!

2008-04-10T22:34:00.000-07:00

Someone suggested we make a pdf program..
so here it is! (((((DOWNLOAD ME ))))

Plaines Projects needs your help on version

2008-04-07T18:52:00.001-07:00

FW:

The Plaines Project, in conjunction with Version Fest '08 DARK MATTER, is excited to present:

THE FIELD OF DREAMS SHOW!

Taking place the final weekend of April, The Field Of Dreams show will be a collaborative art event and action to celebrate the creative appropriation of the wasted and dead space of Chicago's post-industrial landscape.

We are looking for artists of of all mediums and disciplines to create work which will be installed in a 117,000 sq ft vacant lot in East Pilsen. Our objective is to reactivate and rejuvenate this dead space by transforming it into a public sculpture garden and autonomous art zone.

Installation begins the evening of Friday 4/25 and the show will open with a BBQ potluck celebration on Sunday 4/27 at 2:00pm in the Field Of Dreams.

Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate in this event. The more people who participate, the more amazing the show will be.

The Field of dreams is located at the intersection of 21st st. and Jefferson. Its pretty much impossible to miss.

Art can be dropped off at the Plaines Project, or anonymously installed in the field itself. The Plaines Project will not publish or disclose the names of participating artists under any circumstances.

Art that is installed in the Field Of Dreams will be left up permanently unless it is taken down by the artists who create it. Since the Field of Dreams is open to the public and subject to the forces of nature, we cannot guarantee the survival of every piece of art, but we enthusiastically embrace the fact that the deterioration of the art once it is installed is an integral part of its existence in the Field Of Dreams.

For more information or questions, please e-mail PlainesProject@gmail.com

Tips and suggestions.

2008-04-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

If you really want a nice overview of what version is like then you have to come for 3 of the 4 days below.. If you are hard core come to everything.

April 17: the opening show with Space 1026-ers at the Country Club Gallery will be hot. Bring stuff to be screenprinted. come ready for the after party with mahjongg!

The April 18 Dark Matter Group show features a lot of work inspired by Greg Sholette's essay re: dark matter. read some of his work here. Photos of some of the work can be found at this flickr link.

April 19 and 20 are big days too. its the NFO XPO. This is what dark matter is to the rest of the art world. It's our awesome DIY art fair and freakfest. A list of participants from around the world can be found here.

Welcome to Version>08: Dark Matter

2008-04-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

In 2008, Dark Matter is all around us. Us artists, us activists, us outlaws. All of us, we are engaged in a culture war and economic struggle against establishments in all their guises. We form communities to counter the alienation of everyday life, and the commercial and institutional structures that stifle reality. We desire another world.

And we're not alone. As artist-activist Greg Sholette says, "a hidden social production has always found its own time and space apart from hegemonies of power and the objectifying routines of work. This dark matter resistance extends well beyond conventional conflicts between labor and capital to form a murky excrescence of affects, ideas, histories, sentiments, and technologies that shift in and out of visibility like some half-submerged reef."

In 2008, we think it's time for things to shift. It's time to re-ignite dormant forces within the murky worlds of radical culture. It's time to dive.

And how? From April 17-27 (11 days), we are gathering to celebrate, identify, discuss and act on the workings of Dark Matter. Version>08: DARK MATTER will showcase emerging, progressive trends in art, politics, technology and music. We'll gather and see how our peers in the counterculture create work, spaces, tactics and strategies. We'll witness multiple possibilities for the future, and leave ready to act.

To read more about Dark Matter and the inspiration for this year's theme visit Greg's website.