After having his exhibit shut down twice in New York, Bilal has brought his controversial interactive video game to his hometown Chicago. “Virtual Jihad” is a hacked version of the Al-Qaeda video game “The Night of Bush Capturing” with Bilal as the main character, a man whose brother dies in Iraq and who joins the Al-Qaeda to hunt down Bush. Most people who have viewed this exhibit in the past have called it pro-terrorism, but in reality it shows how susceptible Iraqi citizens are to recruitment by terrorist units. Death and destruction within their society causes them to join something to make it stop out of desperation rather than hate for Americans. Bilal’s video game is indeed hard and frustrating with the Bush troops, literally soldiers with George Bush’s face on them, relentlessly pursuing your character and quickly killing him without mercy. For those who find the creation of this game appalling, Bilal reminds us that America has produced similar games, such as “Quest for Saddam,” which continue racial profiling and generalizations against the Iraqi public. It is encouraging to other controversial artists that Bilal’s work is being shown without censorship by Flatfile so that his message is finally able to be heard clearly. (Amy Dittmeier)
Through August 22 at Flatfile Galleries, 217 N. Carpenter, (312)491-1190.
Across Layers of Reality: A Review of Jacolby Satterwhite at SAIC Galleries The exhibition bills itself as the first major survey of work by the artist. Across its large footprint, audiences can see how Satterwhite’s aesthetic has evolved while maintaining the commitment to personal history and embodied practice that launched his career.
For Us: A Review of "Something from Something" at Engage Projects Kushala Vora and Adia Sykes’ collaboration "Something from Something" tells us as viewers that knowledge, art, creation, inspiration, love—really anything you can think of—has a place of origin.
Women Behind the Lens: A Review of "From Her to Eternity" Courtney Love curates on the street. Just west of Wabash on the corner of Eighth Street, there is a wall of stellar rock star images that includes a special collection made by women photographers over the years.
Looking Down: A Review of Bob Tanner at Perspective After the loss of his wife, Bob Tanner made two photography series, “At Ocean’s Edge” and “At Winter’s Edge,” that are shown in this meditative show filled with graceful visual poetry.
