Chicago Artists’ Month

Anti Gravity Surprise

December 7, 2007

Anti Gravity Surprise

Anti Gravity Surprise (AGS) is an American public art collective founded in 2001 and based in Chicago.

History

AGS was co-founded by Kathleen Duffy and Jennifer Karmin; the two started collaborating in 1995. Past AGS collaborators have included Kelly Jackson, Liza Travis, Kathleen McLaughlin, Catherine Tryzbinski, Jeff Greenspan, Chris Jones, Meredith Mohr, Dan Mejia, Carlos Cortez, Mary Ali, Ronn Pitts, Bryan Saner, and Josh McPhee.

Collaborative process

Through discussion, AGS collaborators choose one social issue to explore and develop a fill-in-the-blank statement for the public to respond to. Reacting to the campaign of fear following 9/11, AGS produced stickers bearing the phrase “World peace is important because” (2002), posting them throughout Chicago and New York for people to write on. Exploring the prevalent notion of work as identity, AGS altered the wording on standard name tags to read “HELLO my job is” (2003), having attendees fill them out and wear them during an eight-hour AGS art event. During the recent presidential campaign, AGS designed and distributed 3,000 campaign buttons with the phrase “I WANT A PRESIDENT WHO” (2004), encouraging people to describe the leader they hope for. Each piece was designed with space for viewers to complete the thought.

Each year, AGS collaborators create a variety of multimedia projects around the chosen social issue. Past projects have included photography, sculpture, performance, sound, collage art, and video. AGS projects culminate in community events which feature a display of the art made by the collaborators and the public. They also feature performance, guest speakers who are followed by open audience discussions, and literature from relevant community groups.
AGS community events are not usually held in traditional galleries or commercial art spaces.

The first two AGS projects were presented at the SpareRoom, an artist-run cooperative on the northwest side of Chicago. The third project traveled to five city neighborhoods: Mess Hall in Rogers Park, Links Hall in Lakeview, BuddY in Wicker Park, Polvo in Pilsen, and the SpareRoom in Humboldt Park.

Exhibitions and talks