Uncle Freddy’s in Dyer, IN, is pleased to present a site-specific outdoor installation, Look for the Union Label, by Chicago artist Robin Dluzen as part of the Terrain Biennial international public art festival from October 2 – November 15, 2021.
Please join the artist and her hosts, Tom Torluemke and Linda Dorman, for an artist’s reception on Saturday, October, 9, from 1 – 4 p.m.
Robin Dluzen
Look for the Union Label, 2021
reclaimed vinyl on vinyl
Look for the Union Label is an homage to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. The site-specific piece is composed of cast-off materials from the artist’s union trades job as a Graphics Installer with Sign Painters Local 830. A vinyl fabric from an outfield pad at a Major League Baseball stadium is combined with adhesive outdoor vinyl, depicting the graphics from vintage garment tags of clothes produced by ILGWU tradespeople. The ILGWU was a pivotal force in the history of trade unions in the United States and a union that boasted a majority female membership. Look for the Union Label reflects the artist’s journey as a union trades apprentice; it is an acknowledgement of the many union tradespeople who reside in the neighborhood where it is installed and speaks widely to the resurgence of interest in labor unions to protect our country’s essential and vulnerable workers.
About the Terrain Biennial
Founded in 2011 by artist Sabina Ott, Terrain Exhibitions was created in the spirit of community building through public art at her home in Oak Park. Ott invited over a hundred artists to exhibit site-specific and -responsive artworks on her front lawn. Two years later, Ott created the Terrain Biennial to stage month-long installations, inviting her neighbors and collaborators within her network to host public art at their homes and in their neighborhoods. The Terrain Biennial has produced four editions in 2013, 2015,
2017, and 2019, with each growing from one block in Oak Park to national and international collaborations.
Since 2013, the Terrain Biennial has been a nexus between art practitioners and public audiences from seemingly disparate backgrounds through public art installations. This work has forged connections in substantial and empathetic ways across city borders around the world. This year, the Terrain Biennial aims to find spaces of joy and community essential for collective healing in these times of isolation, public reckonings, and mourning. Sharing much of the same sentiment as yearbook signatures and pen pal letters, this year’s biennial theme is K.I.T. (keep in touch). After more than a year of lockdown, participants are encouraged to consider how their projects serve communities, encourage lived experiences of art, and facilitate deepening friendships and new connections.
The 2021 Terrain Biennial runs from October 2 - November 15, 2021, in the Chicagoland area and satellite locations nationally, including New York and internationally in India. The 2021 Terrain Biennial will feature over 250 artist projects. Terrain Exhibitions offers an interactive online map to help art lovers explore biennial sites and plan in-person visits. The online map provides details on featured projects, their locations, and website information. Visitors can use the map to see what sites are close to one another and plan self-guided walking tours. Alternatively, you can use the map for virtual site visits to the most far-afield installations.
Visit www.terrainexhibitions.org for more information.