Media Contact:  Elizabeth Burke-Dain, 312.344.8695

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 8, 2007

Images are available upon request:

PASS IT ON!

CONNECTING CONTEMPORARY DO-IT-YOURSELF CULTURE

How Is DIY Affecting Us All?

Columbia College Chicago's A+D Gallery

March 1 – April 14, 2007

And…

viral :Culture – A 2-day Design Symposium

April 6-7, 2007

WHAT: Pass It On!  Connecting Contemporary DIY Culture ; examines the do-it-yourself ethos that encourages artists, designers and cultural thinkers to produce and create work outside mainstream and commercial systems. The show is similar in spirit to the international exhibition Massive Change that explored ethical and social issues through the display of designed objects . With participants bearing names like Hacking Couture, Graffiti Research Laboratories, Sewing Rebellion and Microrevolt there is no question that the DIY movement is delving into some unexpected political and social territory.

This cross-discipline exhibition examines a wide scope of DIY practices covering areas of creativity such as citizen journalism, self-publishing, hacking, art activism, independent music and film production, podcasting, amateur science, architecture and design. The intent of the show is to bring these different spheres of activity under a single roof to suggest the overlaps between them and foster connections.  Pass It On! will focus on the instructions, free tools and how-to materials that are a staple of DIY culture.  The catalog for the exhibition is itself a DIY project, consisting of an empty corrugated cardboard folder and a jump drive holding catalog essays.  The drive and the box can be customized and used to gather printed and digital how-to materials from the exhibition space.

Visitors to Pass It On! will explore artifacts that encapsulate the DIY aesthetic, as well as do-it-yourself projects, concepts and ideas that have taken hold in contemporary culture. This exhibition is a ‘how-to' manual for the 21st century.

Participants Include:

Counter Cartographies Collective

Sergio Paleroni

Limor Ada

Chris Meyers, Isobots

Cat Mazza, Microrevolt

Lisa Ann Auerbach, Steal This Sweater

Material Exchange

Temporary Services

JAB, Journal of Artists' Books, The Center for Book & Paper Arts at Columbia College

Graffiti Research Laboratories

Giana Gonzalez, Hacking Couture

Faythe Levine, Deconstructing Designer Labels

Frau Fiber, Sewing Rebellion

Brennan McGaffey

Mouna Andraos

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Simon Elvins

Material Exchange

Design for Democracy

Make Magazine

Susanna K. Strang

Scott Wolniak

Anke Loh

AND MORE…

WHEN:            March 1 – April 14, 2007

                        Opening Reception:  March 1, 5 – 8pm

WHERE:          Columbia College Chicago's A+D Gallery

                        619 S. Wabash

                        Gallery Hours:  Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm

COST:             Free and Open to the Public.

MORE            

INFO:              A+D Gallery 312.344.8668 or www.colum.edu/adgallery

SYMPOSIUM – April 6-7, 2007

viral:CULTURE

(Look for full press release the week of February 25)

In conjunction with Pass It On!, a 2-day symposium entitled, viral:CULTURE will feature a range of national and international speakers who will either be physically present or on a live video feed.  The title uses the term virus as a metaphor for the infectious nature of creativity.  Individual disciplines no longer stand alone, but are influenced, ie infected, and inspired by other disciplines in a cross-pollination of form and function;  fine art and advertising, architecture and typography, graphic design and music, performance and physics. 

Participants:

SPEAKERS:

Jorge Pardo, architect and artist

Lane Relyea, critic

Clare Phillips, writer and curator

Doug Garafalo, architect

Giana Pilar-Gonzales, Hacking Couture

Emiliano Godoy, Sustainable Design

Ulla Maaria Mutanen, designer, crafter, technologist

Scott Smith, Futurist, writer and speaker from Social Technologies

WORKSHOPS:

Scrapyard Challenge

Project Philanthropy

Hacking Couture

Circuit Benders

MUSIC/VIDEO ATMOSPHERE

Bloodyminded

Dave Fischoff

Bold

WHEN:            April 6-7, 2007

                        Schedule of Events listed at www.colum.edu/adgallery

WHERE:          Conaway Center

                        1104 S. Wabash Avenue, 1 st floor

                        And

                        A+D Gallery, 619 S. Wabash

COST:             Free and Open to the Public

MORE

INFO:              Richard Zeid, 312.344.3589, or www.colum.edu/adgallery