Portable Gray issue 4: Reality Theater

The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago is pleased to announce the release of the fourth issue of Portable Gray, a publication that draws on the work of the Gray Center, a research center for experimental collaborations between artists and scholars.

Published twice annually (fall/spring) by the University of Chicago Press, Portable Gray is a forum for experimenting with two genres of publication: the scholarly journal and the art magazine. Each issue forms around a theme, which it treats elastically and through myriad forms: artworks, essays, interviews, reflections, photography, poetry among others.



About this issue
Our fourth edition of Portable Gray considers the entangled web of reality that is produced through a capacious understanding of performance and theatrical enactments however they may occur. Our theme, reality theater, is a working editorial concept set in direct opposition to reality TV and the rippling effects the latter has on daily life—most conspicuously, and detrimentally, exemplified by the alternative-facts reality perpetrated by former reality TV host and current occupant of the Oval Office. This issue, however, is not a diatribe against television or a litany of grievances with the Trump administration. Instead, the contributions that comprise our reality theater issue could be thought of as something like an antidote to the reality TV lebenswelt, wherein we encounter artists, writers, curators, performers, composers, doctors, and scholars who are thinking about what it means to be in the world together, to perform, share the stage or a meal, a sense of wonder, and form a common place.

Editor’s Plaisance
Zachary Cahill

On Iffing and Not-Iffing
Catherine Sullivan

Digesting the Ineffable at the WTF Cafe
Sarah Curran, David J. Levin, and Zachary Cahill

Make Room
Sarah J. Johnson 

Fake It 'Til You Make It  
Pamela Hieronymi and  Mike Schuh 

Magic Together and Alone
Joshua Jay and David Finkelstein 

From “Hearing Hearing 2, or: Thinking Without Words”
Peter Ablinger 

We Are Clear Like a Crystal: a conversation with composer Peter Ablinger 
Seth Brodsky, Philip von Zweck, and Zachary Cahill 

Seven Small Bafflements 
Kyle Beachy

An Institute of Investigative Living
Andrea Zittel and Elizabeth Chodos

All the World's a Kitchen: A Modest Hors d'oeuvre
Antoni Miralda and Stephan Palmié

Open 24 Hours
Edra Soto 

Common Place
Julia Kuo, Monica Peek, Elizabeth Tung 

For the online issue and subscription information click here.

Executive editor: Seth Brodsky
Editor-in-chief: Zachary Cahill
Senior editor: Mike Schuh
Managing editor: Naomi Blumberg
Design: David Khan-Giordano
ISSN 2637-8361

About the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry
The Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry is a forum at the University of Chicago for experimental collaborations between artists and scholars. Gray Center activities take place all over campus (encompassing various divisions, departments, and programs), across the community, throughout the city, and beyond. Through its various programs—including the Mellon Residential Fellowships for Arts Practice and Scholarship, exploratory research initiatives, the monthly Sidebar conversation series, Gray Sound, an experimental music and sound performance series, international conferences, and institutional collaborations—the Gray Center seeks to foster a culture of innovation and experimentation at the intersection of arts practice and scholarship.

Press contact
Mike Schuh, Gray Center Assistant Director of Fellowships and Operations, at mikes1@uchicago.edu.