Werkz in the Archive
Film Screening and Dance Cypher
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National Public Housing Museum, 919 S. Ada Street, Chicago, IL 60607
- Free
- Register
This participatory evening of film and movement honors the historically black practice of Chicago Footwork.
Join us for a screening, dance cypher, and reflections, featuring films inspired by the work of Dr. ShaDawn “Boobie” Battle, the National Public Housing Museum’s 2023 Artist as Instigator.
Dr. ShaDawn is joined by filmmaker and footworker Fonzo, Assistant Curator and Registrar jellystone robinson, and Oral History Manager Liú m.z. chen. These artists and cultural workers collaborated as part of 60 Inches From Center’s Chicago Archives + Artists Project to critically examine Chicago Footwork and its ability to hold the stories of public housing told through oral histories collected and preserved in the Museum’s archive.
This culminating workshop mobilizes footwork as an embodied form of archival work and creative way of processing trauma related to housing violence and environmental racism.
FREE. Light bites and refreshments included. Space is limited. Please register in advance.
Schedule
- 5:30 pm doors open, light bites, museum open for exploration
- 6 pm program begins
- 6:15 pm media screenings
- 7 pm conversation and Q&A
- 7:30 pm dance cypher
Chicago Archives + Artists Project
This workshop is presented in collaboration with Sixty Inches from Center, a worker-led organization and publishing platform that produces collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, art history, and culture in Chicago and the Midwest.
Launched in 2017, the Chicago Archives + Artists Project (CA+AP) pairs artists with archives across Chicago to spark new experiments in creative interpretation, to showcase the rich histories and materials being preserved in participating archives, and to share archival practices with local artists and their communities.

About
This event is presented as part of the National Public Housing Museum’s Artist as Instigator program, which leverages arts and culture to make creative public policy interventions around housing and related issues.
The Artist as Instigator residency is supported by multi-year funding from the Mellon Foundation, as well as support from the Joyce Foundation, and the Illinois Arts Council.



