June 2024 Issue: Design 50 (Digital Edition)

Force of Nature

After almost sixty years, Lira Ensemble founder Lucyna Migala is still at it

"Lira Ensemble co-founder and artistic director Lucyna Migala likes superlatives. Her singers aren’t just good—they’re “brilliant,” “wonderful,” “beautiful.” There weren’t just big crowds at past Lira Christmas concerts—there were crowds big enough to “break the fire codes.” And audiences don’t just enjoy the Polish music ensemble—they “love, love, LOVE Lira.” God loves the Lira Ensemble, too, according to Migala, a bright-eyed, petite woman of indeterminate age with a voice like a flute. That’s how it’s been able to keep going for almost sixty years." (Mary Wisniewski)

The Bartender Was A Bard

Why you should remember Harlan Stern and his tavern

"Harlan Stern was one of the most colorful bartenders on the North Side from the 1970s through the early 2000s. A co-owner of Sterch’s tavern at 2238 North Lincoln, Stern was a major Chicago White Sox fan, a raconteur, a softball player, a father and a ringleader of the Sterch’s circus that included visits from Roger Ebert, Hunter Thompson, former White Sox owner Bill Veeck, and many, many others. The Chicago native retired from his bartending career in the early 2000s. That’s when he lost his audience. An uneasy silence replaced Sterch’s diffusing soundtrack of people laughing, someone crying, and a loud debate about Ryne Sandberg and Nellie Fox. Stern turned to writing." (Dave Hoekstra)

Design 50 2024

"Highlighting the continual evolution within Chicago’s design community through the creators of our city's cultural scene, from our built environments to the realms of fashion and graphic design, is no small feat. They craft the spaces we live, work and play in, the products we eagerly anticipate, and the experiences we can’t wait to be part of. Their work is the heartbeat of Chicago culture—vibrant, dynamic and utterly unique. They draw us together. With community at the core of what they do, these creatives bind us to place and to one another." (Vasia Rigou)

Arts & Culture

Art: In anticipation of Arthur Jafa at the Museum of Contemporary Art 

Dance: Visceral Dance Chicago brings the masterwork "Carmen.maquia" home

Design: LMRM is leading a fiber art revolution

+ Mood: Office

Dining & Drinking: To batch or not to batch

Film: Exploring lives in the theater with "Ghostlight"

Lit: A conversation with Cheryl L. Reed about “Map of My Escape”

Music: Going beyond borders with Khruangbin

Stage: How Gender Fucked Productions is advancing queer art

Reviews

Make room this summer for some culture, will you?

Poetry

“Forensic Architecture”: A new poem by Rebecca Morgan Frank

92 Pages