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Invisible Roses

by Jeanette Andrews

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Jeanette Andrews provides some insight into her newest work, developed specifically for the MCA's 50th anniversary. The work debuts next Saturday, October 21, during the museum's free, weekend-long celebration.


Years ago, one of Chicago's most influential magicians, Eugene Burger, had given me a book by a magician who, in the early 1900s, was widely regarded as "the magician's magician." (I'll keep his name under wraps!) He was not famous, but had amassed an incredible base of knowledge. His original manuscript was previously unpublished until relatively recently, but included many gems of parlor magic—the type of magic that interests me most. The manuscript included some beautiful thoughts on doing a piece of magic with a large piece of cloth. I had never seen anything quite like it, but I was always interested in working on something in that vein.

One night in January 2017, I took out the book again to begin working on that piece. The next morning I sat down for my first meeting about a performance for the MCA. Ann Meisinger, the MCA's former assistant curator of public programs brought up Christo's 1969 wrap of the MCA and tossed out the idea: "it would be interesting if you could do something with a large piece of fabric . . . ?" The timing was incredible.