Project Resident, Christopher Tourre | Public Brewery














April 28th - May 31, 2011


Closing Reception
Friday, May 27 - 6:00pm - 9:00pm
The final exhibition will display the development and accumulation of artifacts, materials, documentation and research within the brewery, as well as a tasting of all drinks made throughout the term of the project.

PUBLIC BREWERY will unite the general public of Chicago with urban foragers, gardens, and local food experts to create a temporary and experimental brewery inside of Spoke's Residency Project Space. Throughout the length of the project, members of the community will contribute ideas, stories, materials and local ingredients to create beers and sodas inside the brewery. Weekly workshops will also be open to the public throughout... the length of the residency teaching beer and soda-making techniques. As the residency builds, so will the brewery, the accumulation of ingredients/equipment, and most importantly, stories. The final exhibition will display the development and accumulation of artifacts, materials, documentation and research within the brewery, as well as a tasting of all drinks made throughout the term of the project.

WORKSHOPS (Open to Public, limit to 25 participants) Workshops will demonstrate to the public home-brewing techniques. Participants are encouraged to bring an ingredient they have grown or purchased locally that they feel would be an excellent ingredient within a beer or soda. Local urban agriculturalists will also be present at each workshop to facilitate discussions on local food production:

Saturday, April 30th, 3-8 PM (Beer, 21+)
Saturday, May 7th, 3-8 PM (Beer, 21+)
Saturday, May 21st, 12pm-3pm (Soda, Open to families and children)

OPEN STUDIO BREWING (Open to public to come and go) Members of the public are free to stop into the Spoke Residency Project Space to informally chat with artist Christopher Tourre and learn more about brewing practices as he brews specialty batches of beer.

Friday, May 6th, 6-10 pm
Friday, May 20th, 6-10 pm

BIOGRAPHY
Over the past three years his practice has transformed from a sculptor and video-maker to, as he describes it, a social aggregator. Some of his most recent projects involved raising chickens in the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen and delivering the harvested eggs to local residents. In 2010, he and his studio partners, Unit 2, created a public workspace at the MCA Chicago, which centered on conversations, designs, and construction of furniture pieces made from leftover scraps of demolished Chicago houses. In 2010, he also began the Artisan Beer Series, a project aimed at entwining communities, stories, personal narratives, and education through the creation and distribution of beer and soda-making.

Tourre often finds alternative outlets to display his work, but has been featured in various spaces in Pittsburgh and Chicago including Pittsburgh Film Kitchen, Gallery 400, Eel Space, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. He lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

For more information regarding this project, contact christopher@christophertourre.com

Please see Project Resident Blog for details and updates.