The Storefront at 2606 N. California in Chicago.

Operating from 2010 to 2014, The Storefront at 2606 N. California was a multi-purpose non-commercial/non-non-profit institution-as-art project. Its mission was to support temporary and/or long-term projects while promoting the idea of artists as local community producers working within the history of a 21st century global discourse.

Open to the public in 2011, The Storefront was located in a very ordinary storefront space on North California Avenue in the beautiful Logan Square area of Chicago. Hidden in plain view and nestled comfortably within its surroundings, The Storefront positioned itself within the ebb and flow of everyday life.  Its mission was to balance a playful absurdity with critical discussion to challenge the monotony of an urban cycle of work/life/work/life for life.

The Storefront hosted a plethora of activity (and inactivity), re-imagining the role of contemporary art within regional, local, neighborhood and street-level contexts. Artists, designers, filmmakers, critics, historians, curators and cultural producers of all stripes were invited to participate in the programming. All visitors were encouraged (pressured) into participating and contribute in their own way to the texture of The Storefront’s ongoing activities. The space and resources within were offered to collaborators as a public laboratory to imagine and develop prototypes for the kind of local culture we wish to inhabit.

For more information, speak to the former staff or lifelong friends of the space.