At Spudnik Press in Chicago, Duncan MacKenzie, Brian Andrews and Ryan Peter Miller welcome Mark Jeffery, Judd Morrissey and Kristin Mariani to discuss the Poor Farm Experiment's Leopold Benches: A P(o)or(t)ch Theater (MIDWEST REDUX).
Developed through the U.S. Pavilion's PORCH program at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale and presented in Chicago at the MCA's Chicago Performs festival, the work turns a porch into a place of observation, invitation, performance and collective play.
The conversation moves through Aldo Leopold's benches, stereoscopic photographs and binocular rivalry, Mariani's language-bearing Text Toiles, the choreography of "queer sitting," and the Deeply Choir's role in animating the museum plaza.
It also opens onto the project's wider artistic ecology: Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam's Poor Farm in Wisconsin; Mark Jeffery and Kelly Kaczynski's residency practice; the nido residency in Umbria; and an approach to collaboration in which living together, hosting, making and friendship become inseparable.
PERFORMANCE:
9/25/2026 - 3pm at the MCA! (Dolly Day)
Names Dropped:
Duncan MacKenzie - kurasmackenzie.com
Brian Andrews - brianandrews.org
Ryan Peter Miller - ryanpetermiller.com/about
Mark Jeffery - saic.edu/profiles/faculty/mark-jeffery
Judd Morrissey - saic.edu/profiles/faculty/judd-morrissey
Kristin Mariani - saic.edu/profiles/faculty/kristin-mariani
Kelly Kaczynski - kellyfkaczynski.com/About
Michelle Grabner - michellegrabner.com
Brad Killam - cod.edu/faculty/websites/killam.html
Cynthia Post Hunt - cynthiaposthunt.com/about
Aldo Leopold - aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold
Shannon Stratton - shannonraestratton.com/about
Kelly Lloyd - k-lloyd.com/bio-statement
Chris Wood - mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/the-poor-farm-a-poortch-theater-midwest-redux
Corey Smith - coreyds.com
VALIE EXPORT - valieexport.at
Lyubov Popova - moma.org/artists/4694-liubov-popova
Varvara Stepanova - moma.org/artists/5643-varvara-stepanova
Kay Rosen - kayrosen.com
Sol LeWitt - moma.org/artists/3528-sol-lewitt
Giotto - nga.gov/artists/1342-giotto
Caravaggio - nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio
Lisa Stone - spacesarchives.org/about-us/spaces-board/lisa-stone
Maria Gaspar - mariagaspar.com/bio
Ginger Krebs - gingerkrebs.com/home.html
Laura Paige Kyber - mcachicago.org/about/who-we-are/people/laura-kyber
Joey Orr - joeyorr.com/about
Moira Brennan - jeromefdn.org/moira-brennan
Lin Hixson - everyhousehasadoor.org
Peter Taub - pewcenterarts.org/panelist/peter-taub
Vanessa Damilola Macaulay - vanessamacaulay.com/about
Leon J. Hilton - taps.brown.edu/people/leon-hilton
Bonnie Tyler - bonnietyler.com
Mies van der Rohe - miessociety.org
Midas (Kelly Kaczynski's dog) - kellyfkaczynski.com/About
Leopold Benches / MCA Chicago - mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/the-poor-farm-a-poortch-theater-midwest-redux
Poor Farm Experiment - poorfarmexperiment.org
Living Within the Play: nido V - poorfarmexperiment.org/?page_id=1427
Spudnik Press - spudnikpress.org
MCA Talk: Performance Art in Chicago - mcachicago.org/whats-on/events/mca-talk-performance-art-in-chicago
