Chicago potholes are being covered in mosaics instead of asphalt
Contributor
Previously, we featured artist Jim Bachor, who is known for his unconventional solution to Chicago’s pothole problem: mosaics.
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Isolated Building Studies of Chicago: photos by David Schalliol
Contributor
Inherently, living in a city means distraction, noise, crowded streets and homes piled on top of each other. For the urban-dweller, it’s almost a reassurance to hear the sound of strangers living out their lives just the other side of your bedroom wall. Quiet, solitariness and isolation are not aspects one expects to find in […]
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Chicago looks like a city in the sky in this perfectly timed photo
Contributor
Behold, Asgard! Oh wait, it’s actually Chicago! While en route to Chicago O’Hare International Airport amateur photographer Mark Hersch snapped this amazing photo of the city’s skyline silhouette reflected on the waters of Lake Michigan. Taken at the perfect moment, Chicago looks like an upside-down city in the sky, with God’s rays of light shining […]
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Breathtaking photos of Chicago’s modern day ice age
Contributor
We all know about the Polar Vertex that’s currently plunging many places in the United States into a deep freeze. With temperatures dropping to record lows, no one is seeing the beauty in this modern day ice age. Thankfully, we have superhumans called photographers, who would risk life and limb – not to mention a heavy case of pneumonia – to get a beautiful photo!
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Super-large type projected onto Chicago buildings give the city a cinematic makeover
Contributor
For her Letters at Large series, designer Audra Hubbell used the urban landscape in Chicago as the canvas for super-large typography that she projected onto the city buildings. Given the black-and-white treatment, these shots almost look like they sprung right out of film noir. Which is perfectly like the Chicago we know.
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Monopoly, played on the real streets of Chicago
Contributor
Ooh, sometime back last year, a street artist going by the name of Bored apparently took to the streets of Chicago and planted Monopoly-inspired boardgame bits on the pavements — right down to the dice, the player token pieces, and even Chance and Community Chest cards. Wish we were there then.
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Chicago airport hires sheep, donkeys and llamas as lawn care
Contributor
Pilots beware! You’ll now need to keep a sharp eye out for stray sheep, donkeys and llamas when touching down at the Chicago O’Hare Airport. These herds of friendly animals are all part of the new natural lawn care system employed to maintain the 120 acres of airport land. The airport even hired shepherds to keep track […]
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Goats hired to take care of landscaping at Chicago airport
Contributor
If you’re headed to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in June, watch out for a herd of, er, goats. Slated to provide “sustainable vegetation management grazing services” in a two-year $100,000 contract awarded to a Chicago-based company, they’ll be grazing on weeds and invasive plants on the 120 acres or so weedy grounds there. The arragement […]
Stunning photo portraits of Chicago by Jon Damaschke
Reader Find
Jon Damaschke is a Chicago animator-turned-photographer whose work blows us away. He has an incredible vintage aesthetic, which is easy to love, and a unique photographic perspective. Considering how amazing his work is, it’s stunning that he’s only been pursuing photography for a few years.
Invaders 1938: the debut album from Chicago’s Terrible Spaceship
Contributor
Chicago’s Terrible Spaceship have just released their debut album, Invaders 1938. The Chicago Tribune says that the band is ‘equally influenced by Danny Elfman, Portishead and Orson and H.G. Welles’. And who are we to disagree.
Photographs of Chicago warehouse fire encased in ice
Contributor
So this is what fire looks like under single-digit temperatures. An empty warehouse in Chicago was recently ensnared in a massive blaze that had a third of Chicago’s firefighting force spraying water at the scene. They ended up covering affected areas — including surrounding buildings and cars — in ice. Even icicles formed on the fire hoses.
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Colourful urban art by Chicago’s Chris Silva
Reader Find
Being a street artist himself in Chicago, Chris Silva loves to collaborate with people using found objects and colorful murals to create amazing art that reflects its urban setting. Of his work, he says: ‘I am interested in the visually poetic, employ ambiguity in my work and strive to express the essence rather than the details. I see opportunities in accidents, enjoy unusual combinations of materials, the unpredictable outcomes of collaboration and the general adventure of the creative process’.
Time-lapse video of Chicago cityscape
Reader Find
There is something incredibly familiar and also utterly unique about the flood of timelapse videos we currently see, a complex network of actions all forming an intricate visual ballet. I vote for a channel dedicated to streaming the best of these 24/7, a throwback to the backdrops we used to see on CNN. Like having […]
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Cityscape Chicago: a time-lapse video by Eric Hines
Contributor
Eric Hines, a photographer/time-lapse cinematographer from Indiana, has recently completed a personal time-lapse piece consisting of over 30,000 still photos shot incrementally between July and October this year around downtown Chicago. The Windy City has always been on my list of cities to visit since I can remember, and this video has shown me again […]
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New music by Chicago’s The Sometimes Family
Contributor
What sets Chicago’s The Sometimes Family apart from other groups in this new soul era is their aim to bring back the vocally driven tune: the collaborative, harmonic group sound. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, including the Fifth Dimension, the Staples Singers, the Jackson 5, and the Friends of Distinction, The Sometimes Family […]
