Soft Systems Presents an Experimental Video Screening Featuring Nine Artists at Parlour and Ramp in Chicago
Soft Systems presents an experimental video screening of Materials and Processes for an Expanding World on Saturday, January 31, 2026, from 7–9 p.m., with the screening beginning at 7:30 p.m. Hosted by Parlour and Ramp in Chicago, the program brings together nine video works from the project’s original Los Angeles exhibition.
The group exhibition was first presented December 11–13, 2025, in Los Angeles and featured works on paper, ephemera, and video by 37 artists. Building on traditions of mail art, contributors were invited to send small, unfinished works through the mail to the gallery in Los Angeles, including video submitted on USB drives.
The intermedia exhibition explored unfinished and process-based work across all contributions. For the Chicago program, the exhibitionn is presented as a video screening with a total runtime of 39:14.
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Video works by:
Noelle Whitaker – 2:06
Wonderful Cringe – 3:13
TAITAIxTina – 4:59
Vanessa Norton – 2:00
Hypothetical Star – 4:24
Leah Sandler – 9:02
Parham Ghalamdar – 7:23
Zoey Solomon – 3:57
Anabelle Lee Dehm – 2:10
Exhibition Statement:
Tectonic plates shift beneath the ocean, signals shoot across seas, ideas leap from head to head, era to era. Everything that blooms eventually deflates; heat cools down, stars faint, waves roll back to the sea.
Art’s the same. Sometimes it cracks, sometimes it’s quiet. Ideas appear, then disappear. Concepts grow, then peel away. Meaning changes shape but still leaves a trace behind. Materials and Processes for an Expanding World reflects the ways artists create their own universes through movement, experiment, and intentional accidents.
What’s inside the exhibition? Performances, unfinished works, temporary objects, sketches, doodles, notes, observations, and everyday things that might seem unimportant yet hold small universes within them.
Event Details:
Saturday January 31 2026, 7-9pm
Screening begins at 7:30pm
Hosted by Parlour and Ramp
2130 W 21st Street
Pilsen, Chicago
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Download Show Press Release
