Now in its fourth year, the Version festival features 200-plus projects from the art and activist underground during more than two weeks of exhibits, screenings, group discussions, live music, cable access TV, how-to workshops, guerrilla art and theater, city tours, and group meals. It started on Friday, April 16, and runs through Sunday, May 2. Many of the final weekend's events take place at Buddy, 1542 N. Milwaukee, second floor; High School, 1542 N. Milwaukee, third floor; or Heaven Gallery, 1550 N. Milwaukee. Events are free unless otherwise noted. Call 773-342-7332 or 773-837-0145 or see www.versionfest.org.
Friday, April 30
MapHub Project Brainstorm
Members of Philadelphia-based MapHub, an "urban storytelling" group, collect anecdotes and psychogeographical remembrances from Chicagoans at this session. Buddy, noon.
Secret History of Chicago Tour
New York tour-bus guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch, called a "chiropractor of the brain" by director Richard Linklater, leads an existentialist walking tour of some of this city's repositories of happenstance. Meet at Buddy, 1 PM.
Radical Group Therapy
Marc Herbst, cofounder of the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest with his twin brother, Robby Herbst, leads a counseling session for radicals. Buddy, 2 PM.
Prison Complex
"Experimental geographer" Trevor Paglen and performance artist Richard Dedomenici discuss how "creative insurrectionists" can work to overcome the prison-industrial complex. Buddy, 6 PM.
The Yes Men
Tyler Nordgren of the Yes Men, a "network of imposters" best known for successfully posing as World Trade Organization delegates, gives a talk and shows excerpts from a documentary on the group. Heaven, 8 PM.
The Art of Cultural Interference
2004 Whitney Biennial participant Josh On presents They Rule, an interactive site that allows users to create maps documenting power relationships and corporate ties between 100 top U.S. companies; he'll also give a talk. And billboard liberationists the You Are Beautiful Group conduct an interpersonal writing activity, You Are/I Am. Also on exhibit: works by Matthew Steinke and Richard Dedomenici (see above listing for "Prison Complex"). 1/Quarterly, 1355 N. Milwaukee, third floor; 773-252-7780. 6-11 PM.
The Alchemy of Tulips
Ravenous Productions presents a play about the greed and hysteria of boom-and-bust periods. See calendar in Section One. Storefront Theater, Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, 66 E. Randolph; 312-742-8497. 7:30 PM. $15.
Magic Recording Eye, Denim and Diamonds, Bunnybrains, J+J+J, DJ Junk Roc, DJ Douggpound, Make Believe
Live music. Open End Gallery, 2000 W. Fulton, suite 310; 312-738-2140. 9 PM. $7.
Saturday, May 1
Secret History of Chicago Tour
See listing for Friday, April 30. Meet at Buddy, 1 PM.
KnitPro
MicroRevolt, a group whose projects "investigate the dawn of sweatshops in early industrial capitalism to inform the current crisis of global expansion and the feminization of labor," offers a how-to on knitting look-alike labels for brands like the Gap, DKNY, and others. Participants can also add on to a crocheted petition to Nike asking the company to change its labor practices. Buddy, 2 PM.
We're All Cyborgs! Mache Musik wie eine Mensch-Maschine
Tyler Jacobsen of glitch-pop electronic group Denim and Diamonds leads a workshop in fashion and circuit-bending: participants create uniforms that make music out of recycled clothing and instruments, then are invited to join the band for an onstage performance later in the evening. Buddy, 4 PM.
Restock--Fiction/Nonfiction
A guerrilla artist known only as the Vacuum Cleaner leads a group outing whose participants will reshelve offerings at Borders Books & Music stores under "more relevant classifications." Meet at Buddy, 4 PM.
The Fashion of the Christ
Models walk down the street in bloodied BC couture. (There'll also be a condiment table.) Sidewalk, Buddy, 6 PM.
Digital Disobedients
Visual art and performance curated by Elisa Harkins with projects by Kenneth Hung, Josh Davis and Branden Hall, Golan Levin, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Conglomco and Hactivist, Scott Sona Snibbe, 0100101110101101.org, and Yes Man Tyler Nordgren. Heaven, 7 PM.
The Alchemy of Tulips
See listing for Friday, April 30. Storefront Theater, Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, 66 E. Randolph; 312-742-8497. 7:30 PM. $15.
Drug War Remix Competition
Students for Sensible Drug Policy challenge artists and activists to come up with slogans less absolutist and/or tendentious than "Drugs equal terrorism" or "This is your brain on drugs." There'll also be slide projections and prize giveaways. Buddy, 8 PM.
The Passion of Christ
Histrionic, absurdist performance art by residents of Brenda, a local group home and hangout. Buddy, 9 PM.
45Minuets: Dancing the Whitewash Waltz
Lanfranco Aceti's video examines why many of those in power don't seem to have a very firm grip on reality. But organizers preferred not to disclose the location or time where it and other videos will be showing.
24-Hour Party People
DJ Curtains, Safety Pin, Denim and Diamonds, Mark Denardo, TV Pow, K.A.R.A.O.K.E., and others perform until noon Sunday, May 2. Buddy, High School, and Heaven, 8 PM. $5.
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