Museum of Science and Industry portico restoration/Rendering: Alden Studios for RAMSA
Get Chicago & Midwest culture news sent to your inbox every weekday morning. Subscribe to Newcity Today here.
ART
Art Institute Curator Katharine Raff On Exhibiting the Torlonia Collection
"The Art Institute of Chicago is set to unveil 'Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection' (March 15 through June 29), showcasing fifty-eight extraordinary Roman sculptures from the renowned Torlonia Collection," writes The Collector. "This marks the marbles' first trip to North America. We spoke with exhibition co-curator Katharine Raff about the collection, her role as a curator, her favorite object from the exhibition, and more." Read the interview here.
Famous Work On Loan From Art Institute At Center of Controversy in D.C.
"A display of a poignant 1991 work by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, made during the height of the AIDS crisis and serving as a memorial to his newly deceased lover, is at the center of some controversy on the occasion of its inclusion in a major show of the Cuban-American artist's works at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.," reports Artnet. "At issue is the work '"Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.)', a depiction of the artist's lover, Ross Laycock, who died of an AIDS-related illness that year. The piece consists of an arrangement of 175 pounds of wrapped candies, corresponding to Laycock's ideal weight before he fell ill, which visitors are free to take and eat...The writer Ignacio Darnaude takes issue with the way the work is displayed in a strident critique in Out magazine."
Museum Of Science And Industry Renovations Will Reopen Jackson Park-Facing Entry
The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry will restore its south portico with a $10 million grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the largest grant awarded by the foundation since it was established in 1983. Originally designed by Charles Atwood for D.H. Burnham & Co as The Palace of Fine Arts for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry building is the only structure remaining from the exposition's "White City."
These renovations will reopen the original main entry of the Museum and functionally reconnect the building to the Columbian Basin and the rest of Jackson Park. Starting in the spring 2025, the project will increase accessibility, add modern amenities and add public spaces. Upon completion in 2027, visitors will be able to use the museum's original south entry from Jackson Park and use a terrace overlooking the park's lagoon and the Obama Presidential Center.
Rebuilding Exchange Ends Public Education Program
Rising costs have forced the nonprofit Rebuilding Exchange "to end its popular classes at its Lincoln Park workshop, where thousands learned to build furniture, salvage materials and brush up on home improvement skills," reports Block Club. "The nonprofit will continue its workforce training programs and all other aspects of the business will operate as normal."
Data Centers Coming To Kenosha, Wisconsin Rapids
"More data centers -- computer warehouses that underpin artificial intelligence and store everything from PayPal transactions to YouTube videos -- are coming to Wisconsin," reports Wisconsin Public Radio. "Microsoft has purchased 240 acres for a new data center complex in Kenosha." It will sit six miles south of the company's $3.3 billion data center campus under construction in Mount Pleasant.
A Logan Square Restaurant Explores Food And Drink Along Pan-American Highway
"In a neighborhood known for its standout Mexican establishments, La Licor Panamericana goes beyond Mexican flavors to embrace the vast culinary traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean," writes Brenda Storch at Eater Chicago. "The thoughtful menu and bar program showcases iconic dishes and national beverages from places that rarely get their due. Patrons are invited on a journey through destinations from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, and El Salvador to Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
"Inspired by the wanderlust of owners Abraham Ramírez and Javier Arroyo -- young restaurateurs with hospitality chops and passports thick with stamps -- La Licor opened its doors last fall in Logan Square. The restaurant is a nod to the iconic Pan-American Highway, a route that stretches from Alaska to Argentina tying together distant places through shared heritage and traditions."
New Photography Book Showcases The World's Most Unique McDonald's Locations
"For some, dining at McDonald's has become part of the fun of traveling abroad. With distinctive locations -- a 'ski-through' restaurant in Sweden, a decommissioned Douglas DC-3 aircraft in New Zealand -- and vastly different menus, the chain has adapted to a host of cultures, drawing in locals and tourists alike," reports the New York Times. "Though some seasoned travelers may look down on dining at McDonald's in Paris or Bangkok, the brand's fans say it's worth seeing how the chain adapts to local cultures. It has become an entry point into an unfamiliar cuisine or a way to mix the comforts of home with something new." A new photography book by Gary He documents the most unique among them.
Three Chicago Contestants For Season Twenty-Two Of "Top Chef"
"Chefs from Monteverde, Lilac Tiger and North Pond will compete in Canada for the coveted title," relays Time Out.
"After holding the event for forty years in the Utah ski town of Park City, organizers plan to take it elsewhere starting in 2027," reports the New York Times. Three options lie ahead: "Salt Lake City, just forty-five minutes away, along with a smaller presence in Park City; Boulder; and Cincinnati. The final choice is expected to be announced in late March or early April... The organizers have said they are looking for a new home that can house the growing festival while maintaining its roots." Chicago was on the longlist of since-discarded options.
"Division Street Revisited," A Podcast Inspired By Studs Terkel, Streaming Now
"Division Street Revisited," a seven-part podcast inspired by Studs Terkel's "Division Street: America," is streaming on all major podcast platforms. Created by Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Schmich and executive producer Melissa Harris, both former Chicago Tribune columnists, "the podcast pairs Terkel's original 1960s recordings with new interviews from the descendants of the Chicagoans featured in his book. This is the first time Terkel's 'Division Street' recordings have been broadcast since being digitized by the Library of Congress in 2023. The podcast explores the lives of seven individuals from the book, offering a powerful reflection on their legacies and how their experiences resonate today." WBEZ, Mondays at 6:30pm and on audio platforms.
Duluth Bookstore To Be Demolished
The demolition of a business center housed in a historic Lakeside school building will displace Gabriel's Used Bookstore, "a beloved bargain book store," reports Perfect Duluth Day. The volunteer-run store has been in the building basement since 1994. Volunteers "hope to find a new location for the 55,000 books and other media packed into the former school cafeteria."
OpenAI Incensed That China's DeepSeek May Have Plagiarized Its Plagiarism Engine
"OpenAI shocked that an AI company would train on someone else's data without permission or compensation," reports Jason Koebler at 404 Media.
A Look At The Accelerating Destruction Of Search
"Like many Americans, I spent [the day] trying to process the new reality we've suddenly found ourselves in. One where I am aware that something is happening, but largely unable to actually figure out the specifics. And throughout the day a loop emerged. I would see a claim on a social platform like X or Bluesky, like SNAP benefits being affected by the freeze (it seems like they wouldn't have been), try to verify it, and only get days-old Newsweek stories and a bunch of aggregation from Indian newspapers that have figured out how to game American search traffic like The Hindustan Times and The Times Of India," posts journalist Ryan Broderick. "The System is breaking in front of our very eyes."
Pitchfork Music Festival's Costs And Booking "Compromises" Led To Shutdown
Pitchfork co-founder Mike Reed says the now-defunct summer festival was increasingly pressured to book acts like Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato, reports WBEZ. For Reed, "whose Chicago-based company At Pluto put on the massive event... the cancellation left him 'relieved and happy' that it would not continue in its current incarnation. 'It started with me, and it ended with me... I'm also glad I didn't have to make the decision myself. I drove it until the wheels came off.'" Escalating costs "from all corners of the concert industry, from production to artist fees, contributed to the festival's eventual demise."
Spotify Claims It's Good For Music Industry
Spotify, reports The Verge, "says it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024... Spotify reportedly has lower per-stream artist payout rates than rival services like Apple Music, YouTube Music and Amazon Music, and the platform's streaming royalties and recommendation algorithms have been widely criticized by artists and policymakers... Many artists claim that payouts are too small and that the focus on promoting big artists makes it hard for new musicians to be discovered on the platform." The platform boasts, "Well over 10,000 artists generate over $100,000 per year from Spotify alone. That's a beautiful thing."
STAGE
Helen Hunt Prepares For Her Goodman Theatre Debut
J.P. Anderson interviews the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress ahead of her role in "Betrayal," Harold Pinter's love triangle play: "I'm loving that I finally feel like I have enough mileage, on the stage in particular, to approach the work on steady feet. We can always fail or succeed, but I feel now, after doing a good deal of work on stage, especially in recent years in very large spaces (City Center in New York, the Old Vic in London), that I can skip the intimidation part and go right to some combination of experience and humility."
Michael Ryczek Steps Down From Season Of Concern After Two Decades
Season of Concern provides emergency financial assistance to Chicago theater makers in times of need. Managing director Michael Ryczek, who joined the board in 1994, served as board president 2004-2010 and has served as managing director since 2018, will step down from his position in April. Season of Concern has provided more than $3 million in aid, and under Ryczek's leadership, the mission was expanded to give short-term financial assistance to Chicago theater artists who had any illness, injury or circumstance that kept them from working, in addition to its initial purpose of assisting those in need with HIV-related illness. More here.
Tickets On Sale For Porchlight's Thirtieth Annual Fundraiser
"Chicago Sings Thirty Years of Porchlight," the theater's annual fundraiser, will celebrate the organization's thirtieth anniversary with live performances highlighting three decades of Porchlight productions. The evening will also include the presentation of the 2025 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago to Heidi Kettenring. House of Blues, Monday, May 12. Tickets ($175-$200) here.
"When the Metropolitan Museum of Art needed a major lead gift to jump-start its long-delayed new modern and contemporary wing, Oscar L. Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang donated $125 million, and were given naming rights," reports the New York Times. "When the New York Philharmonic needed a meaningful contribution to endow its music and artistic director chair for the 2025-26 season, they ponied up $40 million -- helping woo Gustavo Dudamel from Los Angeles -- the largest endowment gift in the orchestra's history... Tang, eighty-six, and his wife, Agnes Hsu-Tang, fifty-three, have kept a low profile in the past, [but] they have started giving more publicly and abundantly -- with crucial gifts that have catapulted them into the center of New York cultural philanthropy, which remains dominated by white donors."
Five Quiet Places In Chicago
WTTW seeks serenity: "Jackhammers, sirens, bucket drums -- this city can be as noisy as it is windy and big-shouldered. So where does one find a little peace and quiet in the Chicago area? Here are five favorite spots for serenity -- a subjective list with a few parameters."
Remembering "Flip Bike Travis"
Travis Duffey, fifty-four, died last summer. Streetsblog Chicago remembers him: "Often wearing his handmade fringed silver Mylar jacket and spiky helmet, Travis defied gravity and common sense by doing somersaults on his handmade chopped bike for tips, generally five bucks per roll. He was most often spotted at the bustling, six-way intersection of North, Damen and Milwaukee in Wicker Park."
Immigration Enforcer Claims Chicagoans Too Smart
Trump "border czar" Tom Homan "said outreach efforts by immigration advocates in Chicago and elsewhere -- such as 'Know Your Rights' workshops and pamphlets -- are 'making it very difficult' to arrest people," reports Block Club. "Sanctuary cities are making it very difficult to arrest the criminals [sic]. For instance Chicago, very well-educated, they've been educated how to defy ICE, how to hide from ICE," Homan said. "They call it 'Know Your Rights.' I call it how to escape arrest."
Oak Park's Segreti Pharmacy Closing
After more than six decades, Segreti Pharmacy in Oak Park, owned for the last forty years by Kenneth Bertini, will close Friday, reports the Sun-Times. It's one of the last pharmacies "in the area that compounds drugs for pets and people. Bertini, seventy-seven, said about forty percent of his business was devoted to pet prescriptions." Oak Park's Sear's Pharmacy will hire his workers and add pet prescriptions.