Fame and fortune aside, it is also good practice for artists to have deadlines, and to see their work in different contexts, and among different types of work.

Christoph Büchel is a perfect example of this new breed of artist who is encouraged to run amok with the museum's galleries, as a sort of laboratory experiment, to simply see what happens.

Mark Booth, MFA 1995, and Shin Yu (Doris) Pai, MFA in writing 1999, have new works.

On Monday, June 4, the Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal completed his month-long stay at Flatfile Galleries. During the month of May, Bilal lived, ate, slept and worked at the gallery, all the while under the threat of a paintball gun firing yellow pellets which deployable by the public via his website. Through daily video blogs, online chats, and the constant image of the paint-splattered room that he lived in, Bilal’s goal with his live-in art piece, Domestic Tension, was to draw attention to the false sense of distance between those who enact violence in war and those who are the victims of such violence.

The MFA show will open on Friday, May 4. You can get your sweat on from 7 - 10 p.m., and if you don’t make it in time to elbow your way around G2, don’t worry; the exhibition will be on view through May 18. Graduating students from the MFA in Writing program will present their theses on May 8, in the Ballroom, from 7 - 11 p.m.

The two hours before the MFA show's official opening is, in my opinion, the perfect opportunity to fully take in the exhibition; between sips of free wine, and with the hint of excitement that precludes any event of its kind, it should be offered to all those who can stomach two massive floors full of art. There was an undeniable buzz in the air, along with an unidentified group of people strumming guitars and singing haphazardly on the first floor of the show.

With all the dust settled on the slew of Spring graduate shows, it only seems right to take stock of Gallery 2 as a building and as a space meant to connect student artists with the outside world. Nestled firmly in the West Loop Gallery District, G2, as it is known to most, has undergone serious transformations in the past several years, including a move, a consolidation, and an uncertain future. Sold in August 2005 to Cormony Development, a Maryland–based firm, the building was a serious investment for SAIC, and its sale could mean major changes for the atmosphere surrounding our largest exhibition space.

The all-alum group show at Corbett vs. Dempsey, Bold Saboteurs: Collage & Construction in Chicago, is a virtual history of some of the most successful SAIC alum around, spanning over thirty years of graduates.