For one night only on Monday, November 9, 2009, from 6-9 p.m., the Chicago Cultural Center will host Site Unseen, a site-specific performance event featuring theater, dance, music, and visual art by individual artists and ensembles of local and international acclaim.  Presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the performances, installations, and video works will all consider issues around disability.  Works will be created specifically for the architectural spaces of the Chicago Cultural Center, located at 78 E. Washington Street.  Admission is free.

Now in its sixth annual edition, Site Unseen 2009 will feature works by local artists that bring visibility to a broad range of disabilities.  The theme emerged because Julie Laffin, the project’s ongoing curator, has become increasingly disabled by environmental illness and complications from chronic Lyme Disease.  This year’s presentation reflects her own struggles with new disabilities and the effects on her artistic collaboration with Chicago DCA Theater Director Claire Geall Sutton.  Along with this year’s assistant curator, Clover Morrell and Julie Laffin are collaborating on a piece that will bring Laffin’s virtual presence to the Cultural Center.

Participating artists creating audio, performance, spoken word, movement-based, and media installation art include Mike Ervin & Rahnee Patrick, Judith Harding in collaboration with Still Point Theatre Collective, James Kubie and Katrina Chamberlin, The Project Onward Project, Marissa Perel and Madeleine Bailey, Debra Tolchinsky, and Unreal-estates (Annette Barbier and Drew Browning).