Beyond Closure
A documentary screening and participatory workshop with Paola Aguirre Serrano
Friday, September 19
Lunch 12:00pm | Film Screening 1:00pm | Workshop 2:00pm
Temple Hoyne Buell Hall
Plym Auditorium
The Illinois School of Architecture presents BEYOND CLOSURE, an exhibition that examines the lasting architectural and cultural reverberations of the 2013 closure of nearly 50 public schools in Chicago. Through oral histories, design research, and documentation of site activations, the exhibition investigates how school buildings and their grounds have functioned as vital civic spaces—and what is at stake when they disappear.
At the center of the exhibition is the work of Borderless Studio, a Chicago- and San Antonio-based architecture and urban design practice. Their initiative, Creative Grounds, reimagines former school sites as community assets, exploring how art, design, and architecture can open more inclusive pathways for their reuse. During the run of the exhibition, the floor in Temple Hoyne Buell Hall’s atrium is transformed into a map of Chicago that locates the sites of closed schools, creating an inhabitable platform to explore the opportunities for future reuse.
The exhibition also features Asif Wilson, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education. His project, Closing Schools is a Hate Crime, gathers testimonies that lay bare the profound harm caused by the closure, consolidation, and privatization of CPS schools—particularly in Chicago’s most disinvested and disenfranchised neighborhoods. “Off the Hook” is a reenacted teacher’s desk, inviting exhibit-goers to dial-in and listen to oral histories from educators and activists.
Join us on Friday, September 19 for lunch and a screening of Beyond Closure by On The Reel Film and Borderless, followed by a discussion and workshop with creator and executive producer Paola Aguirre Serrano. Paola is a native of the US-Mexico border, urban designer, educator and partner at Borderless Studio, an architecture and urban design practice based in Chicago and San Antonio. Borderless Studio is invested in spatial justice and equitable design through collaborative approaches. Paola also leads Creative Grounds, a special initiative focused on Chicago’s closed public schools.
