Last Sunday morning, while most of Chicago slept, artist Ben Rubin defaced the plaza in front of the John Hancock Center, chalking a series of circles on the sidewalk and writing the word mine in each one.
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Rubin did have prior permission from the building’s management firm to carry out his stunt. He’s one of 15 local artists participating in “Not in My Lobby, You Don’t!,” an exhibition of “sculptural interventions” scattered in and around the downtown area through the end of June. Organized by the Hyde Park Art Center, the installations celebrate–or perhaps sabotage–International Sculpture Month by taking aim at the notion that public art is limited to monolithic stone, bronze, and steel objects permanently plopped in lobbies, parks, and plazas.
That’s why the Hyde Park Art Center decided to get into the act. “We thought we’d give an alternative to all those magnificent things marching around the pier,” says Chuck Thurow, who curated the exhibit with Ruth Horwich. “It’s very much a natural thing for us to be the naughty guy on the block.” Viewers will be confronted with artworks made from such mundane materials as balloons, string, tea bags, and neckties. They’ll be in and around buildings, as well as on sidewalks, in windows, and in trees.
