The Geography of Home includes interviews with artists and curators who use research and historical data to shed light on inequities for Black homeowners and residents of public housing. Our first guest, Tonika Lewis Johnson, is a photographer, social justice artist and life-long resident of Chicago’s South Side neighborhood of Englewood. She is also co-founder of the Englewood Arts Collective and Resident Association of Greater Englewood, which seek to reframe the narrative of South Side communities, and mobilize people and resources for positive change. Tonika’s art often explores urban segregation, documenting the nuance and richness of the Black community to counter media depictions of Chicago’s violence. In 2017, she was recognized by Chicago Magazine as a Chicagoan of the Year for her photography of Englewood's everyday beauty. Her Englewood-based photography projects "From the INside," and "Everyday Rituals," were exhibited at Rootwork Gallery in Pilsen, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Harold Washington Library Center and at Loyola University's Museum of Art (LUMA). LUMA also exhibited her Folded Map project in 2018, which visually investigates disparities among “map twins”—Chicago residents who live on opposite ends of the same streets across the city’s racial and economic divides—and brings them together to have a conversation. An excerpt of the project was also displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art within The Long Dream exhibition.  In 2019, she was named one of Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago. Most recently, Tonika was selected as the National Public Housing Museum’s 2021 Artist as Instigator. Her newest project, Inequity for Sale,  highlights the living history of Greater Englewood homes sold on Land Sale Contracts in the 50s and 60s. Tiff Beatty is a cultural organizer, arts administrator, performance poet, and host. She is the current program director of arts, culture, and public policy at National Public Housing Museum in Chicago. Tiff Beatty was a 2019-2021 Chicago United for Equity Fellow and Senior Fellow and received the additional distinction of the 2019 Field Leader Award from the Field Foundation of Illinois. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, Crain's Chicago Business, Ebony Magazine, Chicago Tribune and several other local and national media.  Learn more about our featured music artist, PHENOM, at phenomuniversal.com. This episode includes an abridged version of his song, PHEGODOH.

Folded Map Project

National Public Housing Museum

Sound Ecology is a continuation of our Season 2 theme, Art Meets Science. In this episode we experience the work of sound artists and musicians. We're moving at a meditative pace and providing listeners with a contemplative, relaxing experience. First up will be a six minute sound experience entitled "Shivering Sands," the contemplative ambient music project of singer-songwriter Angela James and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Martins. 

After "Shivering Sands" is an interview with sound artist, Norman W. Long, followed by his sound piece entitled "Expanded Field." Norman’s practice involves walking, listening, improvising, performing, recording and composing to create environments and situations in which he and the audience are engaged in dialogues about memory, place, ecology, culture, race, value, silence and the invisible. Norman Long has performed and exhibited at Experimental Sound Studio, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Links Hall, Elastic Arts,Green Line Performing Arts Center, Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Cultural Center and 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Norman has performed with Damon Locks, Tatsuya Nakatani, Cher Jey, Sara Zalek, Cristal Sabbagh, Xris Espinoza, Adam Zanolini, Dan Bitney and Todd Carter and performed and toured with Angel Bat Dawid and the Brothahood. He has released his compositions on Hausu Mountain, Reserve Matinee and Room40 labels. His latest release, BLACK BROWN GRAY GREEN, was released in September 2021 on Hausu Mountain.

The Pivot Arts Podcast is created and produced by Julieanne Ehre with sound engineering by Hannah Foerschler and original music composed by Andrew Hansen. Generous support for the podcast is provided by FLATS, a Chicago-based apartment community. For more information on Pivot Arts visit pivotarts.org.

Virtual and augmented reality are the wave of the future. How are these nascent technologies being integrated into performance, immersive experiences and artistic practice? Learn more from contemporary theater and dance artists working at the forefront of these technologies.

Meet Our Guests

Jo Cattell (Playwright/Director) is a leading voice in the convergence of live theatre and immersive technologies. Her work has appeared at Sundance Film Festival, the BBC, Sky Television, Cirque du Soleil, and multiple US and London theatre's. Cattell is a member of the LightPoets digital and immersive theatre collective, whose immersive graphic novel, PARTICLE, is being developed for live performance and as an AR mobile game. She is also under commission with San Francisco State University's Fabula(b) to adapt Shakespeare’s KING LEAR into an AR immersive theatrical experience. She is a 3Arts awardee, a Joan Mitchell Center Fellow, a 2021 Illinois Artist Fellow and a Perkins Coie awardee. Cattell was the Maggio Directing Fellow at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, with whom she is currently collaborating with the world-renowned Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois to create HUMMINGBIRD, an immersive theatrical experience with VR.

http://thefarsightedmonkey.com/

Christopher Knowlton, Ph.D., is a freelance movement artist and independent choreographer based in Chicago. He has worked as a collaborative performer with many artists, including ATOM-r, Erica Mott, Sildance/Acrodanza, Same Planet Performance Project, Khecari, Synapse Arts and UChicago STAGE Lab, among others. His own work spans multiple performative, interactive and immersive forms that explore the intersections of art, science, dance and technology. His work has been featured locally and internationally, including in Science Magazine’s Dance Your Ph.D. Competition, TEDxWindyCity in Chicago, DANSCIENCE Festival in Canberra, Brisbane and Sydney, Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the Movement Computing Conference, the International Society of Biomechanics and the Field Museum in Chicago. Chris is currently a Chicago Dancemakers Forum 2020 Lab Artist. In addition to performing and choreographing, Chris is a biomechanical research scientist and manages the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Rush University Medical Center.

The Pivot Arts Podcast is produced, edited and hosted by Julieanne Ehre with additional editing and sound engineering by Hannah Foerschler and original music composed by Andrew Hansen. The podcast is a program of Pivot Arts, an adventurous performance organization based in Chicago. You can learn more about us at pivotarts.org or follow us @PivotArts. The Pivot Arts Podcast is sponsored by FLATS, a Chicago-based apartment community.