Susy Bielak and Fred Schmalz

For more than ten years, the collaborative art practice of Susy Bielak and Fred Schmalz has mined social histories, texts, and archives to create installations and actions that reflect the gravity and strangeness of contemporary cities. The duo’s recent work has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Grand Central Art Center, and in Eighth Blackbird’s Chicago Artists Workshop series.

Bielak’s work responds to issues including migration, displacement, and disaster. Her work has been collected and exhibited widely, including by the International Print Center, Museo Tamayo, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, and Walker Art Center. She has received fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Artist Coalition, and DCASE, and has been in residence at Ragdale and Oxbow. She received an MFA from the University of California San Diego.

Fred Schmalz is the author of the poetry collection Action in the Orchards (Nightboat 2019), which explores intimacy and loss via encounters with contemporary art. His current writing examines the sanctioning of violence in American culture. His recent writing has appeared in Puerto del Sol, Zocalo Public Square, Places Journal, Poetry, and Oversound. He received an MFA in prose and poetry from Northwestern University.