#Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #15: Salome Chasnoff

I can’t remember when I first met Salome but I’m quite sure we met at Mess Hall, an experimental cultural center in Rogers Park I cofounded and which existed from 2003-2013. Salome attended many events there and now co-runs the recently founded space PO Box Collective at the end of the same street: Glenwood Avenue.

I’m not sure it’s possible to talk about anything else I’m about to write without it potentially being upsetting, so I guess this is your content warning for the rest of this post.

I reconnected with Salome Chasnoff and her work a few years ago when I experienced her five-channel video installation “Presence Absent” (a collaboration with Meredith Zielke) which “makes visible the lives of people killed by Chicago Police or in police custody.” You experience this work by watching friends and family members of the deceased lovingly describe people that have been taken from them by police. The monitors are arranged in a circle like the comfortable chairs that viewers sit in and it feels like you are in someone’s living room hearing these people share stories. You get to see how much these victims were loved by their friends and family members. You learn who they were and what they were like. It’s absolutely devastating.

I scheduled Salome’s residency for today because I expected it could be unusually difficult and I wanted to make sure I was bringing someone with me that isn’t a stranger to painful stories. I picked the date because of two very different hearings that were happening on the same floor. One was a hearing for Jon Burge-era police torture survivor Gerald Reed, who was beaten until he confessed to a double murder that he did not commit and has been in prison or jail for nearly three decades. His coerced confession was thrown out by Judge Gainer right before that judge retired and a new Judge, Judge Hennelly has picked up this case. Nearly a year after Reed’s confession was discarded he remains in jail as Judge Hennelly continues to attempt to get up to speed—often saying he hasn’t received all of the papers in the case or hasn’t read everything. Today saw yet more frustrating delays, and while the judge has more of the papers now, one of Reed’s lawyers still doesn’t think he has everything and the judge refused to consider materials submitted on a flash drive. Reed’s next court date will take place on Friday, December 6th, again in room 604 at 9:30. His lawyers are planning to file motions to dismiss his case.

The other hearing I wanted to attend with Salome took place down the hall in room 606. This hearing was for the case of ex-CPD officer Carlyle Calhoun who was arrested for sexually violating a man who was in custody while he was shackled to a hospital bed on suicide watch. When Salome and I arrived at Criminal Court this morning, I tried to look up Calhoun’s case on the computer directory and it was nowhere to be found. The alphabetical name listings began with the letters CAM. By comparison, Reed’s hearing information was easily located.

We went to Reed’s hearing first and Gerald gave me a nod when we took a seat. He has been told that I’m writing a little about his case and he has seen me in court before. When Gerald’s hearing ended, I wondered if we should even bother trying to observe Calhoun’s hearing. My question was answered when I saw the person prosecuting his case walking into the courtroom. Salome and I walked to room 606 and I spotted Carlyle Calhoun immediately, wearing a very dapper purple blazer and a striped scarf. We grabbed a seat on the bench several rows ahead of him and waited.

Calhoun is being defended by Daniel Herbert, who was the lawyer that defended Jason Van Dyke. The State Prosecutor in Calhoun’s case is a friend of mine, and I have chosen not to burden her by asking her anything about this case. I just follow it as much as is possible. Unlike Gerald Reed who probably had twenty supporters in court for him today, Carlyle Calhoun sat alone, as he did the last time I observed one of his hearings. I’m reluctant to report on too much of Calhoun’s hearing because his case has not gone to trial yet but I believe that as with Jason Van Dyke’s victim Laquan McDonald, Daniel Herbert is trying to dig into records concerning Calhoun’s victim from approximately six years before Calhoun was arrested and charged with violating the man. Calhoun’s next hearing will take place on January 8, 2020.  

Salome Chasnoff and I discussed both of these cases, as well as other things we observed, at Taqueria El Milagro over tamales for her and a torta for me. There will be another residency in the next month or so and then I’ll produce the fourth booklet of reports. The waiting list for residencies is long but if you are interested you can always reach out to me anyway. Or, as I often suggest now, just go to criminal court without me. Bring someone else and take time after to reward yourself with a nice meal as you reflect on your experience together. El Milagro wasn’t busy at all today. Give them some business. They really deserve it. You can find previous booklets of Courtroom Artist Residency Reports, and other Public Collectors publications here.

[caveartfair]

Artforum Publisher Knight Landesman Resigns Following Sexual Harassment Allegations—and the 9 Other Biggest News Stories This Week

01  Knight Landesman, art-world gatekeeper and longtime co-publisher of Artforum, resigned on Wednesday following allegations of sexual harassment made by several women against him.

(via artnet News and Artsy)

The resignation came one day after artnet News writer Rachel Corbett first reported the allegations of sexual harassment from both men and women, and the same day former Artforum employee Amanda Schmitt filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Landesman and her former employer. The suit alleges that Landesman sexually harassed her for years while the magazine’s executives did little to intervene, despite being aware of his behavior, according to the complaint. Its 27 pages include allegations from eight other women, who, though not plaintiffs in the case, said that Landesman harassed them as well. The allegations against Landesman include public groping, lewd emails, and requests for kisses and backrubs, as well as professional retaliation when his advances were rebuffed. “In the past days, we have met with our staff and they have told us that Knight Landesman engaged in unacceptable behavior and caused a hostile work environment,” Artforum said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday. “We will do everything in our ability to bring our workplace in line with our editorial mission, and we will use this opportunity to transform Artforum into a place of transparency, equity, and with zero tolerance for sexual harassment of any kind.” Michelle Kuo, the publication’s editor-in-chief for over seven years, resigned last week before news of the allegations went public. “I resigned because I felt that, in light of the troubling allegations surrounding one of our publishers, I could no longer serve as a public representative of Artforum,” she wrote in a statement provided to ARTnews. And late on Thursday, Artforum and Bookforum staffers signed an open letter, posted on the Artforum website, condemning the handling of the allegations against Knight Landesman by their own magazine’s management. “[We] repudiate the statements that have been issued to represent us so far,” reads the statement, signed by over 40 staffers.

02  Current and former members of the Berkshire Museum filed a lawsuit to halt the institution’s planned sale of 40 artworks.

(via Sullivan & Worcester LLP, the New York Times, and artnet News)

The auction of the works planned for next month—which will see pieces by Norman Rockwell, Francis Picabia, and Alexander Calder for sale—is expected to bring in $50 million, which the museum will use for renovations and to boost its endowment, a violation of industry guidelines on deaccessioning. The museum’s sale attracted controversy immediately after it was announced in August. Critics argue it is financially unnecessary and a violation of the statute that set up the museum, which mandates that gifts be kept for “the people of Berkshire County and the general public.” The museum maintains, in a statement to artnet News, that it is legally able to sell the works, and that its trustees have not violated their fiduciary responsibility to the institution. The suit filed by members and Berkshire residents on Wednesday, along with a separate suit filed by a group that includes three Rockwell children last Friday, will bring the ongoing debate around the auction into courtrooms. Both suits also urge Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey to halt the sale. “The sale would harm the museum and its members irreparably and we have asked the Court to put the sale on hold,” said Nicholas O’Donnell, an attorney for the members, in a statement, arguing that the sale violates the institution’s obligations to them. A judge will rule on the members’ request for an immediate injunction this coming Wednesday.

03  Provenance researchers have confirmed that an artwork from the Gurlitt art trove was Nazi-looted, due to a small hole in the painting’s canvas.

(via German Lost Art Foundation)

The painting by Thomas Couture is the sixth artwork confirmed as Nazi-looted since the discovery, first made in 2012, of thousands of pieces in the Munich apartment and Salzburg home of Cornelius Gurlitt. He had inherited them from his father Hildebrand, an art dealer who traded works labeled “degenerate” by the Nazis. Authorities have only been able to confirm the origins of a small number of the 1,280 items, seized when police first raided Gurlitt’s home five years ago, due to the difficult process of tracing the provenance of art lost during World War II. The Couture painting was only identified because of a small, repaired hole in the canvas, which allowed researchers to match it with a note written immediately after the war. That correspondence, likely by a French conservator handling restitutions claims at the time, mentioned a small restored hole in an otherwise vaguely described Couture. Further research confirmed that the painting in the note was indeed the one found in the Gurlitt collection. Authorities believe it belongs to the family of Georges Mandel, a French-Jewish politician detained by the Nazis and later murdered by a militia of French collaborators during the war, and a claim has already been made for the work’s return.

04  “Freeport king” Yves Bouvier sold his Swiss shipping and storage firm to a family-run French company.

(via The Art Newspaper)

The French company André Chenue bought Natural Le Coultre, the Geneva Freeport’s largest tenant, for an undisclosed sum, The Art Newspaper reported Thursday. Yves Bouvier’s father had purchased Natural Le Coultre, then a generalized shipping firm, in 1982; the younger Bouvier took over the firm in 1997 and pivoted the company towards handling fine art. Bouvier has been in a protracted legal dispute with the Russian mining billionaire and art collector Dimitry Rybolovlev, which The Art Newspaper said was “likely to have made a considerable dent in Bouvier’s business and prompted the sale” of his company. Bouvier is accused by Rybolovlev of “swindling him out of $1 billion in the purchase of around 38 works of art over a decade,” according to The Art Newspaper, including the last Leonardo da Vinci painting in private hands. The Leonardo painting, Salvator Mundi (c. 1500), will be auctioned in mid-November at Christie’s. It carries an estimate of $100 million.

05  Germany’s far-right party has sued Documenta over the quinquennial’s alleged financial mismanagement.

(via artnet News)

Kassel city council members belonging to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party brought the suit on October 18th amid an ongoing independent audit into Documenta’s cost overruns, which reportedly reached around €5 million. The suit names Documenta’s artistic director, Adam Szymczyk, and CEO, Annette Kulenkampff, as well as its board and Kassel’s current and former mayors, asserting that they are all responsible for the event’s financial irregularities, artnet News reported. Szymczyk has previously defended his tenure and curatorial team, but early indications are that Documenta’s split venues of Kassel and Athens drove costs up and created unanticipated logistical difficulties (for example, Documenta staffers reportedly brought bags full of euros into cash-strapped Greece to get the exhibition running). The suit illustrates the increasing politicization of Documenta and the ability of Germany’s far-right—emboldened after winning almost 13 percent of the vote in the country’s national elections last month—to flex its political muscles. The suit follows an open letter signed by prominent figures in Germany’s art world protesting the appointment of an AfD member as chairman of the Bundestag’s Committee on Cultural and Media Affairs.

06  An agreement was reached between art dealer David Mugrabi and the storage company allegedly holding $100 million worth of his works “hostage” over unpaid fees.

(via Bloomberg and The Art Newspaper)

David Mugrabi, son of New York mega-dealer Jose Mugrabi, accused Mana Contemporary of “destroying the business” by refusing him access to his 1,389 works stored in the company’s New Jersey location, effectively preventing his company from doing business, according to a court complaint filed Monday. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that by Wednesday, Mana must release five works—three of which have been sold and two of which are slated to appear in forthcoming exhibitions—which the company agreed to do in exchange for $1 million promised by the Mugrabis. In 2014, Mana and Mugrabi reportedly struck a deal, whereby the dealer could store the work free of charge if the Mugrabi family recommended Mana to its clients. But a lawyer for the storage company said in a statement that the Mugrabi family’s company owed over $500,000 in storage fees “for an extended period of time,” and that Mana had “no choice” but to hold the works.

07  A Turkish right-wing group protested an exhibition in Istanbul over a hyperrealistic nude sculpture by artist Ron Mueck.

(via ArtAsiaPacific and DW)

The work is on view as part of an exhibition of businessman Ömer Koç’s collection in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul. Mueck’s Man Under Cardigan (1998) was placed in a fireplace in the gallery, but protesters mistook the İznik tile surrounding the hearth for “either a mihrab, the semicircular niche in a mosque that faces Mecca, or a minbar, the pulpit in a mosque where the imam delivers a sermon,” according to ArtAsiaPacific. Led by Mahmut Alan, former head of the right-wing Great Unionist Party (BBP), a group stormed the exhibition last weekend before being forced out by security guards to the cheers of onlookers. A second protest the next day was “quickly suppressed,” reported ArtAsiaPacific. “Trying to create a perception that sacred values are being targeted with this exhibition has no basis,” Koç Holdings told ArtAsiaPacific. The protest came just three days after authorities in the country arrested businessman and cultural patron Osman Kavala, ostensibly because of his ties to last year’s failed coup in the country. Critics charge that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is using the coup to crack down on political opponents and free speech in the country. In a statement, PEN America called Kavala’s arrest “further evidence of the severe erosion of democratic principles in Turkey.”

08  Hundreds of cultural figures and arts professionals called for artistic freedom in Brazil last week in an open letter.

(via Artforum)

The letter protested the “wave of hate, intolerance, and violence against free expression” washing over Brazil, Artforum reported, citing a spate of incidents in which the country’s conservative political and religious forces have mobilized against cultural institutions, in some cases forcing closures or censorship. The letter, which has over a thousand signatures, referred specifically to a decision by the Santander Cultural Center to close an exhibition on queer art ahead of schedule after conservatives accused it of promoting pedophilia; the controversy over a performance at the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo featuring a nude artist; and a protest against works by artist Pedro Moraleida at the Palace of Arts in Belo Horizonte, whose show was also alleged by conservatives to be an apology for pedophilia. The letter encouraged Brazilians to “defend and deepen the rights to an environment of free circulation of ideas, and denounce those who work to destroy democracy in Brazil,” Artforum reported. It was read aloud in the National Congress by Workers’ Party member Paulo Teixeira, and at the exhibition “Histories of Sexuality” at the Museu du Arte de São Paulo, which had set an 18-and-over age requirement for the show under pressure from conservatives.

09  Two Greek antiquities suspected of being looted surfaced for sale at Frieze Masters in London.

(via The Guardian)

Two vases, known as lekythoi and created in the 4th century B.C., went on sale at Frieze Masters earlier this month for upwards of £100,000 apiece. Archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis first connected the two objects to Swiss dealer Gianfranco Becchina, who has been convicted of trafficking illicit cultural property. In 2015, the art squad of the Italian carabinieri held a conference in Rome showcasing over 5,000 illicit antiquities seized from Becchina, who was part of a widespread looting network. Many objects from Becchina’s cache are thought to remain on the market, and their identification typically ends in surrender and repatriation of the works. But according to The Guardian, the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt, which consigned the two works to be sold at Frieze, claimed to have permission to sell the items from the carabinieri. The Italian police were reportedly unable to legally hold over 1,000 pieces from the original seizure and ultimately returned them to the Swiss state. Since the region’s public prosecutor could neither prove conclusively where the pieces originated, nor that Becchina had legally held the pieces, their fate remains unclear. The London-based Art Loss Register database had previously cleared their sale, but it may now reconsider, according to The Guardian.

10  Architect David Adjaye has won a competition to design London’s new Holocaust memorial.

(via the New York Times)

The competition’s jury unanimously selected Adjaye’s design, beating out 91 other submissions from across the globe. Adjaye and his team, which included Israeli architect Ron Arad and landscape architecture company Gustafson Porter & Bowman, proposed a bronze sculptural installation symbolizing the destruction of Jewish communities in 22 countries. The plans also feature an underground educational space that will include recorded testimonies of Holocaust survivors and “examine hatred and prejudice in other forms, including racism and Islamophobia,” according to the New York Times. However, the planned location at the Victoria Tower Gardens, near the Houses of Parliament, has received criticism from neighboring institutions, government officials, and residents. In an April letter sent to the House of Lords, critics argued that the gardens will “cease to be an amenity for ordinary people” because of the memorial, which will receive £50 million in public funds. While scheduled to open in 2021, the memorial has yet to be approved by building regulators.

—Artsy Editors

from Artsy News

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #13: Imani Elizabeth Jackson.

Imani just got back into town from an artist residency at ACRE in Wisconsin, and I'm headed there next week, where I'll serve as a visiting artist. I'm always the artist and never the resident, I guess, but at least they'll feed me while I'm there and I'm looking forward to a little being taken care of. Imani is in the process of moving to Providence for grad school. She expressed interest in being a Courtroom Artist Resident about eight months ago and I felt like we'd better act fast so that this could happen before she leaves Chicago.

In the car ride to court we talked a little about ACRE and what she worked on there (writing, paper making, screenprinting t-shirts, and prepping some ideas for a performance) and about what we might observe today.

Today's residency felt somewhat atypical from the start. Is everyone on vacation? Are the judges at the beach? We started in Judge James B. Linn's courtroom and waited around for him to show up. He never did so we went to another courtroom, and then another and then another. It was about 50 minutes before we went into a court where something was actually happening. Most of the courts seemed to have very few cases today and twice I had to tell a judge or bailiff that we were just there to observe court because with so few people in the room or defendants that weren't in custody, our mere presence had the potential to cause confusion.

This wasn't Imani's first time at Criminal Court. Her brother has been dealing with the court system for several years now and she has attended his hearings with family members. It has been a while since she has been to one of his hearings and thus far that has been her only experience of court. Our decision about which courtrooms to observe was mostly determined by who was actually in session with at least some people clearly waiting for a case to be heard. We spent the most time in the court of Judge Joseph Claps who Imani soon realized is the judge that has been hearing her brother's case. We observed the judge handle a number of cases involving drugs, a domestic battery, criminal trespass, a DUI, some probation violations, and one woman who happily had her probation terminated.

One thing that has come up multiple times in today's residency as well as the one before it, is that defendants who have been drug tested and came up positive for marijuana, are being chastised for using a drug that is going to be legal for recreational use in Illinois starting on January 1st, 2020. Judge Clap told one defendant, "Personal use of marijuana doesn't start until next year. I wouldn't get ahead of the game."

Even on a slow day, we found more than enough to talk about over a lunch of tamales and a chicken torta at Tacqueria El Milagro. Like court, El Milagro was also slow, as business is for many places in Little Village because of fear of ICE raids. Please support these businesses, whether you live in Chicago or are just visiting.

I just completed the third booklet of Courtroom Artist Residency Reports. My conversation with Imani will go into the fourth booklet, which should see release an about four months. You can find the most recent booklet, and all others, here.

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #9: Dana Sperry

Dana Sperry traveled from Pittsburgh for his residency, which took place yesterday. We chose room 702 where we observed a Judge I had not seen before:  James M. Obbish. Court started about forty minutes late, but rather than move from one courtroom to the next, we decided to observe the entire morning session in this one room, starting at 9:30 AM and ending at 12:30 PM. In this time we observed over twenty defendants. Nearly all were people of color. As usual the judge and most (or all) of the prosecutors and defenders were white.

We also saw something that I had not seen before in court: a group of seven older white men and women sitting in the front row, observing court on behalf of an advocacy group for victims. They stayed until a young Latino defendant in custody was brought out. There was mention of a psychiatric or psychological evaluation, there was rescheduling, and in about a minute the man was taken away to be returned to jail or prison. The group in front of us stood up in unison and left. If anyone can explain who these people are and what they do, I'd be grateful for any insights. They didn't seem to want to tell me much, even when I told them I'm not a cop (they asked).

The judge we observed was erratic in his behavior and emotional responses. At one point he became so irate with a lawyer that he had to give himself a time out. One moment we saw the judge tell a homeless male defendant that was late for court: "How much time should I add on for you being late?" The next, he treated a despondent looking woman with a drug charge with unusual generosity.

Dana and I had a very good conversation after court and I look forward to publishing it in the next collection of residency reports. That should be out in four months or so if I can stay on schedule. As always, if you appreciate this project, please consider supporting it by picking up the report booklets. I have to say, I think they are quite strong—in large part due to the brilliance of the people that have participated as residents. Order here.

[publiccollectors]

Last Thursday I returned to the high school I work in on the west side of Chicago for the first time since mid-January. When I enter the building I sign in at the front desk, which is staffed by the secretary, a nice older Latina woman. We normally say hi or comment about the weather but not much else.

When I returned on Friday, she asked me directly, "Were you at the trial?" I immediately knew what she was talking about and said, "The Jason Van Dyke murder trial? Yes, I was at the sentencing hearing, part of the trial, and some of the pre-trial hearings." She said, "I saw you on TV."

This initiated a whole conversation about court, about my Courtroom Artist Residency Project, and about the fact that all of this is something that people can do. We can go to court and see what we see and be there during cases that impact our lives and the lives of people that live in our cities. This secretary had only been to court as a prospective juror and I explained that jury trials are actually pretty uncommon. Most people don't have jury trials; they just take a plea deal if they are found guilty. I told her I'd bring her a booklet I made from my trips to court the next time I see her.

One of the things that artists get to do is create things that help start conversations with people we might not know, about things we probably would have never have had a conversation about otherwise. My Courtroom Artist Residency project is feeling like one of those slow-burning projects that will consume me for a long time and I have no idea how it will morph as it continues. If I knew, it would be less interesting to keep doing. Conversations like the one I had on Friday are a good reminder that artists need to keep showing up where they are not expected. Also, I hope Dan S Wang doesn't mind me sharing this note from an email he just sent me about the first booklet:

"I finally got around to sinking teeth into the booklet you left with me. This is one of your hits, smaller in scale but every bit as on target as Prisoners’ Inventions, as the Malachi Ritscher archive. One of these projects where the timing of the society matches perfectly with your democratic explorations into the workings of world." I hope people will read this booklet. Here is where you can order it. It's just $8.00 and you can get it from the link below. The next collection of reports will be out in about a month. Thanks.

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #6: Tara Betts I began this morning by picking up poet Tara Betts from her apartment on the south side and from there we proceeded to criminal court for this morning's residency. Tara and I were introduced online through my wife Jen Blair and quickly became social media pals, but this was our first time meeting in person. Attending criminal court is an unusual way to hang out with another person for the first time but we had the car ride and the walk to court to chat a little before we had to concentrate on observing and listening. I scheduled today's residency around a hearing for police torture survivor Gerald Reed, whose case was the focus of the last Courtroom Artist Residency as well as another one before that. After Tara and I cleared security at the court, I spotted Reed's mother Armada and stopped to say hello. She was with Mark Clements, another survivor of police torture under Detective Jon Burge. Clements was eventually freed and has been fighting to free others who—like himself— were tortured until they confessed to crimes they didn't commit. There were at least twenty people in the court in support of Gerald Reed. The last judge in Reed's case, Judge Gainer, retired at the end of 2018 so today Judge Thomas J. Hennelly was handling Reed's case. We sat in his courtroom for some time, watched a number of other defendants see the judge in quick succession, and then were left hanging when the judge was called to another courtroom for some other business. We had no idea how long this would take but I figured we had at least twenty minutes to leave and do something else. I proposed that Tara and I should visit another courtroom so we shifted over to Judge Vincent Gaughan's court: room 500. Judge Gaughan was the judge in the trial of convicted murderer cop Jason Van Dyke. We arrived in his nearly empty court just in time to hear the closing remarks by the prosecutor in a jury trial for a man who was charged with possession with intent to distribute 45 small bags of cocaine. Or, as it was explained, 44 identically measured bags were for sale and one was a different bag with more coke and that was set aside for personal use. After a short closing statement, Judge Gaughan read the jury their instructions. He then called on the two alternate jurors who were invited to claim their possessions from the jury room. They were given the option to stick around if they were interested in seeing what was decided or they could go home. The jurors decided to go home and Judge Gaughan told them, with regard to their payment for the day, "You've got that $17.00. Go crazy." With this, Tara and I returned to room 604 and finally, over two hours after court began, Gerald Reed's case was called. Gerald Reed was brought out from custody in a wheelchair and there was a short meeting between the judge, Reed's lawyers and the state prosecutors. Within minutes Judge Hennelly told everyone, "All I know about this case is what I read in the papers so it's probably inaccurate. I'll see you on the 30th." And with that, the case has been postponed again for three more weeks. He waited over two hours to tell half a room full of people that he wasn't going to do anything. Tara Betts and I observed a third courtroom and then had a filling lunch at Taqueria El Milagro. We discussed what we saw and talked about her work, which includes teaching poetry at Statesville Penitentiary. You'll be able to read a transcript of that conversation later when I publish the second collection of Courtroom Residency reports in a couple months. The next Courtroom Artist Residency is coming up fast and I'll be back in criminal court again in less than two weeks. More on that, as well as my time with Tara later... You can pick up the first collection of my Courtroom Artist Residency reports and conversations here. Please message me if you’d like copies for your store or classroom and I’d be happy to work with you.

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #4: Dmitry Samarov Today was a historic day in Chicago courts. In yesterday's election, for the first time in 28 years, Chicagoans voted not to retain a Judge, and that Judge was Matthew Coghlan. Coghlan is a Judge at Criminal Court on 2600 S. California so it felt natural that today's resident and I should visit him on his first day of learning that he soon won't be a Judge anymore. Coghlan needed 60% affirmative votes and he fell well short of that. The Chicago Sun Times wrote: "In June, two men exonerated after 23 years in custody sued Coughlan, alleging that — during his time as a county prosecutor — he helped frame them for murder in collusion with disgraced Chicago police Detective Reynaldo Guevara. Coghlan denied the allegations in a court filing in August." Using the Twitter handle @judges_matter, The Coalition to Dump Matthew Coghlan helped fanned the flames that led to his demise. His ousting should serve as a warning to other Judges that let cops off the hook and give overly harsh sentences. We arrived at Court room 504 shortly after 9:30 and sat around waiting for something to happen until 10:10 AM, when Coghlan finally arrived and court was in session. There was nothing in his demeanor that suggested we were watching a man whose career is done. In the span of 14 minutes five Defendants were seen including one who was rescheduled immediately for December 5th. As the young man was walking away from the bench I heard him complain to a friend or family member nearby that the new date he was given is his birthday. By 10:24, the attorneys handling other cases that were on the docket didn't have anything else ready so the court took a recess until those cases could move forward. At that point, Dmitry and I left the court and visited room 604 for an hour. There we observed Judge Thomas V. Gainer, who the last resident Salem Collo-Julin and I observed last week at a hearing for police torture survivor Gerald Reed. We went back to Coghlan's court an hour later, just time in to see him send a young man to prison for a year for possession of cocaine and running from the police. He sent the man off with a pithy "Okay, good luck." At this point the court was nearly empty except for the last Defendant's family, Dmitry and I, and a couple others. Coghlan directly asked me if we were there for a case and I told him that we were just observing. Thankfully this did not turn into a longer conversation and was accepted as fine. After this there wasn't really anything else to observe so we visited two other court rooms before leaving to get lunch at 1:00 PM. Dmitry drew from observation for most of the time we were in court together and then we talked about his work and our experience over tacos (for him) and pollo en mole (as usual) for me over at Taqueria El Milagro. The drawing in this photo shows Judge Thomas V. Gainer. These first four residencies have now generated more than enough material to fill a first booklet of reports so I'll be working on that publication now and it should be ready in the next month — probably just in time for me to schedule the fifth artist resident later in December. There is a growing waiting list but if you'd like me to add you as a possible artist resident, just let me know. More details about the project can be found here.

[publiccollectors]

I’ve been pretty quiet on Tumblr lately, though it is not for a lack of activity. Right now I’m particularly focused on teaching, writing, and I’ve been paying close attention to the trial of CPD Officer Jason Van Dyke who is charged with first degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. I attended four days of the trial after attending several of the pre-trial hearings. Two days of the trial were attended with Wes Janz from Indianapolis as part of the Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency. My conversation with Wes, and our writings, will be part of an upcoming publication. Yesterday I went to court by myself though I did not feel alone, because others who have been bearing witness were also present. I sat in court and watched Jason Van Dyke testify and go under cross-examination. It's hard to form words about the experience of watching this unfold in that room. It made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and just terribly sad. It might have been one of the most unpleasant things I've witnessed. He contradicted details that his defense has been building their case around for years now. Van Dyke was emotional at times, but never in a way that suggested a hint of remorse for taking a life. He sounded like a broken human being, crumbling under the strain of being asked to explain actions that I'll never believe were necessary or justified in a million years. You can watch his testimony here and here and here. If you know what I look like, I’m in the video, for what it’s worth.

[publiccollectors]

Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #6: Josh Rios

When I announced this artist residency program, I told artists that between picking them up in the morning, observing court, and sharing a meal together it would probably be a 6 hour day. Josh Rios and I attended murderer ex-cop Jason Van Dyke's sentencing hearing today. It was not a 6 hour day. It was an 11 1/2 hour day. Nearly 9 of those hours were spent inside court room 500 listening to witness after witness after witness called by both the prosecution and the defense.

Josh was an incredible trooper and from the moment we got into the courtroom, I think we both knew that we would be there for as long as the day was going to be. Normally by about 12:30 in court I've lost my ability to think and badly need to get some food. Each of us had a Snickers from the snack stand for lunch (let the record show that Josh had a traditional classic Snickers and I had an Almond Snickers). Somehow that was enough until dinner many hours later.

Everything that transpired today was compelling, and the feeling in the room was often electric, but I think the day was owned by four Black male witnesses that were called by the prosecution. These four brave men told their stories of the violence they experienced in earlier encounters with Jason Van Dyke that happened before the murder of Laquan McDonald. Every incident happened after being pulled over for minor or non-existent traffic violations. These were stories that we never got to hear during the trial. One man—who has needed multiple shoulder surgeries from the way Van Dyke grabbed him by the arms while he was cuffed and yanked him out from the floor of his squad car—was overcome with emotion and could barely speak at times, but he persisted. All of these men got to face Van Dyke today, in person, and describe the ways he harmed them and how that trauma lingers.

That said, I don't think any of the witness testimonies impacted the sentencing. Plenty will be written about his sentence and there's plenty that can be said about the three cops that covered for Van Dyke who got off with yesterday's not guilty verdict in another room at the same court. I'm exhausted, Josh is probably exhausted, and I'll be processing what we experienced today for a long time. We mustered the energy to record what I think was a very good conversation over a much needed dinner after court. I look forward to transcribing that for the next booklet of reports which should come out in early March.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading. If you want to be a Courtroom Artist Resident, message me. There's a long line of people waiting so better yet, just go and tell me how it went?

[publiccollectors]

The Courtroom Artist Residency

I’d like to announce that I am accepting applications for the Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency

For this new meal-based residency program, artists and creative workers are invited to observe between two and three hours of court proceedings with me at Cook County Criminal Court on 2600 S. California in Chicago. Following court, I will treat the resident to a meal at Taqueria El Milagro on 3050 West 26th street in Little Village. We will talk about what we observed over lunch or an early dinner.

Each residency will last approximately five or six hours including transportation within Chicago, to and from court. I will try to accommodate twelve residents a year, or about one per month. I will also contribute $20.00 to the Chicago Community Bond Fund for each residency–the approximate value of two meals at Taqueria El Milagro.

Additionally, Public Collectors will make a publication series titled The Courtroom Artist Residency Report. These booklets will provide a space for residents and myself to talk about their experience and share reflections, notes, drawings, or other content related to their residency. I hope to print these collected reports twice a year.

To apply for a Courtroom Artist Residency, please contact me through publiccollectors.org and tell me anything you think I should know about you and your work. Website URLs are always appreciated. Please note that residencies will need to happen on weekdays, typically starting just before 9:00 AM when court begins. Residents are subject to the rules and regulations of the court, which include passing through a metal detector and leaving cell phones in a small lock box for phones at the court, or in my car. Cameras, laptops, and recording devices are not permitted in the court, though they can be used either before we enter, or after we leave the court building.

The Courtroom Artist Residency extends from the Public Collectors Joong Boo Residency Program. From 2016-18, that residency provided Korean lunch to 38 artist residents at Joong Boo Market in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood. That project is detailed in the publication The Meal-Based Artist Residency Program, published by Public Collectors in August, 2018.

If you are interested in being a Courtroom Artist Resident, note that September, October, and November 2018 are already filled but feel free to suggest later months that you might be available. I will create a waiting list if necessary. Please feel free to share this announcement or write with any questions.

Update: the first booklet of reports from these residencies is now available here.

Photo of Cook County Criminal Court by Ann Fisher, taken June 24, 2011. Shared under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #5: Edward Marszewski

This morning I met the indefatigable publisher, radio station owner, brewery founder, art space director, and restaurateur Ed Marszewski  at Criminal Court on 26th and California for his Courtroom Artist Residency. Ed was one of the first people to express interest in this project and while I was excited for his participation, I also couldn't believe that he could possibly have time to do something like sit and observe court for a couple hours and then have lunch to discuss it. I've known Ed for probably two decades and I'd be surprised if we've ever had a conversation that lasted longer than fifteen minutes. The man is constantly in motion, doing everything, at all times—always with a spirit of enormous generosity, and always creating space and opportunities for others.

Of course Ed was the model resident and I need not have worried about anything. He met me in the lobby of the court building right on time at 10:30 AM as planned. For Ed's residency I proposed that we head straight to courtroom 604, the court of Judge Thomas V. Gainer Jr. who was holding a hearing in the case of Gerald Reed.

Reed is a survivor of police torture. 28 years ago, Detectives Victor Breska and Michael Kill (his actual name, really) beat Reed until he signed a confession for a double murder that he did not commit, leading to a life prison sentence. At one point during their interrogation, Detective Breska kicked Reed so hard that he broke a metal rod that had been placed in his leg from a previous gunshot wound. Breska and Kill worked under the late Police Detective and Commander Jon Burge who was accused of torturing more than 200 suspects between 1972 and 1991.

In the third Courtroom Artist Residency with Salem Collo-Julin, we were able to hear Reed testify, describing the full details of his experience in police custody. Today Ed and I listened to only Judge Gainer, who took approximately two hours to read his report and decision. Based on an earlier court visit I made on my own last week, I did not expect that Gerald Reed would be present for this hearing, but in fact he was there the entire time.

We learned a number of horrible details about how the state admits new prisoners. An EMT at the jail intake testified that she would typically spend only 2 to 3 minutes learning the medical issues of each inmate, and that she would see twenty to thirty prisoners every hour. Prisoners were seen in several small cubicles and there are bleachers that are used for seating while others wait to be seen. She only examined new inmates from the waist up—a different doctor would deal with the waist down and was mainly concerned with possible venereal diseases. In addition to not remarking on Reed's leg injury, she added an erroneous claim that he had a bullet wound to his head and a bullet still lodged in his skull. An injury that did not occur stayed in his records for 28 years. It was revealed by Judge Gainer that Reed had only three pages of medical records for his entire incarceration, and that an X-ray of his leg was not even included within those records. Most of his records were lost.

After two hours of reporting his findings, reading from depositions that were taken and from Gerald Reed's testimony, Judge Gainer granted a motion for Reed to receive a new trial. He will have a detention hearing this Friday and could potentially be released while he waits for that trial.

The court was very full for Reed's hearing and after what felt like an endless period of suspense, there was an incredible release of relief as the decision was read. In addition to Reed's mother, Mark Clements—who survived torture under Jon Burge— was also present and he hugged Reed's mother after the decision was read. Ed and I later had a chance to see Mark at Taqueria El Milagro. He was dining with my friend Sarah Wild who originally informed me of these hearings. Everyone ate victory tacos today (well, Sarah was eating a torta).

There are about 18 future Courtroom Artist Residents scheduled so I will be doing this project for quite some time. If you are interested in being a Resident, I will still happily add you to the list. Contact me. I also strongly encourage you to simply attend court on your own time, and I can gladly give you advice about doing this. It's very easy and I highly recommend it. The experience Ed and I had today was unforgettable. We recorded a fantastic conversation during our meal and you'll be able to read that in the next booklet of Residency Reports. If you'd like to order the first booklet, you can do so from this link. I'm also sending free copies of the Meal-Based Artist Residency Program booklet that preceded this with all orders placed before Dec. 31, 2018.

Thanks for reading all of this. I realize it's a lot.

[publiccollectors]

A Booklet Benefit for the Chicago Community Bond Fund Can zines release people from jail? With your support, they can.

For two years I brought artists with me to observe Criminal Court in Chicago and then we had a meal at Taqueria El Milagro to discuss what we observed. 16 of those conversationss are reproduced in the booklet series The Courtroom Artist Residency Report. I produced four of those booklets, as well as a previous booklet on the structure of Meal-Based Artist Residencies. We observed many important things in court from the trial and sentencing of ex-CPD murderer Jason Van Dyke to hearings for police torture survivor Gerald Reed and a lot in between. The conversations are a great read, as residents brought brilliant observations to the table. 

To raise money for the Chicago Community Bond Fund, I'm offering these 5 booklets for the discounted price of $30.00 ppd in the U.S. I will give $15.00 from every purchase to the Chicago Community Bond Fund to help pay people's bail. That's about 200 pages of images and text.  Here is the payment link. If you'd like multiple sets for multiple donations, just adjust the payment amount accordingly. Don’t forget to include your shipping address!

https://paypal.me/PublicCollectors

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Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #16: Tom Burtonwood As we enter 2020, my project of bringing artists to observe Criminal Court in Chicago—followed by a meal and conversation at Taqueria El Milagro—continues. Today artist Tom Burtonwood and I observed three courtrooms and judges, spending a similar amount of time in each space. We started in Judge Claps's court where the judge took nearly an hour to arrive and begin proceedings for the day. I was highly underwhelmed by the attitude of this judge when I observed him with Imani Elizabeth Jackson and today felt like more of the same. While the judge took an eternity to show up, Tom and I quietly chatted about music and other topics while he made a sketch of the room. Tom has been making a number of drawings of architectural interiors lately in his art and the structure of these rooms was of particular interest for him. We talked about how power and authority are framed, but also where the construction of the building takes short cuts, as in the hallways where concrete is painted to look like marble. I wanted Tom to see one of the smaller glass wall-divided courts so next we visited room 307. I had observed Judge Chiampas in the past but she was working in a different room and I couldn't figure out her name. Today, over a year later, I was able to establish who she was. I'm still trying to understand how others feel about her competency but in terms of her treatment of the defendants and their families, Judge Chiampas is easily the most thoughtful and empathetic judge I have seen. She greets family members warmly, wishes them a happy new year, jokes with them at times, and makes them feel welcome in the process. She treats their loved ones who are caught up in the legal system with similar dignity and unusual patience. Today she sees a number of people who are in recovery programs and is extremely encouraging toward one developmentally challenged-looking woman who has been ravaged by crack addiction, telling her: "I don't want you to be afraid to walk into this courtroom and ask for help." A prisoner who is brought in after having been caught with a 3 1/2" shank is nicely told, "No more drama, okay?" She tells another defendant's family members, "I know your family has been through a lot out there on the the street." As her room thins out and cases are wrapped up, she puts Tom and I on the spot and asks us why we are in court. I explain that we are just observing and she politely but firmly presses us for more information, wanting to know if we are with an agency. I explain that I'm an educator and name a couple school affiliations and this is satisfying. The discussion about artist residencies and how this is one will have to be for another time. After being careful to dodge the largest dead cockroach on the floor that I've seen in Chicago, Tom and I leave to visit one more court, but I'll save the rest of the report for the next booklet. That should be out in a month. As always, thank you to everyone that has shown interest in this project. I've decided to lower the price of the booklets I've made for it to $7.00. I hope you'll check them out and take in the conversations I have with each artist resident. This is one of the projects I'm most proud of in recent years and as the residencies accumulate, I think the project itself is getting deeper too. You can find all of those booklets here.

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Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency #14: Lucas Reif.

When I started this project of bringing artists to observe criminal court with me, I had some idea of how things might go, but also knew that there was a lot of room for unpredictable experiences. Today was anything but predictable.

Lucas Reif is a publisher, artist, musician, and printer who is finishing up his undergrad at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Given our shared interests, I've run into Lucas in places as diverse as political discussions, punk shows, the warehouse where we both buy our paper, and most recently at the NY Art Book Fair where his publishing imprint and collaborative design practice Shelf Shelf had a table.

I picked up Lucas on this gloomy wet morning and we drove to Criminal Court, entered the building, and decided to start our day in room 201, one of the smaller courtrooms with a main chamber that is largely enclosed behind big glass windows. At around 9:30 AM (the start time of most courtrooms), before the judge even appeared, an alarm went off and an announcement was made to evacuate the building. With rain now falling steadily and a building that provides almost no shelter, everyone was forced to wait outside across the street for about 40 minutes while the court building decided to have a fire drill. We joined a group of jurors and sought refuge under a covered area on the side of the office area but soon everyone was asked to move away from the building and we joined the sea of family members, defendants, lawyers and cops.

Once we got back inside, going through the metal detector a second time, everyone's schedules fell into disarray. Some hearings were instantly rescheduled while other courtrooms just seemed to go back to doing what they planned to do.

After visiting two courtrooms we settled on room 600 and found ourselves at the end of a judge giving instructions to a jury. Just minutes later we were hearing opening statements in a rather astonishing case. While in jail awaiting trial, the defendant was charged with attempting to hire a cop posing as someone named "Big Mo" to murder the prosecutor and the judge that were trying his case. Judge James Linn, who I have observed during other residencies, was the Judge that the defendant wanted to have murdered. We stayed long enough to hear his testimony and it was interesting and very different to see a judge taking the stand as a witness.

Lucas and I recorded our conversation (while eating chicken and tamales) and that edited transcript will go into the next booklet. Past booklets from the project are available through Half Letter Press. If you'd like to be a Courtroom Artist Resident, please let me know and I can add you to the list. The waiting list remains long, however so it might not happen for a while.

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Earlier in the week the critic Jason Foumberg wrote thoughtfully about the Public Collectors Courtroom Artist Residency Program for The Art Newspaper. For this project I bring artists to observe Criminal Court in Chicago, followed by a meal and conversation nearby at Taqueria El Milagro in Little Village. The project continues and the article was actually published the same day that I completed residency #10 with Bea Malsky. You can read the article here and purchase copies of the booklets of reports that are mentioned in the piece from this link.

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New Public Collectors publication!

The Courtroom Artist Residency Report: Residencies #4-8

[PURCHASE] $8.00

The second collection of reports from Public Collectors' meal-based artist residency that brings artists to observe Criminal Court in Chicago, followed by a meal and discussion. These reports provide a space for the residents to talk about their experience and share reflections, notes, and conversations related to their residency.

Featured in this booklet are discussions with Edward Marszewski, Tara Betts, Josh Rios, and Claire Pentecost. Activist Sarah Wild provides a response to my residency with Edward Marzsewski, filling in additional details on the case of police torture victim Gerald Reed. Josh Rios and I observed murderer ex-cop Jason Van Dyke's entire 9 hour sentencing hearing and Josh contributes an additional text on the victim impact statement read by the great uncle of shooting victim Laquan McDonald. Tara Betts turns in a beautiful page of thoughts about the women who stand by in support of their men who are trapped in the prison system. A conversation with artist Claire Pentecost takes some lighter turns as we discuss the art and photography in courtroom 700, as well as a judge's address to potential jurors in room 402.