Omakase at Bonyeon/Photo: Wade Hall
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ART
Considering Curator Naomi Beckwith, Who’s Leading Documenta 16
Cultured magazine checks in with Chicago native and former MCA curator Naomi Beckwith. “We laugh a lot. She’s super smart, but she’s also strategically brilliant in understanding the space she’s working in,” Nick Cave says of Beckwith. “Four thousand miles from Chicago, where she was born, and New York, where she continues to serve as deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Naomi Beckwith is in Kassel, Germany, where she recently relocated as artistic director of Documenta 16… For Beckwith, being abroad brings new resonance to conversations about belonging. It’s a theme she has explored throughout her career, from the Studio Museum in Harlem to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. She earned a reputation as a brilliant curator with a rare ability to surface stories that might otherwise remain untold.”
Kohler Arts Center Debuts A Land Art Installation
Opening later this month at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, “‘Rock Fade (~45 Billion Years)’ is a large-scale land art installation by artist-collaborators Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis. Inviting viewers into an encounter with deep geological time, human perception, and our impulse to order the natural world, the work consists of a carefully selected sequence of stones arranged in a perfect line, gradually diminishing in size.” The work “takes something deeply familiar, a stone, and asks us to encounter it in a new light. As the sequence shifts from boulder to sand, the work reveals how perception, movement, and shared experience shape what we understand as art,” states Jodi Throckmorton, chief curator at the Kohler Arts Center. On view January 31-August 30, 2026. More here.
Chicago Native Thelonius Stokes Goes Viral
Artist Thelonius Stokes “is going viral for performance art pieces that ‘disrupt’ convention at popular Western art sites,” writes the Sun-Times. In Instagram videos “that are his response to hundreds of years of white-dominated Western art, he turns heads at the British Museum in London; draws stares at the Louvre Pyramid in Paris; and diverts attention from Michelangelo’s David at Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. With gold teeth in his mouth and black paint covering his face and chest, the Chicago native hisses, laughs and cries.” The thirty-year-old resident of Italy returned to Chicago to make more videos. One was recorded in December “in front of the Trump Tower downtown, where he stood in the median dividing East Wacker Drive. He also visited O Block, the 6400 block of South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, a South Side area made infamous by rappers such as Chief Keef and known as Chicago’s most violent block.”
Workers Win Union At Metropolitan Museum Of Art
A total of 990 workers voted seventy-six-percent in favor of unionizing at the Met in New York City, records journalist Hamilton Nolan.
Can AI Take The Place Of Art Expertise?
The Art Newspaper considers the potential role of AI “in the inherently subjective field of [art] authentication.” How do humans do it? “Visual evidence is primary, but experts also learn to assess more tactile, physical qualities, such as an artist’s typical substrates. Finally, experts must consider ancillary documentation, which is sometimes faked… An AI cannot see, smell, taste, hear or feel. AI attempts to mathematically replicate the human brain’s neural networks by reducing sensory inputs to numerical formulae. This is why AI is best at tasks, such as coding, that are mathematically based to begin with. An AI is limited to past knowledge, which may be vast, but will never be new.”
DESIGN
Will An SOM-Designed Bank In Skokie Be Razed?
“A shuttered midcentury Skokie bank, designed by a Skidmore Owings & Merrill team led by famed Sears Tower architect Bruce Graham, is for sale,” writes Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey. “Built in 1968 as Skokie Federal Savings, the broad, horizontal building is a superlative example of modernist architecture: bold, confident and not a wasted line or superfluous element. The connection to Graham makes the structure all the more important. The legendary SOM design principal gave Chicago (and the nation) some of the finest midcentury buildings, including the John Hancock Building, the Inland Steel Building and, of course, the Sears.”
Mid-Rise Could Replace Lakeview Giordano’s
A five-story building with twenty-eight units and retail could rise at 1040 West Belmont, records Urbanize Chicago. “Planned by Kiferbaum Development Group, the project site is a midblock property near the intersection of Belmont and Kenmore. The one-story commercial building that is occupied by Giordano’s would be demolished to make way for the project.”
DINING & DRINKING
Pelago Chef Opening A New Restaurant In Former Spiaggia Space
Chef Mauro Mafrici, formerly the owner of Streeterville’s Pelago Ristorante, “is opening a new restaurant with his wife, Kimberly Anguil Mafrici, on the second floor of 980 North Michigan, where Spiaggia and Cafe Spiaggia used to operate,” reports Crain’s. “The place will be called Mauro Mafrici One Magnificent Mile, with the owners expecting to open sometime in 2026.” Spiaggia closed in 2021 after thirty-seven years in operation.
Chicago-Based Protein Bar Expected To Expand After Acquisition
Chicago-based Protein Bar & Kitchen “will be acquired by Founders Table Restaurant Group, the holding company of Chopt and Dos Toros Taqueria,” reports the Sun-Times. “The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will boost Protein Bar’s plans to expand company-owned locations across the U.S., as well as in… venues like healthcare centers, airports, universities and transportation hubs. Protein Bar, founded in 2009, was a pioneer in protein shakes and smoothies then expanded to healthy fast casual salads [and] wraps.”
The Piggery No More
The Piggery Restaurant and Rooftop in North Center has closed as its owners retire, chronicles Block Club. The Piggery “opened fifteen years ago [and has] weathered a 2012 fire and the pandemic’s disruptions… The 12,995-square-foot property… has been on the market since April” and has been listed at $2.9 million. “The property also includes a 3,900-square-foot parking lot that could be developed.”
Omakase Select Returns To Bonyeon
Steak omakase restaurant Bonyeon, a sister concept of Omakase Yume and TenGoku Aburiya, is bringing back its Omakase Select experience. For $70, guests are invited to experience an abbreviated four-course tasting menu that showcases Bonyeon’s refined interpretation of Korean steakhouse cuisine, presented at the intimate twelve-seat chef’s counter. The courses open with yukhoe finished with rhubarb, smoked egg yolk and toasted sesame, with the option to add caviar for an extra layer of indulgence. The next courses highlight Bonyeon’s signature bone marrow miso–glazed tenderloin, “paired with earthy mushrooms and hearts of palm, followed by a comforting yet refined budae jjigae stew enriched with enoki mushrooms and Akahoshi ramen noodles. Diners will have the option to enhance the experience with a rich kimbap filled with A5 sirloin and a subtle touch of truffle.” Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, January 25 – February 8. More here.
Minneapolis Restos: Hubs For Support
As Twin Cities neighborhoods “stand up to ICE, restaurants, bars and coffee shops are collecting donations, handing out whistles, and acting as gathering sites for volunteers and observers,” reports the Racket. Says one gallery owner, “It’s reminiscent of after George Floyd—the same thing happened, our place kind of became a headquarters,” she says. “We have organizers, legal observers, protectors, needing a place to station out of while coordinating their efforts in the community.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Netflix Chief States Status Quo For Warner Movies In Theaters
“We will run that [Warner Brothers theatrical] business largely like it is today, with forty-five-day windows,” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos tells the New York Times (gift link) about his plans for the storied studio. “I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people—we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.” (Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” returned this past weekend to a handful of screens nationwide.)
“I would say one of the other myths about all this is that we thought of going to the theaters as competition for Netflix. It absolutely is not,” Sarandos says. “When you go out to see a movie in the theater, if it was a good movie, when you come home, the first thing you want to do is watch another movie. If anything, I think it helps, you know, encourage the love of films. I did not get in this business to hurt the theatrical business. I got into this business to help consumers, to help movie fans.”
PBS Salutes Kimmel’s “We’re Still Here” Slogan
“Thursday saw [PBS] social media accounts share a screenshot from ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ that featured the PBS logo alongside the slogan ‘We’re still here, bitch,’” observes Latenighter. “The slogan was born as part of a bit in Kimmel’s Wednesday night monologue that referenced recent online confusion following a vote by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to dissolve itself after the Republican-led Congress eliminated its federal funding. The move led some social media posters to mistakenly claim that PBS itself was shutting down… PBS appeared happy to take ownership of the line, captioning its screenshot, ‘Shout out to @jimmykimmel for our new tote bag design.’”
LIT
A Literary And Fashion Salon At M.M. LaFleur
Hasty Book List hosts “Fashioning History,” a special edition of the Chicago Literary Salon, “exploring the intersection of historical fiction, fashion, power and women’s lives,” hosted inside the Chicago showroom of fashion brand M.M.LaFleur. “Designed as an intimate, conversation-driven evening, ‘Fashioning History’ brings together four celebrated authors whose work examines how clothing, self-presentation, and personal style shape women’s identities—both on the page and in the real world.” With Melanie Benjamin, Rowan Beaird, Nancy Johnson and Rebecca Makkai. M.M. LaFleur, 230 West Huron, March 19. Tickets ($40) here.
Volumes Bookcafe In Its Closing Days
Wicker Park independent bookstore Volumes Bookcafe is closing January 31, shelves the Sun-Times, noting that “sales dropped after Barnes & Noble opened nearby. Since opening in March 2016, Volumes has sold more than 250,000 new books and hosted thousands of readings, panels and other events.” But “when interest rates rose last year, Volumes’ commercial mortgage payment nearly doubled.” Then Barnes & Noble opened in the Noel State Bank building. “Volumes’ monthly sales plunged twenty to thirty percent, George said. Its 2024 holiday season was the worst in nine years. Business in summer 2025 was its slowest on record, and autumn was even worse.”
“The Impact of Immigration”: Storytelling In Little Village
Block Club’s Little Village reporter Francia García Hernández will moderate a panel “featuring speakers who have been affected by ICE raids and who work closely with our neighbors every day to ensure they have the information they need.” Speakers include: Maria Orozco, Street Vendors Association of Chicago; Eréndira Rendón, Resurrection Project; Karina Martinez, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council; and Congresswoman Delia Ramirez. Apollo’s 2000 Theater, Tuesday, January 20, 6pm. More on Instagram here.
MEDIA
Pentagon Commandeers Independent Military Paper
“Plans for more Defense Department control of [publication] Stars and Stripes surface after job seekers were asked about their commitment to President Trump’s policies,” reports the Washington Post. “The Defense Department said it plans to overhaul Stars and Stripes, the storied military newspaper that has long enjoyed editorial independence, to rid it of ‘woke distractions’ and refocus coverage on ‘warfighting.’”
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Times Flags Rise In Activism In American Cities
“In Minneapolis and other cities where federal agents have led immigration crackdowns, residents have formed loose networks to track and protest them,” writes Julie Bosman at the New York Times (gift link). “Chicagoans, even many without formal ties to protest groups, showed defiance against ICE with ‘Hands Off Chicago’ signs adorned with the city’s beloved starred-and-striped flag, placed prominently in windows of restaurants and bungalows. And in recent weeks in Minneapolis, the latest focus for a Trump administration surge of immigration enforcement, a loose but growing network of neighborhood volunteers has shown up near reported arrests, yelling at agents and recording them on iPhone cameras.”
Bally’s Likely To Get Another Year To Complete Casino
“At Bally’s behest, State Representative Kam Buckner introduced a bill that would give Bally’s until September, 2027 to open the $1.7 billion casino complex” in River West, reports the Sun-Times, “and continue operating a temporary casino at Medinah Temple.”
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