"and what they won’t tell you is that half of it is yours..." Chicago’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate E'mon Lauren explores femme rage, racialized beauty standards, class, lineage, and hustling to make ends meet in three new poems. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/finessing-is...

Light dazzles. It tricks, it confounds. A turn of the light. Katy Kim reviews Jarod Lew's "Strange You Never Knew" at University of Michigan Museum of Art: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/strange-you-...

Amalia Tenuta interviews Zante Moore about their debut solo show IJBOL Fields at Chicago's Happy Gallery, and about growing up online, race, loss, and the emotional weight of digital culture. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/memes-as-mou...

"Why would you even be a poet if you weren’t willing to bare yourself to yourself?" Two poets connect on shared experiences of living with disability, and dive into the background that drove the poems which blossomed into a debut book: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/hardly-creat...

Outfitted at UIC's Gallery 400, "Don’t mind if I do" adventurously models accessibility and accommodation. Read the review by by Lucas Gòmez-Doyle: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/in-access-we...

Sixty's Art Picks is a monthly calendar of art exhibitions and events all over the Midwest, curated by Sixty editors in collaboration with our friends at The Visualist. Explore what's happening near you: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/november-art...

Veronica Kirin interviews Harriet Berg, Penny Gardner, and Grace Stinton— three Michigan women whose art, teaching, and advocacy has had lasting impacts across the Midwest and beyond: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/your-impact-...

Una activación de Marquette Park a través de la Residencia Curatorial Anchor inspira esta reflexión ecfrástica por Carlos Flores: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/lo-que-la-ti...

Emily Gastineau, a writer embedded in the latest dance work of Minneapolis-based artist José A. Luis, examines the process of transforming writing to choreography to performance. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/work-rest-lo...

In this animated comic by Carlos Matallana, an immersive sound healing experience by Jamila Woods and chamber music collective D-Composed combines music and movement. Read the comic: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/bonding-in-s...

Megan Bickel spoke with Simon S. Belleau about the wires, seams, and scripts of the spectacle that change the way we experience time and politics on screen that the artist interrogates in their recent exhibition, Thousand Telephones at Letters to Nora. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/dialogue-wit...

In Indianapolis, new classical classical music collective Sound Ecologies is cultivating a thriving new music scene. Read the interview by Camille Arnett: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/tuning-into-...

In scent artist agustine zegers’ latest exhibition at UIC's Gallery 400, the smell of petroleum summons memory and emotion to explore our paradoxical tenderness for man-made toxins. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/a-toxin-thre...

Last July, Mrittika Ghosh attended the 2025 Social Conference at Chicago's McCormick Center. While she arrived wondering how the wider left sees art, she left with the question: how can artists make revolution irresistible? sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/in-service-o...

2025 Bemis Center Critic-in-Residence Pia Singh reflects on inter-connectedness and upheaval in the struggle to save the planet's water from capitalism in the exhibition “Great Lakes, Great Plains” sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/at-waters-ed... @bemiscenter.bsky.social

Pharmacy receipts become a paper trail and paraphernalia of a personal medical record, testifying to the body as a fragile, relational archive of evolving needs in Katz Tepper’s exhibition at Prairie Chicago. Read the review by Noa Micaela Fields: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/patient-xero...

Looking at a map of northern Illinois, you’ll find Rockford halfway between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River; this post-industrial city also represents a midpoint in my coming of age. My review of THE ROCKFORD ANTHOLOGY, @sixtyinchesfromcenter.org: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/midway-to-ho...

“Let’em cook.” “Stop it. You can’t say that. It’s not you,” Mateo chides. “What’chu mean? That’s what our generation says, don’t they?” Read Chenoa Baker's conversation with her brother about "We Built This: Making Through Migration" at Zhou B Art Center: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/art-in-sibli...

A look at “The Rockford Anthology” from @beltpublishing.bsky.social through the eyes of Emily McClanathan, who reconsiders her own relationship to the town she spent much of her teens in. sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/midway-to-ho... @emilymcclanathan.bsky.social

Cincinnati-based artist Michael Coppage’s sculptures embody the tension, vulnerability, and physiological violence of Black life interrupted by police encounters. Asa Featherstone IV documents Coppage's studio and labor in a new photo essay: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/inside-micha...

While contemplatig Olivier Assayas’ 1994 coming-of-age film “Cold Water” and the writing of David Wojnarowicz, Riley Yaxley tries to make sense of the transformative — and risky — potential of friendship with men: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/the-risky-se...

"The group disperses around the space to explore every creak, bang, ding, bell, tick, and hum...." Livy Snyder reflects on a sound walk through Chicago’s pedways with Allen Moore: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/tuning-away-...

"It’s important for kids to understand the power of dreaming beyond what’s happening..." Step inside the the 2025 Wonder of Words Literary Festival: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/against-all-...

Big Chicks, a historic LGBTQ+ bar in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, comfortingly silhouettes all figures—artwork or not. Read the essay by Samuel Schwindt: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/comforting-g...

"Este artículo es un homenaje a Haughville, el pequeño barrio del oeste de Indianápolis que se ha convertido en mi maestro y mi iglesia..." Lee más de Nasreen Khan en español y inglés: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/haughvilles-...

This month's Art Picks include art fairs, printmaking workshops, book signings, Día de Los Muertos celebrations, exciting new work from artists across the Midwest, and more! See what Art Picks are happening near you: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/september-ar...

What began as an experiment in a dorm room has become Finders Keepers on Chicago's WHPK 88.5 FM — an evolving platform for discovering new music, connecting generations of DJs and musicians, and archiving community history. Read the interview by Livy Snyder: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/tuning-away-...

Every month Sixty, invites a guest to recommend Art Picks that highlight the creative communities of their community. This month's featured guest is artist, writer, and educator Rachel Hausmann Schall based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Check out Rachel's picks: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/august-art-p...

"En Absentia se centra en la pérdida cultural derivada de la emigración." Read Merry Sun's bilingual reflection on "En Absentia" at Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/en-ausencia-...

This month, our curated list of art events and exhibitions across the Midwest includes brand new shows, crafting clubs, and a puppet parade for Palestine. Explore all our of Art Picks: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/august-art-p...

"Seeds: Containers of a World to Come" at WashU interrogates the mechanisms of power that perpetuate inequality and ecological destruction, and presents seeds as blueprints for cultivating collective futures. Read the review by Caitlyn Lawler: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/to-seed-to-s...

Today is the last day to apply to become a member of our Visual Contributor team! Photographers, illustrators, and other visual artists in the Midwest (outside Chicago) please submit your work by 11:59pm tonight! sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/call-for-sub...

St. Louis curator, researcher, and writer Charlie Farrell is July's guest Art Picks editor! Check out her picks of events that highlight STL's vibrant art communities: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/july-art-pic...

Our curated July Art Picks are here! See what art exhibitions and events are happening in your area: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/july-art-pic...

There is ONE WEEK left to apply to become a Sixty Visual Contributor! Sixty is seeking Midwest-based photographers and artists beyond Chicago whose work reflects your unique voice and lived experiences. Learn more and apply by July 7, 2025 at sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/call-for-sub...

This Juneteenth and Pride in the spirit of liberation, Sixty begins our 3-week summer pause from our daily work in order to recharge ourselves and make space for creation, resistance, and (re)connection. Read more in English y español: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/replenishing...

Lower your ear to the oculus of an owoko vessel, drop your focus to its substratum like a bucket searching for a well’s ending, and you will hear echoes of its origin: the music of women gathered. Camille Bacon reviews ebere agwuncha at Comfort Station: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/ebere-agwunc...

Indigenous nerd 4 same // Monthly Dinner for Trans Girls // Checkmate me? Keep the Midwest flirty with FIND & SEEK, our new take on missed connections and online classifieds: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/support-sixt...

Are you a Midwest visual artist? Sixty is seeking photographers and artists to expand our Visual Contributor team beyond Chicago to other parts of the Midwest! Learn more and apply by July 7: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/call-for-sub...

Take a walk with Bob McCamant, one of the founders of the Chicago Reader, in a new comic by Carlos Matallana: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/love-for-pri...

Sixty's Art Picks are a monthly calendar of our recommended art shows and events all over the Midwest! Check out June's picks: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/june-art-pic...

What is THICK? Perhaps: an architecture, a construction with crevasses, corners and caryatids of Black women; perhaps: a freak show in reverse, a funhouse mirror, a ritual for not forgetting. Read the review:

Nora Sharp describes their show "Cosmic Docks" as "a trans tall-tale about orbiting the sources of yourself and yearning for clarity in a broken world." Read the review by Corey Smith and Rachel Lindsay: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/cosmic-docks/

Sixty Inches From Center is officially (re) open to pitches for Midwest arts writing! Learn about our newly-defined publishing priorities and submit your pitch: sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/sixty-is-off...

Sixty is officially on Bluesky! If we've never met, Sixty is a worker-led organization and publishing platform that produces collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, art history, and culture in Chicago and the Midwest. Learn more about our work at sixtyinchesfromcenter.org!