Chicago’s identity is inseparable from Lake Michigan.
100 Views of Lake Michigan is a year-long art project supported by UChicago Public Arts and a College Curricular Innovation Grant. Under the direction of Laura Steward, Curator of Public Art at the University of Chicago, and artist and designer Jason Pickleman, students initiated the collection of hundreds of photographs of the Lake Michigan horizon line. Inspired by Hiroshige’s famous Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Monet’s multiple haystacks, and other iterative artworks, the collected images were then curated into a series of installations throughout the UChicago campus.
On view now are 100 vinyl banners that line the walkways of the main quadrangle, and 24 transparent 6-foot tall prints of the lake that line the cubicles in the Stewart Reading Room. Coming soon are printed paper coffee cups, stickers, 16x20” posters in many of the dorms, and a night-time video projection event
Why Lake Michigan? Unlike many of the other hallmarks of UChicago, Lake Michigan is the paramount reminder of nature and the environment in our campus’s backyard. Is difficult to overstate the importance of Lake Michigan in the emotional lives of UChicago students and faculty. Like Monet’s haystacks, 100 Views challenge us to find variety and novelty in repeated interactions with the Lake.
The University of Chicago is situated on the homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi Nations, and the Illinois Confederacy: the Peoria and Kaskaskia Nations. Many other nations including the Myaamia, Wea, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Thakiwaki, Meskwaki, Kiikaapoi, and Mascouten peoples also call this region home. Indigenous people continue to live in this area and celebrate their traditional teachings and lifeways. Today, Chicago is home to one of the largest urban Indigenous communities in the United States and this land remains an important place for Indigenous peoples. As a Chicago institution, it is our responsibility to acknowledge this historical context and build reciprocal relationships with the tribal nations on whose lands we are situated.
Photographs of Lake Michigan have become the basis of several art interventions throughout the UChicago campus
The 100 Views banners were installed on lampposts within the Main Quadrangle to create an immersive experience as people walk across campus. The banners are printed on vinyl and displayed on lamposts, illuminated by the light shone by the lamps. Every tenth banner image includes the title of the project and the QR leading to the 100 Views website to involve more people and communalise conversation on campus.
Additional Interventions In The Works: Coming Soon!
Stickers
The 100 Views stickers were designed as an iteration of the art that would get people talking. Designed to be pasted on laptops, water bottles, notebooks, and more, these miniature views of Lake Michigan serve both as a conversation starter and a constant reminder of the presence of Lake Michigan in students’ everyday lives. These stickers can be found in student run cafes all around campus.
Coffee Cups & Sleeves
As the essence of the UChicago community, coffee is ubiquitous across campus, whether in the dining halls or the student-run coffee shops. The 100 Views coffee cups feature a few different angles and designs, bringing the reds & yellows of the sunset or the cool blue of a winter on Lake Michigan to our fingertips. As a traveling venue, the coffee cups are a way for students to bring art along with them wherever they go.
Videos
The video installation for 100 Views is unique in its mobility and scale. Unlike the other iterations that more subtly permeated throughout the college campus, the video installation is screened in one spot in a bigger, imposing scale. The moving images remind the audience of the liveliness and the grandeur of the lake. As an immersive experience, the multiple videos of Lake Michigan projected on the Smart Museum provides the students with a chance to interact with the lake from afar.
Dorms
The 100 Views dormitory installations are an important aspect of the project in the way they engage with the student population. Installations of 100 prints are installed in Campus North, Max Palevsky, Woodlawn and Renee Granville-Grossman. A large part of the 100 Views project is that the students are the artists. The UChicago dorms and Promontory Point are an integral part of the student experience. The dorm installations are an iteration of the project that invites undergraduate students to appreciate their own work and be reminded of times spent at the point.
Mansueto Institute/Chicago Studies
The 100 Views installed in the Mansueto Institute and Chicago Studies allows the project to amplify the impact of Climate and the City, a multi-week series of TED-style conversations focusing on how Chicago is responding locally to the global climate crisis, despite relentless climate anxiety and despair.
