All events on Thursday July 31
Previous day|Next day- Performing Arts: Theatre
- On an Average Day
- Thursday July 31 (7:30pm) @ Greenhouse Theater More times »
- Opening
- Route 66 Theatre Company's production of John Kolvenbach's On an Average Day sold out its inaugural run in Los Angeles, where critics lauded it as... View details »
- Music: Rock/Pop
- Tigercity
- Thursday July 31 (9pm) @ Schubas
- Giveaway
- Just as the original post-punk movement shifted from the jagged polemics of Gang of Four and the Pop Group to the sophisticated (but no less... View details »
- Film: Shorts
- Films of Peter Kubelka
- Thursday July 31 (8–9pm) @ Doc Films
- In an age where you can purchase nearly every vague pop-culture memory you've ever formed, it's a little dispiriting to learn that Peter Kubelka's landmark... View details »
The following events are ongoing.
- Art
- Jeff Koons
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5pm) @ Museum of Contemporary Art More times »
- It's easy to forget that art star and auction darling Jeff Koons made his name as a provocateur. His Made in Heaven series includes photographs... View details »
- Film
- The Visitor
- Thursday July 31 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
- Some character actors should really never be leading men (Jude Law), and some just haven't been given the chance. Richard Jenkins (I Heart Huckabees, 2004)... View details »
- Art
- Ladylike
- Thursday July 31 (1–6pm) @ Gosia Koscielak Gallery More times »
- Free
- In a post-third-wave landscape of mommy wars, Sex and the City fever, and continuous political upheaval, feminism is having a bit of an identity crisis.... View details »
- Performing Arts: Comedy
- Campaign Supernova!
- Thursday July 31 (8pm) @ The Second City e.t.c. More times »
- From the director of the recent hit Between Barack and a Hard Place comes another election-season winner, Campaign Supernova!, performed by Second City. Where... View details »
- Art
- Collecting for Chicago
- Thursday July 31 (10:30am–9pm) @ The Art Institute of Chicago More times »
- You may not have noticed, but the Art Institute's Department of Prints and Drawings has been running in stealth mode — its world-class collection was... View details »
- Art
- Mario Ybarra, Jr.
- Thursday July 31 (10:30am–8pm) @ The Art Institute of Chicago More times »
- Free
- In his first solo museum exhibition, Mario Ybarra, Jr. presents a witty comparison of Chicago and Los Angeles through the exploits of William Wrigley, Jr..... View details »
- Art
- Alex Katz: Subject to Reversal
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5:30pm) @ Richard Gray Gallery More times »
- Free
- At 81, Alex Katz has only recently emerged as one of America's major contemporary artists. The Richard Gray Gallery shows why the artist's profile has... View details »
- Art: Photography
- Brian Ulrich and Jason Lazarus
- Thursday July 31 (10am–6:30pm) @ City Gallery More times »
- Free
- Jason Lazarus and Brian Ulrich take an irreverent glimpse behind the scenes of the art market with About Art, their photographic exhibition at City Gallery... View details »
- Art
- Michael Jones McKean
- Thursday July 31 (11am–6pm) @ ThreeWalls More times »
- Free
- Michael Jones McKean's ramshackle constructions combine disparate found objects with wood, clay, and papier-mâché. His work has a strong physical presence, and the unusual artifacts... View details »
- Performing Arts: Theatre
- It Came from the Neo-Futurarium
- Thursday July 31 (8pm) @ The Neo-Futurarium More times »
- Substandard cinema usually has a special place on Blockbuster's back shelves, but the Neo-Futurists drag it back into the spotlight by transforming the best worst... View details »
- Film
- Tell No One
- Thursday July 31 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
- Herein lies living proof that the French can spin a gorgeous existentialist drama in any genre. Pediatrician Alex (François Cluzet) has never gotten over the... View details »
- Art
- Jane Fisher
- Thursday July 31 (11am–5:30pm) @ Packer Schopf Gallery More times »
- Free
- Figurative painter Jane Fisher returns to Chicago with her latest series of paintings: a simple celebration of humanity entitled Big Heads and Bigger Women. The... View details »
- Art
- ISN'T IT
- Thursday July 31 (11am–5pm) @ Tony Wight Gallery More times »
- Free
- At first glance, ISN'T IT appears to be a loose collection of sculptures that brings modest materials to life. But the exhibition rewards close viewing,... View details »
- Performing Arts: Comedy/Improv
- The Improv Match Game
- Thursday July 31 (10pm) @ The ComedySportz Theatre More times »
- Although Improv Match Game panelists concoct impromptu answers to broad questions, it's less an exercise in traditional improv comedy than a faithful revival of the... View details »
- Art: Photography
- Daniel Traub
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5:30pm) @ Catherine Edelman Gallery More times »
- Free
- ... China becomes a major player in global culture, attention shifts towards its booming cities. In a new series of photographs, Daniel Traub looks farther... View details »
- Art
- Mónica Herrera: Strings
- Sunday Aug 3 (3–5pm) @ Hyde Park Art Center More times »
- Free
- For her interactive sound installation at Hyde Park Art Center, Mónica Herrera transforms the gallery into a giant musical instrument and invites viewers to play... View details »
- Film
- The Wackness
- Thursday July 31 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
- The Wackness is the sort of movie whose most redeeming qualities are least likely to be advertised in its trailers. About a teenage weed dealer... View details »
- More Flavor: City Gem
- Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
- Thursday July 31 @ Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary More times »
- Free
- If nothing else, taking up birdwatching gives you a convenient excuse to bring terms like "Magnificent Frigatebird" and "Purple Gallinule" into conversation. In this sancturary,... View details »
- Art
- Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs
- Thursday July 31 (11am–7:30pm) @ Intuit More times »
- Free
- Whereas most found-art exhibitions make aesthetic objects out of forgotten knick-knacks, the focus of this exhibition is, more literally, fine art that's found. Discarded Paintings... View details »
- Art
- Book and Paper Arts Triennial
- Thursday July 31 (10am–6pm) @ Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts More times »
- Free
- This juried triennial exhibition, dedicated to paper preservation and innovation in an increasingly paperless world, opens today at Columbia College Chicago's Center for Book &... View details »
- More Flavor: City Gem
- Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
- Thursday July 31 (7:30am–7:30pm) @ Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool More times »
- Free
- Escape the roaring cars on Lake Shore Drive and the crowds at Lincoln Park Zoo by slipping through the unobtrusive entrance to the Alfred Caldwell... View details »
- More Flavor: City Gem
- Flower Power
- Thursday July 31 (9am–5pm) @ Garfield Park Conservatory More times »
- Free
- If the concrete trek and throngs of spectators at Friday's Fourth of July festivities leave you pining for something a little more spacious and herbaceous,... View details »
- Performing Arts: Theatre
- Superior Donuts
- Thursday July 31 @ Steppenwolf Downstairs Theatre More times »
- Chicago theatergoers might know better, but for a long time, most people only recognized Tracy Letts as "that guy from the Festivus episode of Seinfeld."... View details »
- Art
- Several Landscapes and 3 Landscapes in the Modern Style
- Thursday July 31 (noon–6pm) @ Western Exhibitions More times »
- Free
- If you relish summer group exhibitions and air conditioning, head to the two landscape-themed shows at Western Exhibitions. Director Scott Speh works with several artists... View details »
- Film
- The Dark Knight
- Thursday July 31 @ Navy Pier More times »
- The Dark Knight might go down as Heath Ledger's final film, but it would be a shame if the actor's tragic death overshadowed its prodigious... View details »
- Art
- Gisela Insuaste
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5pm) @ Museum of Contemporary Art More times »
- Local artist Gisela Insuaste mines the terrain of personal recollection and material culture for her multidisciplinary installations. In painting, drawing, and three-dimensional forms, Insuaste conjures... View details »
- More Flavor: Sports
- Taste of Fitness
- Thursday July 31 (6pm) @ Various locations More times »
- Free
- Let's be honest — exercising in gyms is boring and expensive. But the Chicago Park District has a solution to the ubiquitous dilemma: free outdoor... View details »
- Film: Documentary
- Roman Polanksi
- Thursday July 31 @ Music Box Theatre More times »
- Roman Polanski may be best known in some circles as the director of such classics as Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Chinatown (1974), but to many... View details »
- Art
- Portraits from the Mind
- Thursday July 31 @ Chicago Cultural Center More times »
- Free
- Despite a well-respected decades-long career, painter William Utermohlen didn't enjoy widespread fame until he became unable to make art or communicate. When the septuagenarian, now... View details »
- Art
- Boys of Summer
- Thursday July 31 (11am–5pm) @ Monique Meloche More times »
- Free
- A good group exhibition can feel like a free buffet serving top-quality market produce; it all looks so enticing, and you don't know where to... View details »
- Art
- Are We There Yet?
- Thursday July 31 (10am–8pm) @ Hyde Park Art Center More times »
- Free
- Curated by photographer Dawoud Bey, Are We There Yet? is a group show of lens-based work that touches on issues of mobility. It's a timely... View details »
- Film: Documentary
- Gonzo
- Thursday July 31 @ Various locations More times »
- The father of gonzo journalism and a '60s-counterculture icon, Hunter S. Thompson revolutionized American prose with his drug-fueled, first-person narrative style. His maverick ways allowed... View details »
- Art
- Zachary Cahill: The Best Laid Plans
- Thursday July 31 (noon–5pm) @ DOVA Temporary More times »
- Free
- Explicitly political art has fallen out of favor in recent decades, although there have been signs of a comeback as the state of the union... View details »
- Art
- A Declaration of Immigration
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5pm) @ National Museum of Mexican Art More times »
- Free
- It may be a country founded by those who arrived from elsewhere, but the United States arguably has a long way to go when it... View details »
- Art
- Chicago Imagism: 1965-1985
- Thursday July 31 (10am–5pm) @ Russell Bowman Fine Art More times »
- Free
- Chicago Imagism began with a group of artists from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who first showed their work at the Hyde... View details »
- Art: Photography
- Beyond the Backyard
- Thursday July 31 (10am–8pm) @ Museum of Contemporary Photography More times »
- Free
- Recognized as a fixture in Americana, the backyard has, over the previous two decades, become a space favored almost as much by postmodern thinkers as... View details »
- Art: Architecture/Design
- Design in the Age of Darwin
- Thursday July 31 (10am–8pm) @ Block Museum, Northwestern University More times »
- Free
- What effect did Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species have on the development of early modern architecture? What can we make of the canon-splitting... View details »
