Events on Saturday, December 13

Being a Chef: Brioche Express

Workshop/Class

Being a Chef: Brioche Express

Saturday 12/13 @ Alliance Francaise de Chicago

Sweet and flaky brioche — bread so butter rich that it's nearly pastry — is a traditional French favorite that dates... 

Constantines w/ Obits

Music

Constantines

Saturday 12/13 @ The Empty Bottle

At a time when many bands are moving away from direct rock influences and attempting to "go electronic," typically with dubious... 

Watson Adventures: Naked at the Art Museum Scavenger Hunt

Special Event

Naked Scavenger Hunt at the Art Institute

Saturday 12/13 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

What better way to explore an art museum than by searching for the tempting, fleshy bits and witnessing incidents of incest... 

Maps & Atlases

Music

Maps & Atlases

Saturday 12/13 @ Subterranean

A rock band with the multi-dimensional thinking of an avant-garde composer, Maps & Atlases come off like a deconstructed Kings of... 

Ongoing Events

<em>Lawrence of Arabia</em> (1962)

Film

Lawrence of Arabia

Saturday 12/13 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

David Lean's Super Panavision 70 classic has long been praised for its vaulted vision and star Peter O'Toole's tortured depiction of... 

Scott Fortino: <em>Elements: Earth, Sky, Water</em>

Art: Photography

Scott Fortino

Saturday 12/13 @ City Gallery

Scott Fortino, a Chicago cop who used his insider's access to photograph jails, jury rooms, and public schools for his book... 

Michael Wolf: <em>The Transparent City</em>

Art: Photography

Michael Wolf

Saturday 12/13 @ Museum of Contemporary Photography

Photographer Michael Wolf transitioned from keen observations of Hong Kong in his Architecture of Density series to a... 

Holiday smARTshow and Sale

Fashion/Style: Shopping

Holiday smARTshow and Sale

Saturday 12/13 @ Flat Iron Studios

Searching for a creative Christmas gift but ruled by the left side of your brain? Look no further than the 100... 

<em>Made in Chicago: Photographs from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection</em>

Art: Photography

Made in Chicago

Saturday 12/13 @ Chicago Cultural Center

For years, the photographic collection of Chicago's LaSalle Bank has been one of the small number of corporate art collections to... 

<em>Sunday Painters: Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs</em>

Art

Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs

Saturday 12/13 @ Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Whereas most found-art exhibitions make aesthetic objects out of forgotten knick-knacks, the focus of this exhibition is, more literally, fine art... 

Michael Pfisterer: <em>The Fall of Bodies Near the Earth</em>

Art: Photography

Michael Pfisterer: The Fall of Bodies Near the Earth

Saturday 12/13 @ Dan Devening Project+Editions

Michael Pfisterer's recent photographs collect multiple views of 19th-century mathematical models on single large sheets of white paper, depicting these varied... 

12th Annual Festival of French Cinema

Festival: Performing Arts

12th Annual Festival of French Cinema

Saturday 12/13 @ Facets Cinémathèque

Following our president-elect's lead, we're on track to become mindful world citizens again — there's no better place to start than... 

<em>Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam and Contemporary Chinese Art</em>

Art

Displacement

Saturday 12/13 @ Smart Museum of Art

China's Three Gorges Dam has become a dark muse for many artists. One of the largest engineering efforts in history, it... 

<em>Milk</em>

Film

Milk

Saturday 12/13 @ Various locations

Gus van Sant's highly anticipated biopic of Harvey Milk — the nation's first openly gay man to hold a major elected... 

<em>Meet Me in St. Louis</em>

Theatre

Meet Me in St. Louis

Saturday 12/13 @ Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place

If you like your holiday entertainment gentle, heartwarming, and family-friendly, this is the show for you. Based on Sally Benson's short... 

Melissa Dean: <em>Second Nature</em>

Art

Melissa Dean

Saturday 12/13 @ Peter Miller Gallery

Like the "viral components of consumer desire" she hopes to underscore, the familiar forms of domestic objects are omnipresent but elusive... 

Daniel Johnson: <em>Sweet Dreams and Garbage</em>

Art: Photography

Daniel Johnson

Saturday 12/13 @ 65GRAND

The tangible and the ephemeral have a dance in Daniel Johnson's exhibition (curated by Melanie Schiff), which pairs photographs of reflections... 

<em>Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books</em>

Special Event

Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Childrens Books

Saturday 12/13 @ The Newberry Library

The Newberry Library's celebrated collection boasts copies of Shakespeare's first folio and the Popol Vuh, but a new exhibition showcases a... 

Karen Lebergott: <em>Coming Apart </em>&mdash;<em> In-Visible Cities</em> and Edra Soto: <em>The Chac</em>&oacute;<em>n-Soto Show </em>

Art

Karen Lebergott and Edra Soto

Saturday 12/13 @ Rowland Contemporary

For Karen Lebergott, mapping is a conceptual departure point that sets off multiple trajectories. Her oil paintings suggest Chinese landscapes or... 

<em>I've Loved You So Long</em>

Film

I've Loved You So Long

Saturday 12/13 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema

English actress Kristin Scott Thomas possesses a bristly elegance that has always restricted her options in English-language films. So it makes... 

Cecil Balmond: <em>Solid Void</em>

Art

Cecil Balmond: Solid Void

Saturday 12/13 @ Graham Foundation

Labyrinthine hedges of gleaming, die-cast metal fill the ground floor of the Graham Foundation's Prairie-style mansion, like viral arabesques from a... 

<em>Were the World Mine</em>

Film

Were the World Mine

Saturday 12/13 @ Music Box Theatre

If High School Musical graduated its teenage actors from clichéd school scenarios, it could look a lot like Were the World... 

<em>Dublin Carol</em>

Theatre

Dublin Carol

Saturday 12/13 @ Steppenwolf Theatre Company

Sure, many people find the holidays depressing, but at least you're not a functionally alcoholic Dublin undertaker whose estranged daughter shows... 

Doug and Mike Starn: <em>alleverythingthatisyou</em>

Art: Photography

Doug and Mike Starn

Saturday 12/13 @ David Weinberg Gallery

Conventional wisdom has it that art and science don't get along. For years, artists/twins Mike and Doug Starn have been gracefully... 

<em>Antonio Gaud&iacute;</em> (1984)

Film: Documentary

Antonio Gaudí (1984)

Saturday 12/13 @ Gene Siskel Film Center

Hiroshi Teshigahara's homage to Antonio Gaudí is, like the Spanish architect's own work, as much about form as it is about... 

<em>Dr Wax captures the big and small machines for the enjoyment of the people</em>

Art

Dr Wax

Saturday 12/13 @ DOVA Temporary

A unique collaboration between the Hyde Park gallery DOVA Temporary and Dr Wax, a used record store (and the hip-hop, jazz,... 

<em>Chic Chicago: Couture Treasures from the Chicago History Museum</em>

Special Event

Chic Chicago

Saturday 12/13 @ Chicago History Museum

In this glittering costume exhibition, the Chicago History Museum presents a rarely seen collection of haute couture fashions designed for the... 

<em>Murder on the Orient Express</em> (1974)

Film

Murder on the Orient Express

Saturday 12/13 @ Music Box Theatre

The excellent Murder on the Oriental Express always toes the line of camp, but just when the outlandish dialogue, loud orchestral... 

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

City Gems

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Saturday 12/13 @ Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool

Escape the roaring cars on Lake Shore Drive and the crowds at Lincoln Park Zoo by slipping through the unobtrusive entrance... 

Mickalene Thomas: <em>Girlfriends, Lovers, Still Lifes and Landscape</em>

Art: Photography

Mickalene Thomas

Saturday 12/13 @ Rhona Hoffman Gallery

Beautiful young black women level their gaze at the viewer from within Mickalene Thomas' large paintings. Covered with glittering rhinestones, Thomas'... 

Smart Home: Green + Wired

City Gems

Smart Home

Saturday 12/13 @ Museum Campus

Just admit it, you've ogled the sleek modern houses you pass on certain streets and wished you could peek inside. The... 

Ulf Puder

Art

Ulf Puder

Saturday 12/13 @ Kavi Gupta Gallery

Ulf Puder is often lumped with the "New Leipzig School," a loose affiliation of artists celebrated by the art world —... 

<em>Frost/Nixon</em>

Film

Frost/Nixon

Saturday 12/13 @ AMC River East 21

Showing a human, fragile and, to some extent, remorseful side of the former president for the first time, David Frost's 1977... 

<em>The Seafarer</em>

Theatre

The Seafarer

Saturday 12/13 @ Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre

If the classic Christmas stories are starting to seem like cloying guests that have overstayed their welcome, The Seafarer at the... 

Joseph Grigely: <em>St. Cecilia</em>

Art

Joseph Grigely: St. Cecilia

Saturday 12/13 @ Museum of Contemporary Art

Joseph Grigely's artwork has a definite visual appeal, but sound — or the absence of it — drives his practice as... 

<em>From the Arctic to the Prairie: New Art from Finland and Chicago</em>

Art

From the Arctic to the Prairie

Saturday 12/13 @ Golden

Helsinki-born, Spain-based Riiko Sakkinen's work appeals to hungry global palates, offering a witty update of the pop-art aesthetic. Stealing source materials... 

<em>Deceptive Design: Experiments in Furniture</em>

Art

Deceptive Design

Saturday 12/13 @ Chicago Cultural Center

Can a chair be more than just a place to sit and rest your feet? In a modern-art exhibit, the answer... 

Omer Fast

Art

Omer Fast

Saturday 12/13 @ Betty Rymer Gallery

Omer Fast rightly grabbed the grand prize at the 2008 Whitney Biennial for The Casting, a challenging four-screen video piece that... 

<em>A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant</em>

Theatre

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant

Saturday 12/13 @ A Red Orchid Theatre

A bunch of children singing carols about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard sounds like the recipe for an episode of South... 

I&ntilde;igo Manglano-Ovalle

Art

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle

Saturday 12/13 @ Donald Young Gallery

In Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's current exhibition, dusty cultural icons like the atomic bomb and Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome are reborn as sleek... 

Christkindlmarket

City Gems

Christkindlmarket

Saturday 12/13 @ Daley Plaza

Chicago's Christkindlmarket takes everything that is decadent about Christmas and German culture, and combines it underneath a large, sparkling Christmas tree... 

H.P. Lovecraft's <em>The Dreams in the Witch House</em>

Theatre

The Dreams in the Witch House

Saturday 12/13 @ Athenaeum Theatre

The singular H.P. Lovecraft casts a substantial shadow over modern horror fiction, and although his grandiloquent tales of "cosmic terror" aren't... 

Jenny Holzer: <em>PROTECT PROTECT</em>

Art

Jenny Holzer

Saturday 12/13 @ Museum of Contemporary Art

Her art may blend in with Las Vegas-strip-style lighted advertisements, but Jenny Holzer's brightly colored Truisms and arresting catchphrases are unlike... 

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

City Gems

Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

Saturday 12/13 @ Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary

If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into... 

Francis Al&yuml;s

Art

Francis Alÿs

Saturday 12/13 @ The Renaissance Society

Francis Alÿs is a renowned nomad who follows a global circuit of art biennials and museum commissions, but in his work... 

<em> Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Art and Photography of Paris</em>

Art

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Saturday 12/13 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

A canonized master of photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson's legacy includes a staggering number of great images, as well as his influential idea... 

Barbara Hashimoto: <em>Junk Mail</em>

Art

Barbara Hashimoto

Saturday 12/13 @ 2003 S Halsted St

A landscape of mountain ridges is visible through the wide windows of this storefront space in the Chicago Arts District —... 

Graceland Cemetery

City Gems

Graceland Cemetery

Saturday 12/13 @ Graceland Cemetery

Hidden away on Chicago's north side, this secret memento of the city's architectural history is a large, rambling Victorian-style cemetery. Filled... 

Robert Lostutter: <em>Early Girls</em>

Art

Robert Lostutter

Saturday 12/13 @ Corbett vs Dempsey

Rising alongside the Chicago Imagists in the late 1960s, Robert Lostutter is known for his richly rendered, subtly unnerving watercolor portraits... 

<em>Synecdoche, New York</em>

Film

Synecdoche, New York

Saturday 12/13 @ Landmark Renaissance Place Cinema

Not everyone adores the sprawling stories-within-stories that identify Charlie Kaufman's screenplays (e.g. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John... 

<em>No End in Sight</em>

Art

No End in Sight

Saturday 12/13 @ Sullivan Galleries, SAIC

Chicago is quietly producing some of the nation's most innovative and thoughtful young curators, and it's evidenced by No End in... 

<em>Let the Right One In</em>

Film

Let the Right One In

Saturday 12/13 @ AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4

A pitch-perfect suspense film from Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, Let the Right One In is that rare bird: a chiller with... 

Mondays are always FREE at the Chicago History Museum

Special Event

Mondays are always FREE at the Chicago History Museum

Saturday 12/13 @ Chicago History Museum

Every Monday is FREE at the Chicago History Museum. Come by and check us out!  We have exhibitions and programs for...