Family and Youth

21Minus | What Was, What Is

  • June 17, 2023 | 1 pm–6 pm

The event is free for people ages 21 and under and their families, though all are welcome to attend.

Colorful pieces of paper float over a crowd of people in a large, open white room.

21Minus, curated by the Teen Creative Agency, Jun 16, 2018.

Photo: Grace DuVal, © MCA Chicago

Designed by Chicago youth and curated and hosted by the MCA’s Teen Creative Agency (TCA), 21Minus is the MCA’s annual exposition of youth creativity and control. This year’s theme, What Was, What Is, engages our pasts, our histories, and ourselves in order to recognize the realities of our experiences and environments. Join us for an afternoon of performances, workshops, art installations, film screenings, and more!

The event is free for people ages 21 and under and their families, though all are welcome to attend.

Dark blue text against a powder blue background read MCA 21 Minus Sat, June 17, 1–6 pm. Three dark blue squares filled with powder blue text overlap some of the letters. They read, from top to bottom, Teens take over; Teen Creative Agency (TCA); and Teens take over.

Schedule

The 2023 return of 21Minus welcomes a record number of contributors!

  • Theater

    Dance Suite

    • 1:30–1:40 pm
      The Well | Esha Raut
    • 1:40–1:50 pm
      House Movement | MJ Salis

    Performance Suite

    • 2:20–2:40 pm
      Authenticity | Miles Chong
    • 2:40–2:50 pm
      Appliance Performs | Soph Schiavone
    • 3:30–4:30 pm
      How We Become Artists | Marwen

    Film Suite

    • 4:30–4:45 pm
      Chicago Otaku | Street Level
    • 4:45–5 pm
      Once Upon a Time . . . In Aztlan | Andres Carlos-Tamez
    • 5–5:15 pm
      The Uptown Blues | Street Level
  • Atrium

    1 pm

    • Opening Remarks

    1:10–2 pm

    • Dream Sequence | Ugly Nate

    2:15–2:45 pm

    • Noise Programme: An Experimental Music Performance | Leonel De Paz

    3–3:35 pm

    • Black Woman Blues | Kayla Gilmore
    • Opened by Exemption & Dirt and chocolate

    3:45–3:50 pm

    • Strength in Numbers | Hournine

    3:55–4:45 pm

    • All World and the Glass Room | Silver October

    All Day

    • Community Care Stations | Gage Park Latinx Council
  • The Commons

    All Day

    • Community Tables | Multiple Artists + Organizations
  • Terrace

    2, 3 & 4 pm

    • FREE PALETAS

    4–4:30 pm

    • Reworking Our World Fashion Show | Eliana Cano

    All Day

    • Activations + Giveaways | Multiple Artists
    • Art Show | Multiple Artists
    • Community Tables | Multiple Artists + Organizations
  • Learning Studios

    2–3 pm

    • Retro Jewelry Workshop | Marwen
  • Fourth-Floor Lobby

    4:45–5:45 pm

    • BLACK ARK: D-Composed Presents D-Compressed: A Music & Meditation Experience

    5:50 pm

    • Closing Remarks

Artistic Contributors

    • 人性画 (Humanity’s Portrait) | Amy Kan
    • What I have become | Brandy Leavy
    • Memories That Make Home | Kimberly Espinosa
    • Memories | Angela Lim
    • Letters to Ligonia | Justin Anderson
    • Remind Me How She Saw Things | Olivia Kluska
    • The Child’s Jealousy, Mother’s Love | Enola Nyenke
    • What’s In My Pants | Val Bykova
    • Still Being Me | Misa Yo
    • Identity & Fortune; Camelia and June | June Ahleman
    • Braiding my Love for You | Daniela Loza
    • How to Tie a Tie | Ari Karafiol
    • Physical Computing | Logan Silvers
    • Interlinked | Jasmine Carag
    • Reworking Our World Fashion | Eliana Cano
    • Deeply Routed | Holden Magee
    • A Memory I Can’t Quite Remember | I SEE SOUND Radio
    • The Portrait Puzzle | Savannah Bowman
    • Sanctuary Village | Guerrilla Art Collective of Curie
    • Once Upon a Time . . . In Aztlan | Andres Carlos-Tamez
    • Rumination | Aniketh Bhaskar
    • Chicago Otaku | Street Level
    • The Uptown Blues | Street Level
    • Dream Sequence | Ugly Nate
    • 100% Sonic Youth Cover | Leonel De Paz
    • Black Woman Blues | Kayla Gilmore
    • All World and the Glass Room | Silver October
    • D-Compressed: A Music & Meditation Experience | D-Composed
    • Exemption | Jenelle Rodriguez
    • Dirt and chocolate | Genesis Galloway
    • Appliance Choreographs | Soph Schiavone
    • Authenticity | Miles Chong
    • The Well | Esha Raut
    • Hournine | Hournine
    • Community Care | Gage Park Latinx Council
    • How we become artists | Marwen
    • Retro Jewelry | Marwen