Join us for the opening reception of
Gato Encerrado/Locked Cat: A Meditation on Uprootedness, a Preface to Goodbye
Saturday May 4th
3pm to 9pm

A group exhibition paying homage to those who are at peace with the prospect of a permanently uncertain horizon: no dream house, no base, and maybe after some time: no place of origin.

Gato Encerrado: A Meditation on Uprootedness, a Preface to Goodbye gathers the work of eighteen multigenerational Chicago-based artists whose practices aligned with those of the organizer as she was putting together an exhibition in response to a home in the midst of transition. The artists were given a written invitation, a tour of the space and a large amount of freedom to respond to the totality of Laura Shaeffer’s and Andrew Nord’s Oak Park home with their interventions.

The English idiom don't let the cat out (of the bag)— with its intention to avoid revealing hidden information or letting someone in on an in-joke— inspired the title of the show as much as the cat that resides in the home where the exhibition takes place. Later, the Spanish idiom Acá hay gato encerrado (there’s a trapped cat here) emerged. This expression alludes to a situation whose complex parts are not being fully revealed or understood. This pet, a “rescued” cat now living a stable and secure life, can’t wait to adventure outside and into the realm of uncertainty. Therefore, every time someone enters the space, a disembodied voice from inside the home will utter “don’t let the cat out!”, echoing the title of the show and hinting at something that is on the verge of being let loose through the artworks on site.

The nomadic impulse of this animal and his resistance to stability and routine are precisely the impulses that are given space in Gato Encerrado: as we create an illusion of safety and coziness around us, are we also secretly eyeing the door to escape the very shelter we have worked so hard to build?

By way of these kinds of questions, this exhibition pays homage to those who are at peace with the prospect of a permanently uncertain horizon: no dream house, no base, and maybe after some time: no place of origin. The artistic interventions inside the home disrupt the quotidian flows of movement and usage of objects while subtly pointing at one of the trapped cats, namely: how can one make a show about feeling uprooted inside such a beautiful house?

Featuring the work of:

Alberto Aguilar
Madeleine Aguilar
Jonas Mueller-Ahlheim
Merryn Omotayo Alaka
Izzy Cho
Christian Gutiérrez
Rachel Ann Heibel
Yutian Liu
Gabriela Estrada Loochkartt
Maddie May
Lorenza Perelli
Zander Raymond
Caroline Robe
H Schenck
Anne Skaug
Aleksandra Walaszek
Bex Yolk
Yue Xu

Curated by Laura Shaeffer

Text by Inés Arango G. 

Poster design by bex ya yolk