Art Pilsen is a comprehensive guide to events happening in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood which borders Cermak Ave. (2200 S.) to 16th ST and Canal St. (500 W.) to Western Ave. (2400 W.). For more than 150 years, the Pilsen neighborhood has been a port of entry for immigrants from the mid 1850s Bohemian (Czech) influx to the early 1950s Mexican beginings. Currently the area attracts a lot of working creative artists in part due to it's affordable rent. But for how long?
origins
Back in 2002 or so there existed a web site www.artpilsen.com which would list the art openings happening in East Pilsen. At that time the Pod area was thriving with fresh and experimental spaces. I re-opened the Polvo space in March 2003 by Racine and 18th and soon the East Pilsen spaces realized there were some cool non-Pod spaces out west, so Polvo was soon listed on that web site. The site was maintained by Eric Medine of Drive Thru Studios. We became friends and when he left Chicago, he gave me the login details to maintain the site, but the Pods changed the password and instead they let the site disappear. As of today they still own the domain name.
So instead I registered www.art-pilsen.org in 2004 and continued with the web site. Now it is in this blog format and it lists any interesting art event happening in Pilsen, east or west.
