Chicagoland Seen

Villa Albertine, in collaboration with FACE Foundation, is pleased to announce a new grant commission program in support of photographers and other lens-based artists pursuing projects that explore unique aspects of Chicagoland, a region that reaches from the city of Chicago to surrounding areas in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. 

As the third largest metropolitan area in the United States by population, Chicagoland is home to nearly 10 million people, who form a culturally dynamic landscape that spans urban, suburban, and rural terrains. The ambition of this commission is to create a group of sensitive and revealing perspectives on the complex and continually evolving region filtered through an artist’s lens. We invite photographers, filmmakers, and other artists working in lens-based media to share their accounts of the transformations and continuities that define Chicagoland and its inhabitants. Proposals tied to underrepresented communities or by artists engaged in collaborative processes are especially encouraged to apply. 

Three grantees will each receive $15,000 to develop or expand a body of work tied to Chicagoland. Funds are intended as remuneration for the work, covering the cost of production, materials, travel, and related expenses. During the grant period, which will take place over the first half of 2023, grantees will receive additional support through a series of working sessions and events where they will be invited to share their work in progress.

At the conclusion of the grant period, selected works by the grantees will be included in a series of installations throughout Chicagoland as part of a cross-cultural dialogue with works from Regards du Grand Paris, a French photographic commission administered annually since 2016 by Ateliers Médicis in partnership with the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP).