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https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/30/this-art-installation-memorializes-the-places-weve-lost-forever-in-chicago-and-beyond/>
"DOWNTOWN — For those who ever think wistfully of Riverview Park as they pass
the shopping center at its former site on Roscoe and Western, a new art exhibit
might speak to the hole in their hearts.
The Disappointed Tourist, which premiered Monday at the Chicago Architecture
Center, is an installation of 312 postcard-like paintings by artist Ellen
Harvey, each one depicting a place that cannot be seen in person anymore. The
project began in 2019 when Harvey, a UK-born visual artist based in Brooklyn,
began soliciting public responses to the question, “Is there a place that you
would like to visit or revisit that no longer exists?” The resulting 18″ x 24″
paintings show each site as it was before its demise, with its year of
destruction listed.
“At the beginning, I painted everything,” Harvey told Block Club Chicago. “Now,
I have more [submissions]. I tend to prioritize the places that I don’t have
anything from … I like to have a variety. Somebody sent in The Grateful Dead’s
Wall of Sound.”
The exhibition has traveled throughout Europe and has toured multiple cities in
the U.S.; one of its first outings was to The Suburban Art Gallery in
Milwaukee. Each time the collection is exhibited, it grows larger, with
visitors submitting their own ideas for lost places.
“It’s completely unscientific,” Harvey said of the selection process. “I really
am trying to do as wide a variety of places as possible.” If more than one
person submits a particular place, however, that makes it more likely that she
will paint it. “It’s always more fun to make five people happy than one person
happy,” she said."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
