Coming Soon…
SHIKAAKWA: Allium Otherworld by Olalekan Jeyifous
in partnership with MAS Context
On View: October 5th, 2026 – March 31st, 2027
Chicago takes its name from Shikaakwa, an Algonquin word commonly translated as “wild onion,” “garlic,” or “striped skunk,” referring to the pungent ramps that once flourished in the marshlands long before the city was built. Before its river was reversed and its land engineered, the region was a mosaic of peat bog, prairie, and shallow wetland.
SHIKAAKWA unfolds as a continuous architectural cross-section through a Louis Sullivan-inspired office tower, descending from ornate corporate interiors through mechanical systems, geological strata, and into a mythical landscape far below. Floor slabs dissolve into sewers, soil, and root systems before giving way to an alliaceous dreamworld of bioluminescent fields, mycelial transit networks, and cathedral-like chambers of wild grasses and luminous wetland flora.
Rendered in a saturated, retro-futurist palette of deep greens and blues, luminous corals, ochres, and lavender, the landscape takes on the graphic quality of a psychedelic architectural illustration. Designed for the extreme horizontal format of the 150 Media Stream, the work becomes an ethereal sectional drift through an otherworldly reimagining of Chicago’s submerged ecological past.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Olalekan Jeyifous received a BArch from Cornell University and is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work reimagines the intersections of architecture, community, and the environment through inventive visual storytelling. By merging physical and digital elements with both historical and speculative contexts, his practice offers critical reflections on existing systems while imagining alternative ways of relating to each other and the spaces we inhabit. His art has been exhibited at major institutions including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Vitra Design Museum, and Guggenheim Bilbao, and is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and SFMOMA.
In addition to an extensive exhibition history, he has spent over a decade creating large-scale public installations and was co-commissioned to design a monument to Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm for New York City’s She Built NYC initiative. His distinctions include the 2024 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, the Silver Lion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, the 2021 United States Artists Fellowship in Architecture and Design, the 2021 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize, and two NYFA Fellowships. He has also been awarded residencies at MacDowell, The Drawing Center’s Open Sessions, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, and he currently serves as the 2026 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Heidi Nitze Fellow.
ABOUT MAS CONTEXT
MAS Context shares ideas and facilitates discourse about urban design and the built environment. Founded in 2009, they are a nonprofit organization based in Chicago with a global reach. Their approach is multidisciplinary and collaborative; they strive to be an inclusive community of creative thinkers across disciplines who are interested in the future of cities.
They share their work through multiple platforms, including: a topic-based journal; books; public events including talks, panel discussions, film screenings, book launches, and studio visits; exhibitions and site-specific installations; Observations, an online publishing platform featuring rigorous, in-depth articles about the built environment and the people and conditions that shape it; and Dialogues, a series of long-form conversations and oral histories with architects and artists in and around Chicago.
As of July 2025, MAS Context has collaborated with over 850 people and over 50 organizations; published 33 journal issues, 3 books, 165 Observations, and 14 Dialogues; and presented 247 events and 22 exhibitions and site-specific installations.
Now Streaming…
Tonal Conversations: The Promise
Animation by Anne Beal
On View: June 4th, 2026 – September 12th, 2026
150 Media Stream is proud to present “Tonal Conversations: The Promise,” a new audiovisual concert of chamber music and animation by artist duo Anne Beal (animation filmmaker) and Christopher Zuar (composer).
The two artists formed their ongoing project, Tonal Conversations, in 2018 as a way to engage thoughtfully with one another’s art forms: animation and music. Their first commission, by 150 Media Stream in 2018 and seen in the video above, planted creative seeds for Exuberance, a 2025 GRAMMY-nominated album, and an enduring body of work.
On June 4th, 2026, the artist duo brought their new project, The Promise, to fruition in its first form at 150 Media Stream. The Promise is a 6-piece chamber music composition with painted animation, featuring string quartet, piano, and clarinet.
The work chronicles a difficult period in the artists’ lives: managing an illness in uncharted territory amidst a global pandemic, the death of a close family member, and a new marriage alight with promise. In their respective art forms, the artist duo explores themes of love, growth, self-forgiveness, and internal commitment, despite the external uncertainty of our times. Chris brought together 6 incredible musicians from NYC and Chicago to perform the world premiere of his new original song cycle, featuring Anne’s painted animation on the 150 Media Stream.
LIVE PERFORMANCES on Thursday, June 4th, 2026:
12pm – 1pm LUNCHTIME ACTIVATION
20-minute performance at 12pm
6pm – 8pm EVENING RECEPTION
20-minute performances at 6pm and 7pm
with artist talk at 6:30pm
PERFORMANCE ENSEMBLE:
Mark Dover – clarinet
Alex Brown – piano
Jaime Gorgojo – violin 1
Henry Zheng – violin 2
Doyle Armbrust – viola
Jean Hatmaker – cello
ABOUT ANNE BEAL
Anne Beal is an award-winning animation filmmaker and multimedia artist whose work merges experimental animation, painting, and sound. Informed by her musical training, she embraces the intuitive elements of cinematic language. Anne roots her animation work in imperfect and unruly mediums, like watercolor and acrylic inks, whose flow cannot be entirely controlled. In both personal and commissioned work, she investigates Play, female empowerment, and mental health. She has created animation for diverse clients, from Harvard Women’s Health to ANTI- Records.
Anne earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she pursued animation, directing, and sound design. She has been awarded artist residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Hambidge Center for the Arts and Sciences in support of her current multimedia production. Her work has screened at renowned animation and film festivals including Ottawa, Annecy, London, Chicago International Film Festival, and many more.
Anne taught animation in the Film/Video/New Media/Animation Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 2014-2017 and has since been on faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design and the School of Visual Arts. She lives and works in NYC where, in addition to making commissioned work and teaching, she collaborates with her husband on the GRAMMY-nominated jazz orchestra and animation project, Tonal Conversations.
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER ZUAR
Christopher Zuar’s music has been performed internationally by the WDR Big Band, Danish Radio Big Band, hr-Bigband, and the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. He has written arrangements for such notable artists as saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Ben Wendel, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and vocalist Theo Bleckmann.
In 2025 Zuar was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Original Composition for “Communion,” from Exuberance, his second full-length studio album. The 60-minute song cycle features seven interwoven compositions performed by the Christopher Zuar Orchestra and guest soloists. Jazz pianist Fred Hersch describes Exuberance as “…a mature statement by a great composer in his prime, performed by a stellar ensemble with passion and care.”
Zuar is a two-time MacDowell fellow (‘22, ‘17) and a 2018 Corporation of Yaddo Guest. He has garnered numerous awards and commissions, including the 2021 Symphonic Jazz Orchestra Commissioning Prize, the 2020 Copland House Residency Award, and the 2020 SCI Jazz Composition Award. Zuar’s debut album, Musings, was released on Sunnyside Records in 2016 and received a spot on DownBeat magazine’s Best Albums of 2016 and runner-up Debut of The Year in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll.
Christopher Zuar is a member of the Jazz Arts faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, both in jazz composition.
Streaming Next… Olalekan Jeyifous in partnership with MAS Context
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