Jeff Carter: The Singer Pavilion Project

Since 2020, the artist Jeff Carter has developed an extensive body of work exploring the site, history, and significance of the Singer Pavilion–the last remaining building of the former Michael Reese Hospital complex in Bronzeville and a design collaboration by architect Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus School. This exhibition presents for the first time together the 10 resulting artworks including sculptures, digital images, sound works, installations, and a series of zines developed in collaboration with artists and community members with connections to the hospital. Several artworks in the exhibition are made using materials extracted from the site: a waiting room chair, vinyl records, and native plants that have reclaimed the abandoned building and surrounding landscape–all collected during the artist's many visits. The excavated materials transformed into sculptures conjure both the events that happened in the building during its active years as a psychiatric institute (1948-2009) and the building's life after the hospital's closure. Together, the works in the exhibition prompt reflection on the importance of this site as a case study of past and future efforts to develop this culturally rich yet under-resourced neighborhood while also examining evolving ideas about urban development, architectural preservation, and the legacy of Modernist aesthetic and social philosophy.