THE PANAMERICAN ADDRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF CHICAGO
WE, THE PEOPLE of Chicago, where the sun rises Daley,
The Windy City, the Second City, the City of Big Shoulders, the City of the Great Fire, the City that works, the City of The Mob and The Blues, the City of stockyards and Cows on Parade and One Big Bean, the City of Oprah, Jerry, Hillary and Barack, meeting at the Museum of Contemporary Art, on this day, June 19, 2007, declare the following:
WHEREAS Chicago is a focal point of the Heartland and the center of this nation;
WHEREAS Chicago is a city where art is made block-by-block, and ward-by-ward, often through collectives and collaboration;
WHEREAS Chicago remains true to its origin as a city of neighborhoods, but is now divided less along ethnic lines and more along economic lines;
WHEREAS for all its long history and tradition, Chicago is also a city of transients where individuals and events cross its fabric;
WHEREAS the ever revolving population in the many arts schools in this city contribute with a constant influx of energy and yet of short term memory;
WHEREAS Chicago artists produce their work against a void of local, national and international media attention;
We choose to embrace the environment of great freedom and experimentation that this allows;
We believe that Chicago artists need to define success in their own terms,
We call upon Chicago artists to extend their neighborhoods and communities into networks that span the planet and beyond,
We call upon Chicago collectors to think global and shop local,
We call upon the CTA to improve their service to make it easier to see art,
We call upon the people of Chicago to support the arts as much as they support their sports teams and corner bars,
We call upon Chicago artists, critics, curators, and art institutions to challenge what is being done, to take it as far as they can, to break the comfort barrier, to be uncomfortable, to make us uncomfortable, to raise the stakes, and to set their pants on fire.
Signed:
Tania Bruguera
Allison Peters
Lorelei Stewart
Jeff Abell
Anthony Elms
Encarnación Teruel
Pablo Helguera and Julie Rodrigues Widholm
(Secretaries)