COMPILED BY KYLE MACMILLAN | FOR SUN-TIMES MEDIA
Highlights of the cultural arts scene around town this week:
Visual Art
Dadaism emerged in Europe in 1916 as a reaction to the horrors and senselessness of World War I. The participating artists, poets and playwrights embraced nonsense, irrationality and anarchy. “Dada Turns the Tables,” an exhibition inspired by that influential movement, runs Saturday through Sept. 5 at the Out of Line Art Gallery, 2812 W. Chicago. Featured will be four Dada-style artists: Andrej Domansky, Helen Jones- Mayer, Helene Smith-Romer and Penelope Thrasher. The show will open with a 7 to 9:30 p.m. program Saturday that features a lecture by Ayala Leyser as well as Weimar-era and Dada-tinged music performed by vocalist Joanie Pallatto, pianist Bradley Sparrow and flutist Janice Misurell-Mitchell. Refreshments will be provided. Opening-event cover, $9. (847) 224-9344; outoflineartstudio.com.
Suburban Summerfest
Corky Siegel and the Chamber Blues, which includes strings, harmonica and percussion, merge the worlds of chamber music and the blues. The unusual cross-genre group will headline Friday’s Wilmette Summerfest Concert and Garden Party at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, 1140 Wilmette Ave. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with an instrument petting zoo provided by the Music Institute of Chicago, which will also have students performing during other parts of the event. The festivities continue from 6 to 8 p.m. with a garden party and the music starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets, $20 and $30. (847) 251.3800; gardenconcert.wilmettesummerfest.org.
Visual Art
Visual art can be a powerful testimony to the human rights abuses and social ills that continue to mar the world. Creating such work is the goal of David Boykin, Krista Franklin and Andres L. Hernandez, who were the 2013-14 artists-in-residence under the auspices of the University Arts + Public Life initiative and Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture. Projects by the three will be featured in “Testimony,” an exhibition that opens with a public reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and runs through Aug. 30 in the University of Chicago’s Logan Center Gallery, 915 E 60th. (773) 702-2787; arts.uchicago.edu/testimony.
Music Festival
Austin-based composer-bandleader Graham Reynolds joins the Fonema Consort and Gaudete Brass for the Thirsty Ear Festival, which is presented by WFMT 98.7 FM. The event takes place at 5 p.m. Saturday at the City Winery, 1200 W. Randolph. Tickets, $20. (312) 733-9463; citywinery.com/chicago/.
