Art

Currents create momentum, set events in motion, and propel us to new places. A current is a force with the power to change minds, transport data, move bodies of water, and alter the course of wind. It’s an electrical spark, an explosion of energy and light. Currents move through people, carrying ideas and the exchange of information across time and space. To be current is to be actively unfolding, ever present, and of the moment, and yet already on the way to somewhere else.

The exploration of constant movement drives Currents of Chicago, a moving image work by Perkins&Will, that captures the dynamic and multifaceted flows within the urban context of Chicago—a city renowned for its visionary urban planning, iconic architecture, and deep connection to natural resources like the Chicago River and Lake Michigan.

This work illustrates how various streams—natural, human, and technological—converge to create the city’s vibrant pulse. It’s a story of engineered landscapes, industrial innovation, cultural expression, and the relentless momentum of progress. It is also a deliberate exploration of the currents shaping the future—a future where design, technology, and nature intersect to create a more resilient, connected, and human-centered city. Chicago’s energy is not just a by product of history, but a force intentionally directed toward progress, ensuring that as the city evolves, it does so with purpose, adaptability, and a vision for a more sustainable and thriving urban environment.

Photo by Angie McMonigal

Superbloom is about radical beauty in the natural world. In a super bloom, wildflower seeds in the desert bloom in high numbers all at the same time. It doesn’t happen often, and a particular set of conditions must be met for the dormant seeds to thrive—rain, wind, cloud coverage, and temperature in the right measure.

Carrie Hanson, Artistic Director of The Seldoms, notes “A super bloom is demanding and somewhat defiant as it sits outside our attempts to order and harness nature—it is wild in the absolute. Leading up to this project, I was reading The Practice of the Wild by poet and deep ecologist Gary Snyder, in which he writes about wildness and our relationship to nature. Superbloom, which first premiered in 2023 as a multimedia dance performance, continues my/The Seldoms’ interest in our environment. Our body of performance explores how a relationship to all life on earth—and to the earth itself—might be based in sustainability and justice. Superbloom aims for splendor as a mirror of the sublime beauty of the natural world and posits awe as a mode of reconnecting to nature, and to one another.

Superbloom premiered as a work for stage in July 2023 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, and will be performed at the Chicago Botanic Garden on July 25-27, 2025.

Choreography & Direction: Carrie Hanson
Visual Design: Jackie Kazarian
Projection Design: Liviu Pasare
Performance & movement development: Gabriela Chavez, Damon D. Green, Haley Marcin, Timothy Tsang, Maggie Vannucci
Music Composition & Performance: Finom (Sima Cunningham & Macie Stewart)
Costumes: Damon D. Green