Audio Tour: Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity

About

Skyscraper: Art and Architecture Against Gravity examines contemporary works of art that take as their subject the form, technology, myth, message, and image of that iconic building structure, the skyscraper. While the exhibition has particular relevance to Chicago, the city that is widely known as the birthplace of this architectural type, artists throughout the world—in addition to authors, filmmakers, poets, and undoubtedly architects—have been enthralled by the human desire to build farther and farther into the sky, testing technological limits while embodying a yearning for spiritual connection to the heavens. Artists' endeavors to explore this desire have taken many forms, from video and film to sculpture, painting, and photography.

Audio Playlist

Michael Darling Skyscraper introduction
Michael Darling Burden's "Chrysler Building"
Enoc Perez Perez's "Marina Towers"
Jeff Carter Carter's "Untitled #3"
Peter Wegner Wegner's "Buildings Made of Sky VI"
Jan Tichy Tichy's "Installation No. 3"
Michael Darling Acconci's "High Rise"
Michael Darling Attia's "Untitled (skyline)"
Eliza Myrie Myrie' "raze/raise-topple/top pull"
Michael Darling Sosnowska's "The Fire Escape"
Jakob Kolding Kolding's "Untitled," 2000
Michael Darling Feldmann's "9/12 Frontpage"
Ahmet Ögüt Ögüt's "Exploded City"
Yin Xiuzhen Yin's Portable Cities
Michael Darling Genzken's "Galerie (Gallery)"