EVENTS CALENDAR
Join us at AGITATOR GALLERY for these exhibitions, performances, lectures, recurring classes and workshops; all open to the public.
Artists Salon Crits
Agitator Gallery invites artists to present work to be critiqued by a group of your peers. In one evening up to 6 artists will display artworks to others who are invited to observe, analyze and discuss the artworks. Artists will have 15-20 minutes to introduce their work, answer questions and receive feedback. These critique sessions are a great opportunity to workshop your ideas and get input as you develop existing or new pieces.
$15 donation encouraged to support gallery operating costs. To participate contact Agitator member Alex Wilson at AudioImageChicago@gmail.com. Include your name, description of the work and jpeg picture files of it.
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Abstract Concepts Exhibit (Closing)
Join the artists for the closing of this exhibit. Beyond just shape, form, color and gesture, the work in this show engages in a larger dialog about issues and ideas important to the artist. The art’s message matches, mirrors and surmounts the aesthetics of the visual image. Work was selected that addresses politics and philosophy, symbols and language, history and religion, location and geography, and other ideas that challenge convention.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: $12-$20
Decayging: A Memento Mori Exhibit- Opening
Funerary and death-marking have been a part of human cultural, civic and religious traditions throughout time. The memento mori has been a recurring tradition in art making. The exhibit, Decayging, invites creative artists, cultural commentators and death activists to examine mortality and share their thoughts on its power and impact in our contemporary moment—as well as propose new ways of engaging the premise and practice of our death from more sustainable and constructive perspectives. Looking at death conversely asks viewers to consider what is the meaning and value of (a) life. See how these artists and performers engage the concept of mortality.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12-$20
Deadly Serious/Artful Mortality- Symposium
This symposium invites cultural commentators and death activists/experts to examine mortality and share their thoughts on its power and impact in our contemporary moment—as well as propose new ways of engaging the premise and practice of our death from more sustainable and constructive perspectives. Looking at death conversely asks viewers to consider what is the meaning and value of (a) life. See how these presenters grapple with the concept of our “decayging” and present new life—& DEATH!—affirming models of addressing, engaging, architecting our own mortality.
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Artists Salon Crits
Join the artists from the Decayging Exhibition to talk about their creative process and the context of their work in a show about life & death. AND other artists invited to submit your work for critique too: Agitator Gallery invites artists to present work to be critiqued by a group of your peers. Up to 6 artists will display artworks to the group who are invited to observe, analyze and discuss the artworks. Artists have 15-20 minutes to introduce their work, answer questions and receive feedback. Critique sessions are a great opportunity to workshop your ideas and get input.
Siren Songs- A Night of Music
What’s dark, magnetic and draws you in to an irresistible fate? Lend us your ears and your attention; from the first breech of stillness you’ll be captivated and ensnared. Find how a room’s resonance and the very vibrating of your cells will alter your soul and remake you anew. These bands use alchemical magics to transport from the mundane to the extraordinary:
EVE’s UNDOING- with a snarky dark streak to cajole and bemuse your inner critic.
The BROOM PEOPLE- Chicago’s own magical Mountain Goats cover band.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Tonight We All Die- The Poetry of Death & More
Come celebrate that “all things must end.” Tonight is the closing of the Decayging exhibition, and its also the birth of an evening of “The Poetry of Death,” creative reflections on the cyclical process of living life/dying death and how the two are one and the same. Tonight 6 artist poet performer musicians will guide the audience through creating a final reflection—both mournful and jubilant—for a shared, communal and collaborative “death celebration.”
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12 - $20
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: $12-$20
Abstract Concepts Exhibit
Beyond shape, form, color and gesture, the work in this show expresses concepts that engage in a larger dialogue about issues and ideas important to the artists. The messages match, mirror and surmount the aesthetics of the visual image with subtext and contexts that address politics and philosophy, symbols and language, history and religion, location and geography, and other themes that challenge convention.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: $12-$20
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: $12-$20
a Través De La Pantalla Exhibit - Opening
In her solo exhibit, A Través De La Pantalla, the painter Kaelyn Andrade looks at how women—especially Latinas—use social media to share their real, messy, and powerful selves. Through art, she explores identity, family, and the freedom to express who we are online. Like a feed, you can “like” pieces and leave your own thoughts.
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12-$20
Crossing to the Dreams Exhibit- Closing
The closing is your last chance to see this solo exhibition of the artist’s paintings. Sofía Saavedra is a Venezuelan artist who—in this solo exhibition—has presented paintings and other works that celebrate human diversity and approach identity(ies) in dynamism, transit, and transformation. The exhibit features her large, colorful canvases with humans & animals interwoven in allegorical and symbolic tableaus..
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: $12-$20
Campout - An Intimate Performance
Campout is an immersive & intimate* theatre show staged inside the environs of Agitator Gallery. The performance works a theatrical magic that captures an unusual and specific feeling; the uncanny experience of four people “camping” in a tent which is somehow elevated it to a lasting, emotionally impactful journey. (* Audiences are limited to 2 people at a time; please sign up ahead of time). Performances are offered 3x a night for the run of the show; to reserve seats you must submit this RSVP FORM.
Figure DRAWING
We strive to offer as wide a range of figure models as possible, to reflect the fact we live in a very diverse society. Beginners and attendees without prior figure drawing experience are welcome. Feel free to ask the session monitors for guidance and advice. We’ve got basic drawing materials to share too! Donations: sliding scale $12-$20
Propagation Lab- Stop Motion Plant
STOP MOTION PLANT is the 2025 Artist in Residence at Agitator Gallery. They are hosting a monthly PROPAGATION LAB to offer open studio time to share ideas, create community and work on projects together. Just like their Salon Series, the Propagation Labs are masks required (to keep all safe). Join us, meet new people, make new art and have fun! Free to join in
Crossing into Dreams Exhibit
See this solo exhibition of artworks by Sofía Saavedra a Venezuelan artist who considers painting a ritualistic act of healing. Her work aims to celebrate human diversity, which she prefers to approach as identities in dynamism, transit, and transformation. Since the beginning of her career, she has “read” identity considering its nomadic and mutant qualities. Nomadism and mutation are liminal states—moments of generative ambiguity that bring crisis and change.
Studio Sunday- The Museum of Noise
This workshop is for anyone who has ever wanted to learn what different pedals sound like & wants to experiment with them. Meet other folk who love making distortion/feedback and being noisy!
Loopers / Pitch Shifters / Distortion / Overdrive / Reverb and echo / Other magical stuff
~Also: Learn how to build a contact microphone and a noise box for super cheap! 3 lucky participants will leave with noise boxes assembled in the workshop.
Stop Motion Plant- Gallery Hours (DAY3)
GALLERY HOURS in the last days of the exhibit open for the public. Come collab w/ STOP MOTION PLANT: Creating Space, Cultivating Community. The exhibit follows the evolution of the collective throughout the years as they've dug into the exploration of community building, experimenting with DIY theater in a multitude of audiences, media and venues.
Stop Motion Plant- Gallery Hours
GALLERY HOURS in the last days of the exhibit open for the public. Come collab w/ STOP MOTION PLANT: Creating Space, Cultivating Community. The exhibit follows the evolution of the collective throughout the years as they've dug into the exploration of community building, experimenting with DIY theater in a multitude of audiences, media and venues.
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Stop Motion Plant - Exhibition Opening
STOP MOTION PLANT: Creating Space, Cultivating Community follows the evolution of the collective throughout the years as they've dug into the exploration of community building, experimenting with DIY theater in a multitude of audiences, media and venues. The exhibit showcases their process/history. Also attend one of their monthly events. Just like their Salon Series, their Propagation Labs at Agitator are open to participants. Join, meet new people, make art and have fun!
Propagation Lab- Stop Motion Plant
STOP MOTION PLANT is the 2025 Artist in Residence at Agitator Gallery. They are hosting a monthly PROPAGATION LAB to offer open studio time to share ideas, create community and work on projects together. Just like their Salon Series, the Propagation Labs are masks required (to keep all safe). Join us, meet new people, make new art and have fun! Free to join in
Citizen of House
Meet a panel of artists discussing old school party culture, Chicago’s House Music and Hip Hop scenes. Historic Flyers from the 1980s will be displayed by Latinos in Da House. Also last chance to meet the artists of Defying Every Injustice and see the artworks on the walls. Finally DJ NonStop will close out the exhibition with a DJ playlist and mix sampler.
Free Jazz Orchestra
The Chicago Noise / Free Jazz Orchestra is an experiment. By intention there is no one prescribed way the orchestra will function. Musicians arrive by 6:30pm for refreshments and set up. We start at 7:30pm and finish up around 10:30pm. The conductor sets the rules. Tommy Carrol, famed Chicago jazz drummer and band leader has agreed to be the conductor for this event. Free jazz and noise musicians are invited to participate. Bring your own amps, cables, extension cords, and power strips.
Artists Salon Crits
Agitator Gallery invites artists to present work to be critiqued by a group of your peers. Up to 6 artists will display their work to others who are invited to observe, analyze and discuss the artworks. Artists have 15-20 minutes to introduce their work, answer questions and receive feedback. These critique sessions are a great opportunity to workshop your ideas and get input as you develop existing or new pieces.
Puerto Rican Pride Day- Vendor Market
As part of Defying Every Injustice, the Women in Hip Hop exhibition, multiple artists will set up merch tables at the front of Agitator Gallery to participate in the street revelry and enjoy the community’s celebration of Puerto Rican Pride Day. Come join us, celebrate and peruse the merchandise for sale at the artist vendor tables.
The Rewind: From Mambo To Hip Hop
Attend this screening of a documentary film by Henry Chalfant about the musical history of New York's South Bronx, a borough that nurtured two major movements in popular music: the mambo that evolved into salsa, and the hip-hop that arose from the most desperate days of the South Bronx. The film and a followup discussion will be introduced by Flash ABC and Breaker Ray.
The Breaking Ecosystem
Attend this panel of women in Hip Hop: THE BREAKING ECOSYSTEM: WOMEN WHO MOVE, ORGANIZE, CONNECT & TELL THE STORY. Moderated by Lily Be, the discussion with Basia Krupa, Lady Champ, Miss SweetFeet, & Skylar Males will focus on women in Chicago’s breaking community—its current and past practitioners—as well as exploring Chicago’s history of breaking and why its integral to the city’s culture.
Stoop Style Stories
Beatbox Harmonica player Yuri Basho Lane and Lady Emcee Ang Zone are featured storytellers at this event. Attend this open mic night dedicated to amplifying the voices of the marginalized and fostering genuine connections through the transformative power of narrative. Inspired by the intimate and communal spirit of conversations shared on neighborhood stoops, Stoop Style Stories is guided by the belief that every story holds value and provides a space where individuals can share their truths, explore their experiences, and connect with others on a deeper, more human level.
Propagation Lab- Stop Motion Plant
STOP MOTION PLANT is the 2025 Artist in Residence at Agitator Gallery. They are hosting a monthly PROPAGATION LAB to offer open studio time to share ideas, create community and work on projects together. Just like their Salon Series, the Propagation Labs are masks required (to keep all safe) . Join us, meet new people, make new art and have fun! Free to join in
Defying Every Injustice- Opening
Renegades of Funk (ROF) showcases the works of women artists in visual art, graffiti, dance/breaking and other performances in an exhibition that highlights women's influence in Hip Hop and related artistic movements. The opening hosts a panel discussion at 7pm titled, LOVE HER FOREVER: WOMEN IN GRAFFITI.
Intro to Puppetry
✨In this workshop students will learn the basic skills to animate the inanimate through the three tenets of puppetry. Grounded in found object puppetry & tabletop puppetry, this workshop will serve as a base-level footing to venture into more specific and advanced types of puppetry, so animism can serve as a new tool for storytelling, spectacle, and play.✨ UPDATE: WORKSHOP SOLD OUT!
Closing- What Immigrants Bring
Don’t miss this last chance to meet the artists and see the exhibition before it closes. Artworks, portraits & artifacts are featured in the gallery, along with the stories and memories of individuals who immigrated to the US.