October 2026 Issue: Realism (Print Edition)

Modern Gothic

An art tour of the University Club of Chicago
"Just a short walk from the Art Institute on the corner of East Monroe Street and Michigan Avenue stands the University Club of Chicago. The grand limestone structure reaches into the downtown skyline with its fourteen floors, decorated with such quintessential Revival Gothic details as arched windows, gables and stone carvings." (Sierra Holt)

To Catch a Shooting Star

How the CSO found (and won) Klaus Mäkelä

In an excerpt from his new book, "Passing the Baton," Phillip Huscher, the longtime CSO program annotator, sets the stage for the orchestra's next music director. 

"When the search for [CSO music director Riccardo] Muti’s successor began, no one knew the name Klaus Mäkelä. The search committee—­six orchestra members, six trustees and three staff members—­met for the first time in November 2019. "  ( Phillip Huscher)

Heartland Gemütlichkeit

Eating my way along the Midwest German Trail

"As a historian, I love to pursue stories that are either really big or really surprising, though those two elements are often bound together. While over the decades, research has taken me around the world, I have discovered that some of the biggest and most surprising stories are right here in the Midwest." (Cynthia Clampitt)

Picturing Truth

The quiet resurgence of realism

"There was a time when all art was figurative, when the artist painting things they saw was the only way art was made. The work was about the portrait or the scene at hand—that was what painting was about, and after that, allegorical and symbolic meaning were ascribed to it." (Susan Aurinko)

Neoretrofutureoptimism

At Turf's new Chicago showroom, acoustic performance becomes immersive

"Inside Turf’s new Chicago showroom, the future feels strangely familiar. Acoustics are often treated as something invisible—a technical layer that quietly improves a space without asking to be noticed. But Turf has a different idea." (Vasia Rigou)

Always Broke, Never Boring

Remembering the glory days of the Organic Theater

"Before Steppenwolf, before Chicago Shakespeare, before Victory Gardens, Wisdom Bridge, St. Nicholas, Northlight, Lookingglass, Timeline and so many other illustrious theater troupes—present and departed—there was the Organic. It was the first nonprofit, off-Loop company to hit it big and let the wider world know that something interesting was brewing in the Windy City’s storefront performance spaces." (Hugh Iglarsh)

Medicaid Office

A new comic by Chana Goldbloom

Arts & Culture

Art: Japanese collective teamLab lands at the Smart Museum
+ The Panorama of Brazilian Art marks the reopening of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art

Dance: Bevara Anderson-Selkridge connects worlds

Design: Anna Sui’s world

Lit: The magic (and math) behind Ashley Hasty’s Chicago Literary Salon

Music: Young Swan’s long and steady flight

Reviews

Autumnal diversions

Poetry

"Ghost Trees": A new poem by Christina Pugh