About this Event
Building Fictions: Art, Cinema, Archives, and Other Ways of Surviving Reality
Join us at the Logan Center for the Arts for an artist talk with Mexican artist and filmmaker Rubén Gutiérrez, hosted by the Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.
Born in Monterrey, México, Rubén Gutiérrez has been exhibiting in Mexico and abroad since 1993, participating in biennials and festivals such as the Bolivian Art, Prague, Cuenca, Buenos Aires, and Havana Biennials. For this artist talk, Gutiérrez traces the threads across his practice — from drawing, painting, constructed photography, and film to his work promoting emerging artists through ObjectNotFound.org, a contemporary art distribution and promotion platform based in Monterrey, Mexico. He will explore how these media become tools for building narratives, questioning reality, and imagining alternative ways of inhabiting the world. Gutiérrez will also speak to his work as an academic, curator, and author of artist books — and how teaching, research, and independent cultural projects have shaped his practice.
Gutiérrez will be joined by Héctor García, Professor at Loyola University Chicago and scholar of Mexican literature and film, for a moderated conversation and Q&A.
This event is presented in partnership with the Lit & Luz Festival and the University of Chicago’s Open Practice Committee in the Department of Visual Arts, Loyola University Chicago, UNAM Chicago, and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Construyendo ficciones: arte, cine, archivos y otras formas de sobrevivir a la realidad
Acompáñenos al Logan Center for the Arts para una charla con el internacionalmente laureado artista y cineasta mexicano Rubén Gutiérrez, organizada por el Comité de Práctica Abierta del Departamento de Artes Visuales de la Universidad de Chicago.
Nacido en Monterrey, México, Rubén Gutiérrez ha expuesto su obra en México y en el extranjero desde 1993, participando en bienales y festivales como la Bienal de Arte de Bolivia, la Bienal de Praga, la Bienal de Cuenca, la Bienal de Buenos Aires y la Bienal de La Habana. Para esta charla de artista, Gutiérrez trazará las conexiones entre su práctica como artista visual, como cineasta, escritor y educador. Desde sus Dibujos Post Filosóficos, pinturas, fotografía construida y películas, hasta su labor de promoción de artistas emergentes a través de ObjectNotFound.org, un espacio de distribución y promoción de arte contemporáneo con sede en Monterrey, México. La charla explorará cómo diversos medios se convierten en herramientas interconectadas para construir narrativas, cuestionar la realidad e imaginar formas alternativas de habitar el mundo. También abordará su trabajo paralelo como académico, curador y autor de libros de artista y otras publicaciones, examinando cómo la docencia, la investigación y los proyectos culturales independientes han moldeado su práctica artística.
Este evento se presenta en colaboración con el Festival Lit & Luz y el Comité de Práctica Abierta del Departamento de Artes Visuales de la Universidad de Chicago.
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The 13th annual Lit & Luz Festival of Language, Literature, and Art—as featured in, WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons, Chicago Review of Books, Block Club Chicago, and more—takes place November 8 to November 14, 2026. Lit & Luz is a one-of-a-kind, cross-cultural and multilingual festival, bringing together renowned writers, visual artists, performers, and musicians from Mexico and Chicago for a week-long series of public programming at venues throughout Chicago.
Organized this year under the theme of “Edge/Borde” artists and writers will gather to present their work with performances, artist talks, writing workshops, poetry readings and panel discussions to consider the complexities of official borders, as well as the ways in which soft and hard edges are constructed within cities and regions—and within artistic practices themselves—through language, culture, identity, and policy
To learn more, visit litluz.org
Event venue & nearby stays
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Penthouse Room 901, 915 East 60th Street, Chicago, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.