All events on Thursday August 14

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Music: DJ
James Murphy and Pat Mahoney
Thursday Aug 14 (10pm) @ SmartBar
From the early '00s dance punk of the Rapture to the current disco of Hercules & Love Affair, DFA Records has proven to be the... View details »
James Murphy and Pat Mahoney
Art: Photography
Bill O'Donnell
Thursday Aug 14 (5–7pm) @ City Gallery More times »
Opening
Free
Bill O'Donnell's color photographs offer a world of spooky little vacation homes, troubling the eye with mixed-up scales and half-focused views. This series, on display... View details »
Bill O'Donnell
Performing Arts: Theatre
Fake Lake
Thursday Aug 14 (8pm) @ Welles Park More times »
What do you get when you combine a Lincoln Square swimming pool, a dam in Utah, and the alternative theatre of the Neo-Futurists? You get... View details »
Fake Lake
Music: Rock/Pop
The Duke Spirit
Thursday Aug 14 (9:30pm) @ The Empty Bottle
Giveaway
While British outfit the Duke Spirit's rollicking blues riffs are more polished on their latest release, Neptune, their formula remains the same: energetic guitar and... View details »
The Duke Spirit
Music: Rock/Pop
Jukebox the Ghost
Thursday Aug 14 (9pm) @ Schubas
Giveaway
Some people don't like "fun" music. That's cool; we dig drone, noise, and black metal as much as anybody — just not at the expense... View details »
Jukebox the Ghost

Icon_ongoing The following events are ongoing.

Art
Jeff Koons
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Jeff Koons
Film
The Visitor
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
The Visitor
More Flavor: Tour
Farnsworth House Plus by Bus
Thursday Aug 14 (9:30am) @ Chicago Architecture Foundation More times »
A seven-hour, $70 architectural tour may seem like a bit much. But when the Chicago Architecture Foundation hosts an authoritative, metro-area-spanning tour of local treasures... View details »
Farnsworth House Plus by Bus
Performing Arts: Comedy
Campaign Supernova!
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Campaign Supernova!
Art
Collecting for Chicago
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Collecting for Chicago
Art
Mario Ybarra, Jr.
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Mario Ybarra, Jr.
Film
Tell No One
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
Tell No One
Art
Jane Fisher
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Jane Fisher
Art
ISN'T IT
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
ISN'T IT
Performing Arts: Comedy/Improv
The Improv Match Game
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
The Improv Match Game
Art: Photography
Daniel Traub
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Daniel Traub
Art
Mónica Herrera: Strings
Thursday Aug 14 (9am–8pm) @ 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 »
Mónica Herrera: Strings
Film
The Wackness
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
The Wackness
More Flavor: City Gem
Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary
Art
Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Discarded Paintings by Gifted Amateurs
Art
Book and Paper Arts Triennial
Thursday Aug 14 (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 Aug 14 (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 »
Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool
More Flavor: City Gem
Flower Power
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Flower Power
Performing Arts: Theatre
Superior Donuts
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
Superior Donuts
Art
Several Landscapes and 3 Landscapes in the Modern Style
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Several Landscapes and 3 Landscapes in the Modern Style
Film
The Dark Knight
Thursday Aug 14 @ 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 »
The Dark Knight
Film
Brideshead Revisited
Thursday Aug 14 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
For fans of the book and miniseries, it's hard to imagine how Brideshead Revisited could conform to a two-hour feature-film format. The story of the... View details »
Brideshead Revisited
Film
Bottle Shock
Thursday Aug 14 @ Landmark Century Centre Cinema More times »
In 1976, British oenophile Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) hosted a much-ballyhooed blind tasting between France's finest wine and California's — including one made by small-vineyard... View details »
Bottle Shock
Art
Are We There Yet?
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Are We There Yet?
Film: Festival
Black Harvest International Festival
Thursday Aug 14 @ Gene Siskel Film Center More times »
All month long, the Gene Siskel Film Center screens critically acclaimed movies that focus on the black community. This is the 14th year that the... View details »
Black Harvest International Festival
Film
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Thursday Aug 14 (6pm) @ Gene Siskel Film Center More times »
In The Color of Pomegranates, radical Russian director Sergei Paradjanov evokes the life of 18th-century Armenian poet Sayat Nova through breathtaking, art-house abstraction. Figures appear... View details »
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Performing Arts: Theatre
On an Average Day
Thursday Aug 14 @ Greenhouse Theater More times »
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 »
On an Average Day
More Flavor: Shopping
Ethnic Arts Bazaar
Thursday Aug 14 (10am–3:30pm) @ James R. Thompson Center Atrium More times »
Free
Take a look at the crafts of emerging local artists at this two-day bazaar, which showcases handmade pieces of jewelry, watercolor paintings, and home-decor objects... View details »
Ethnic Arts Bazaar
Art
A Declaration of Immigration
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
A Declaration of Immigration
Art
Chicago Imagism: 1965-1985
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Chicago Imagism: 1965-1985
Art: Photography
Beyond the Backyard
Thursday Aug 14 (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
Howard Henry Chen
Thursday Aug 14 (10am–5pm) @ Museum of Contemporary Art More times »
Howard Henry Chen's exhibition at the MCA is made up of just four artworks — a photographic triptych and three sculptural ensembles — but that's... View details »
Howard Henry Chen
Art: Photography
Death + Extinction
Thursday Aug 14 @ Chicago Art Department More times »
Free
With the death knell sounding for Polaroid film, there's been an upsurge of exhibitions centering on those much-loved instant photos. But rather than waxing nostalgic,... View details »
Death + Extinction
Art: Architecture/Design
Design in the Age of Darwin
Thursday Aug 14 (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 »
Design in the Age of Darwin
Art
Light from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons
Thursday Aug 14 @ Chicago Cultural Center More times »
Free
For those whose impressions of prisoners have mostly been shaped by watching Oz, this exhibition provides a look at prisoners' creative talent and dedication. Light... View details »
More Flavor: City Gem
Smart Home
Thursday Aug 14 @ Museum Campus More times »
Just admit it, you've ogled the sleek modern houses you pass on certain streets and wished you could peek inside. The Museum of Science and... View details »
Smart Home