Edra Soto
Documentation 2004: A Year in Review
Ornamentos

On January 1, 2004 Edra Soto took on the task of "a narrow-minded historian" by documenting a detail of the daily news for the year 2004. In a manner inspired by Mexican folkloric art, Soto traced as many as five newspaper images per day, from publications such as El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico and the Chicago Sun Times directly onto sheets of metal. Also featured will be twelve line-drawn wall murals highlighting individual Ornamentos from every month.

Edra Soto with Rodger Cooley
Documentation 2004: A Year in Review
Landfill

After having dissected, quoted and traced the daily news throughout the year, Edra Soto and Rodger Cooley will bury the remains of the newspapers utilized in Soto's Documentation 2004: A Year in Review - Ornamentos . Gallery 400's front lawn will be transformed into a landfill displaying the contradictions of preserving history by burying it.

Documentation 2004: Landfill

January 1, 2005 - June 1, 2006

After dissecting, quoting and traccing the daily news throughout the year, Edra Soto and Rodger Cooley buried the remains of the newspapers utilized in Soto's project. Gallery 400's front lawn was transformed into a landfill displaying the contradictions of preserving history by burying it. Soto continues to maintain the landscaping on the site throughout the seasons.

At the Edge: Innovative Art in Chicago

Chicago's art scene continues to be an expansive and energetic creative arena. As the city's artistic activity intensifies, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago encourages the most innovative aspects of that dynamism. Inquiry, experimentation and ingenuity are the basis of At the Edge .

Six one-person or artist-curated exhibitions taking a risk. At The Edge unveils newly created works that are difficult to show in commercial spaces, that extend a working artist's practice, and/or push the boundaries of art experimentation. This is the third year of annual At The Edge exhibitions intended to encourage the most innovative aspects of the Chicago art community's current dynamism. Special thanks to the jury that selected this year's At The Edge projects: Marc Fischer (Chicago and previous At the Edge artist), Barbara Wiesen (Director, Gahlberg Gallery, College of Dupage), Tricia Van Eck (Curatorial Assistant, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), Julia Fish (UIC faculty member), and Lorelei Stewart (Director, Gallery 400). A triennial catalogue featuring all At The Edge projects and essays by area writers will be published in 2005.