Terrain Stories

Call for Submissions:

Terrain Exhibitions is working with a team of students from SAIC's MA in Art Administration and Public Policy program to develop a publication that tells the story of our organization. Together with the team, we are looking for submissions to the following prompt:

What is Terrain to you?

How do you see it? How do you describe it to others? We encourage you to think creatively in your response. Send us a digital file of a drawing, a photo, a haiku, or whatever else makes sense to you! Send your file and credit line to stories@terrainexhibitions.org by November 22nd. All submissions are useful for the project and will be considered for publication.

Terrain Biennial 2019 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TERRAIN BIENNIAL 2019 OPENS OCTOBER 1st 

Download Press Release PDF

It’s almost time! The Terrain Biennial 2019 will soon be underway in Chicagoland, around the country, and beyond—and we’re kicking things off with an epic block party!

With more than 250 artist projects and over 500 participants, the Terrain Biennial 2019 has grown significantly since its last incarnation!

Join us in Oak Park on Saturday, October 5th for the opening celebration of the Terrain Biennial 2019. The party will introduce exhibition sites and feature performances by artists, poets, and musicians, as well as temporary art installations, a poetry slam for local youth, and art walks around the neighborhood.

Block Party Opening Event

Saturday, October 5th, 2 - 7pm
1150 Block of Lyman Ave, Oak Park, IL, 60304

The Terrain Biennial is unlike any other art festival. It takes place on lawns, in front yards, on porches, beneath awnings, and in windows. Residents partner with artists to bring striking, contemporary artwork into their communities. The Terrain Biennial challenges the way art is often confined to institutional spaces and class-specific audiences. Building on Chicago’s rich tradition of apartment galleries and artist-run spaces, the Biennial brings contemporary art into the intimate terrain of the front yard, fostering dialogue between neighbors and providing access to new art for a wide range of people.

Focus
The theme of this years Terrain Biennial is to take stock of the landscape that people are living in today. What is the terrain that we occupy? What is the topology of our moment? Artists and hosts have been asked to reflect upon the ways in which our environment changes us and how we are changing it. 

Highlights
Projects for the Terrain Biennial 2019 will take place all over the world! Projects range from Terrain Founder Sabina Ott’s video piece at Wedge Projects in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood; to Alberto Aguilar’s stylized broken window posters in Havana, Cuba; to performances by Teresa Albor, Shubho Saha, and Back ART that examine the complexity of colonial history in Dhaka, Bangladesh; to Betsy Odom’s subversion of sports fan lawn signs in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood; and Cathy Hsiao’s Migration score for Blue House, 回家  which recontextualizes a symbol of Imperial power into an exercise of care in Cicero, IL. 

The Terrain Biennial continues to grow this year as we have added a number of satellite clusters in Newburgh, NY; Portland ME; Santa Fe, NM and Lubbock, TX. We are also super excited about returning locations in Evanston, IL; Springfield, IL and Iowa City, IA.

Terrain Biennial 2019 locations

Aurora, IL | Asheville, NC | Batavia, IL | Berwyn, IL | Chicago, IL | Cicero, IL | DeKalb, IL | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Evanston, IL | Forest Park, IL | Geneva, IL | Glen Ellyn, IL | Havana, Cuba | Homewood, IL | Iowa City, IA | La Grange, IL | Los Angeles, CA | London, United Kingdom | Lubbock, TX | Morris, IL | Newburgh, NY | New York, TX | Oakland, CA | Oak Park, IL | Pasadena, CA | Peoria, IL | Portland, ME | Riverside, IL | River Forest, IL | Santa Fe, NM | Springfield, IL | West Chicago, IL 

History

Terrain Exhibitions was founded in 2011 by the late artist, curator, and educator Sabina Ott at her home in Oak Park. The original format of the exhibition space existed as monthly installations in her front yard, from which grew the Terrain Biennial. In the summer of 2018 Sabina Ott passed away leaving behind a legacy of radical energy, caring magic, and deep community. Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 Not for Profit organization established in the State of Illinois. Terrain Exhibitions produces the Terrain Biennial, a public art event staged at locations worldwide. Terrain Exhibitions hosts the Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois working with our partners the Springfield Art Association and the Enos Park Residency Program.

Land Acknowledgment

Chicago is the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: The Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi Nations. Many other Tribes like the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox also called this area home. Located at the intersection of several great waterways, the land naturally became a site of travel and healing for many Tribes. American Indians continue to call this area home and now Chicago is home to the sixth largest Urban American Indian community that still practices their heritage, traditions and care for the land and waterways. Today, Chicago continues to be a place that calls many people from diverse backgrounds to live and gather here. Despite the many changes the city has experienced, both our American Indian and the Terrain Exhibitions community see the importance of the land and this place that has always been a city home to many diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

FOR QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT:

Director of the Terrain Biennial Richard Medina at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Terrain Artists 6/12

Hi all!

As we count down the weeks to the 2019 Terrain Biennial I would like to broadcast exciting things that Terrain artists are doing outside of Terrain.

This week we have two exciting events from past Terrain artists! The first is an ongoing installation by Terrain artist Lynn Basa at the Multnomah County Central Courthouse. Basa was selected by the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) in Portland, Oregon to create a 25’ x 75’ glass artwork for the lobby of the new 17-story Multnomah County Central Courthouse.

Basa’s design for the three-story artwork – viewable from the lobby, the second and third stories of the building, and from the building’s exterior – was inspired by conversations with the project’s Artist Selection Panel, the courthouse judges and employees, as well as formerly incarcerated community members. The focus of the artwork is a landscape that reflects the ripple effect of behavior and the passage to redemption and rehabilitation in the community justice process.

Rendering of Lynn Basa’s glass artwork for the new Multnomah County Central Courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Fabrication by Bullseye Studio, project funding by Multnomah County Percent for Art, and project management by Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). Image courtesy of SRG Partnership.

Check out the official website for more info.

Also!! Terrain artist and current Terrain Exhibitions board member / Biennial organizer Tom Burtonwood and members of the Videokaffe collective will present Vision Machines at the Supplyframe DesignLab in Pasadena, CA.

This exhibition “Vision Machines” will probe the space between observing and surveilling, watching and seeing, the virtual and the real using custom built apparatuses made from networked microcomputer systems. Burtonwood will create a series of work designed to explore how technology alters perception.

If you are a past Terrain artist and would like to share cool things you’re doing please email me the event info and I will post it here! You can send me your events at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Updates on Past Terrain Artists

Hello!

My name is Richard Medina. I am an artist and curator, and I’m very excited to be organizing the Terrain Biennial this year along with the other members of the Terrain Exhibitions board. As some of you may know, one of the many ways Sabina Ott nurtured the Terrain community was by keeping up with former Terrain artists and sharing their accomplishments in a public forum.

I would like to continue that practice here in this format. As we count down the weeks to the 2019 Terrain Biennial I would like to broadcast exciting things that Terrain artists are doing outside of Terrain. Stay tuned for updates about past Terrain artists as we count down the days to the 2019 Terrain Biennial!

If you are a past Terrain artist and would like to share cool things that are coming up please email me the event info and I will post it here! You can send me your events at richard@terrainexhibitions.org

Terrain Exhibitions announces the Terrain Biennial 2019

Dear friends and supporters,

Terrain Exhibitions is pleased to announce dates for the 4th Terrain Biennial 2019, as well as updates to our mission and structure.

In the spring of 2018, Sabina Ott, founder of Terrain, asked Tom Burtonwood, Monica Chadha, Holly Holmes, Allison Lacher, John Paulett, and Jeff Robinson to serve on the board of the newly incorporated not-for-profit “Terrain Exhibitions.”

As you may know Sabina passed away in the summer of 2018, leaving behind an ambitious and innovative legacy spanning three editions of the Terrain Biennial and countless artist projects at her home in Oak Park, IL. There are many tributes to Sabina and her work, and Terrain was but one facet of her career as an artist, a Professor of art, an activist, a mentor and source of inspiration for young and old alike.

Oli Watt, Terrain Biennial 2017

Terrain Exhibitions will continue to organize and produce the Terrain Biennial, starting with the 2019 edition that will be staged in from October 1st to November 17th, 2019.

We are seeking hosts and artists from around the world to participate in this year’s event. Please use the google forms on this page to indicate your interest as a host, artist, volunteer, or all of the above: PARTICIPATE. Deadline EXTENDED: now June 1st, 2019.

The theme of this years Terrain Biennial is to take stock of the landscape that people are living in today. What is the terrain that we occupy? The environment that has been built? What is the topology of our moment? Artists and hosts should reflect upon the ways in which our environment changes us and how we are changing it.

Richard Medina will reprise his role as Assistant Director of the Terrain Biennial. If you have questions about the Biennial please reach out to Richard directly at richard@terrainexhibitions.org. Richard will be connecting with past Terrain hosts and artists to encourage them to participate. So look out for his emails!

Further information about the Terrain Biennial is posted here: https://terrainexhibitions.org/.

In addition to the Terrain Biennial, Terrain Exhibitions is launching a Terrain Residency in Springfield, Illinois. Working with the Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists administered by the Springfield Art Association, Terrain Exhibitions will host three artists each year in Springfield. Terrain Exhibitions will host two artists in 2019, one in the summer and another in the fall. From 2020 onwards Terrain Exhibitions will host three artists a year, one in the spring, one in the summer, and one in the fall. A call for for applications for our summer and fall residencies will be is posted here, deadline for residency application materials is 04/01/2019 at 11.59pm.

Terrain Exhibitions is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization founded in the State of Illinois. We are seeking interns and volunteers to help with archiving documentation of past projects, volunteering for the upcoming Biennial, helping to administer the residency, and raising funds for the organization. If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch via email ( info@terrainexhibitions.org ) or click here for more information.  

We hope that you’ll join us to make the 4th edition of the Terrain Biennial a resounding success!