Biggest Pecha Kucha Chicago ever, Thursday at the Art Institute, plus Graham Finishes Breaking Glass, boathouses, and today (Wednesday) ACE Mentor fundraiser at Vertigo Lounge

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This Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Pecha Kucha Chicago will be offering a special road edition in Griffin Court at the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago,

Chicago’s Volume at the Art Institute of Chicago features 6 minutes and 40 seconds each of creative and passionate minds from the world of architecture, journalism, design, art, education and preservation including musician Jon Langford, curator/architect team Karen Kice with Studio Gang, [offering a preview of the Art Institutes new show, Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects], opening September 24th, photographer Doug Fogelson, Mekon Sally Timms, attorney Troy Klyber, inventor and object designer Steven Haulenbeek, artist Jason Lazarus and visualizer Thorsten Bösch. Architect and PechaKucha Chicago originator Peter Exley will emcee.

With a capacity of 2,000 people, it could be the biggest Pecha Kucha Chicago ever.  The event is free with museum admission.  A cash bar is promised. Trinken und Reden und Zuhören. . . und Triken

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Also on Thursday, the 16th, noon at the Bridgehouse Museum, in the bridgehouse at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and the river, Cathy Breitenbach will be offering up a presentation on the New Amenities:  Chicago River Boathouses, which are being designed by Studio/Gang and Chris Lee.

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Meanwhile, the Graham Foundation  at 6:00 p.m. Thursday the 16h program will mark the conclusion of its five week Breaking Glass seminar, whose focus was "to initiate collaborative discourse and production between fourteen selected students and practitioners of art, architecture and design."

• graphic designer Jörg Becker: if. iffer. the iffest.
• artist Irena Knezevic: World Without Art
• architect Jimenez Lai: Sensibility vs. Convention in Graphics

Information and RSVP here.

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And lastly, you can still get tickets for today's (Wednesday, August 15) Summer Fundraiser for the ACE Mentor Program, which "serves Chicago area high school youth who are exploring careers in Architecture, Construction or Engineering."  It's at the Vertigo Lounge at the Dana Hotel and Spa, 2 West Erie, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., $40.00 in advance, $50.00 at the door.  A raffle will include event tickets, restaurant gift certificates, furniture pieces and more.  Registration and info here. 

Jeanne Gang awarded 2011 MacArthur Genius Grant

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Officially, they're called MacArthur Fellowships, but unofficially, they've come to be known as the "Genius Grants", $500,000 over five years, no strings attached.  This year, among the 22 recipients who've just received "one call out of the blue", as the MacArthur Foundation describes it (do I see a licensing deal for a TV series in its future?) was Chicago architect Jeanne Gang, whose work ranging from the new Columbia College Media Center, to the Lincoln Park Nature Boardwalk, and the already iconic Aqua tower has been remaking the profile of the city.

It was a good day for Gang.  Earlier, as reported by the Trib's Blair Kamin, she was named one of two architects, along with Chris Lee, who will work with IIT students to design four new $4 million boathouses, assisted by a $1 million EPA grant, announced by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as keystones in his efforts to increase recreational usage of the city's river.  Now if he can only jump start getting the funding to build Studio Gang's Ford Calumet Environmental Center, which has the same potential to make that neighborhood a recreational and tourist magnet.

Studio Gang also has a new website, designed by Bruce Mau Design.