Archival Chicago History Museum Images Showcased through 150 Media Stream

Explore five decades of Chicago’s architectural photography from the Chicago History Museum’s image archive at Chicago 00: Spaces, a feature project at the 150 Media Stream installation, opening Friday, December 1, 2017.

The Chicago History Museum joins the distinguished artists and organizations whose commissioned works have been showcased on 150 Media Stream, which opened to the public in April 2017 at 150 North Riverside Plaza. The large-scale media installation is divided into 89 LED blades, staggered in height and width that are 150 feet long and 22 feet high.

Spaces explores the Chicago History Museum’s archive of Hedrich Blessing photographs— thousands of black and white and color images captured by the world-famous architectural photography firm between 1929 and 1979. Fifty years of Chicago architectural history are pulled apart and then stitched back together into morphing composites of the city’s remarkable architectural legacy.

This experience is part of CHICAGO 00, an initiative by the Museum and filmmaker Geoffrey Alan Rhodes to create new media experiences with the Museum’s extensive archive of historical imagery. Chicago 00 projects include a virtual reality experience of Chicago’s 1933 World’s Fair, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and Eastland Disaster.

The Chicago History Museum is home to thousands of historic Chicago images. Featured architectural images are available to search, buy and download online at Chicago History Museum Images.

Chicago 00: Spaces runs through January 31, 2018. The general public is encouraged to visit 150 North Riverside Plaza during public viewing hours: Fridays from 6–8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 1–5 p.m. There is no charge for admission.

ABOUT THE CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM

The Chicago History Museum is situated on ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi people, who cared for the land until forced out by non-Native settlers. Established in 1856, the Museum is now at 1601 N. Clark Street in Lincoln Park, its third location. As a major museum and research center for Chicago and U.S. history, the Chicago History Museum strives to be a destination for learning, inspiration and civic engagement. Through dynamic exhibitions, tours, publications, special events and programming, the Museum connects people to Chicago’s history and to each other. To share Chicago stories, the Museum collects and preserves millions of artifacts, documents, images and other items that are relevant to the city’s history. The Museum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Chicago Park District on behalf of the people of Chicago.