Bad at Sports Live Tailgate
November 01, 202511:00 am - 3:00 pm
Image courtesy of Bad at Sports.
About the Event
Bad at Sports “gets up” and “gets down” in the first-ever MCA backyard tailgate in conjunction with the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial, transforming our terrace into a festive site for conversation. From this open-air lounge we’ll record live dialogues on the intersections of art, architecture, criticism, and fandom—blending the intimacy of a backyard gathering with the energy of a cultural rally.
Refreshments provided. No ticket required but an RSVP through Eventbrite is requested. Tailgaters can enter at the back—or east—end of the museum. If you get lost, look for the air dancers to light your way.
Schedule
11 am | Tailgate opens with snacks and drinks.
11:30 am–12:30 pm | Interview with Tony Lewis on pirate radio.
1:30–2:30 pm | Interview with Lori Waxman on pirate radio.
3 pm | Tailgate concludes.
About the Speakers
Bad at Sports is a weekly podcast produced in Chicago since 2005. B@S can be tricky to describe: It acts as a curious investigator, an archivist, oral historian, and occasionally as a provocateur. We represent artists and their art world through an archive that is text, audio, physical, ephemeral, historical, and constantly evolving through ongoing and unique projects.
Tony Lewis’s practice focuses on the relationship between semiotics and language to confront social and political topics such as race, power, communication, and labor. Lewis creates drawings using graphite, pencil, and paper—mediums the artist uses to trace and develop abstract narratives and reflections on the notion of the gestural.
Lori Waxman has been the Chicago Tribune’s primary art critic since 2009 and a monthly columnist for Hyperallergic since 2022. She teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In her “60 wrd/min art critic” performance, Waxman writes art reviews in public and on demand, for any artist who wants one.
Funding
Lead support for the 2025–26 season of MCA Talks is made possible by The Richard and Mary L. Gray Lecture Series through a generous gift to the Chicago Contemporary Campaign.
Generous support is provided by The Antje B. and John J. Jelinek Endowed Lecture and Symposium on Contemporary Art; the Kristina Barr Lectures, which were established through a generous gift by The Barr Fund to the Chicago Contemporary Campaign; The Gloria Brackstone Solow and Eugene A. Solow, MD, Memorial Lecture Series; and the Allen M. Turner Tribute Fund, honoring his past leadership as Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Refreshments courtesy of Marz Community Brewing.