Ciaran Smyth (left) and Ailbhe Murphy of Vagabond Reviews discuss their latest project Thursday evening at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.
-Spencer Bibbs
By ALLISON MATYUS
Staff Writer
The local art scene in Hyde Park is getting an international flare, thanks to the residency program at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.
Since 2012, the Jackman Goldwasser Residency Program has allowed local, national and international artists to showcase their art and work collaboratively with the community of Hyde Park. The program’s goal is to offer artists the unique resources and opportunities here in Chicago.
“People who come here benefit from Chicago, and Chicago benefits from them,” said Samantha Reynolds, the exhibitions and residency coordinator at the center.
An art and research duo from Dublin, the Vagabond Reviews, has a residency in the program until Aug. 25. Their research project of social practice combined with creative communications is fit for the diversity that surrounds the area.
“Hyde Park — and Chicago as a whole — is interesting in terms of our work, on multiple levels,” said artist Ailbhe Murphy.
Murphy said she and her partner, Ciaran Smyth, will be engaging in conversations with artists, activists, researchers and practitioners for their project, “Missing Titles.” By asking the locals of Hyde Park about their key experiences in the area, they will create a series of book titles, with the pages yet to be written.
“We want to answer the question of, ‘Could you possibly get a reading on a city and a feel for the particular flow at a particular moment?’” Smyth said.
Based on a similar project conducted in Dublin, “Missing Titles” aims to take communities and delve into them on a personal and retrospective level.
Smyth described Chicago as a hub, or a “mecca of influence” for their interest in the field of culture and social practice.
The Hyde Park Art Center is striving to bring other outside artists to Chicago to not only be inspired by the city residents see every day, but to be changed by it.
Smyth said in order for the duo to get a sense of the city, or a “semantic sampling,” they want to fully immerse themselves in the local community during their residency.
While Murphy and Smyth’s residency will last six weeks, local artists, like current resident Susan Giles, have up to a year for studio residency at the Hyde Park Art Center.
Reynolds said 10 remodeled studios are to be completed by the first week of September to better accompany artists in the program.
hpherald@hpherald.com