USF’s Art Gallery welcomes Industry of the Ordinary
Imagine foosball in Lake Michigan, sheering a fur coat at a gallery opening and the Ten Commandments strolling down Michigan Avenue as a block of ice. These images and more can be seen in the Industry of the Ordinary performance exhibit at the University of St. Francis in Joliet.
Compiled by University of St. Francis art professor Mathew Wilson and local curator Adam Brooks, the Industry of the Ordinary artists have performed a 168-hour, non-stop play where members of the audience slept in the theater and had lunch on the stage. They also choreographed hundreds of strangers to fall on cue in the street.
Performance art is an art form that arose in Europe and the United States in the 1960s. The term “performance art” describes a work that is live but operates outside the traditional conventions of theatre or music, according to Wilson. This usually brief, highly creative art often can reflect recent current events and many times political views, he added.
Industry of the Ordinary can be viewed in USF’s Moser Performing Art Center Gallery, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to Noon. Industry of the Ordinary will conclude on Feb. 5.