Lauren Steinberg is an interdisciplinary artist and performance producer based in Chicago, IL. She holds a BFA in fine art and art history from Pratt Institute and an MFA in performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
As a practicing artist, Lauren’s work explores potential fantasies and myth-making within queer spaces by borrowing from her vocabulary of unrequited desire, deflating, clowning, lip-syncing, and endurance. Starting as a drag performer in New York City, Lauren moved to Chicago to pursue her professional degree while creating a body of work that has been exhibited internationally. Her durational performance piece titled “American Steeplechase: Bonnie and Chava are Dead,” has been shown at multiple institutions including the Herearts Center New York, Mimosa House London and Defibrillator performance art space in Chicago. She has performed in works by renowned artists including: Taylor Mac and William Pope L at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Recently these experiences and her practice has carried over to her love of guiding young artists through supporting experimental approaches to producing work.
Lauren has coordinated and supervised different events that have included: public programing at galleries, fundraisers, visiting artist lectures, film shoots, and performance festivals. Her experience working as an arts administrator has given her great understanding of coordinating safe, communal spaces that aid an artist’s visions. Her passion of supporting artists has been featured in publications such as Sixty Inches from the Center: Intimate Justice Series where she discusses the intersection between being a practicing artist and a support system for other creatives.
In the wake of COVID-19, Lauren co-created the Hot Wheelz Festival platform and curatorial residency to produce live art and explore what it can look like in this new era. Focusing on the Chicago live art community. Hot Wheelz Festival hosts virtual week-long residencies for curators, spaces, and collectives to create programming while approaching the question, "How do we keep moving?" During the pandemic. Currently the festival has hosted four collectives/curators and supported the work of over forty local and international artists to take over the website and create their own content. In the future Hot Wheelz will continue with the goal to explore how each residency treats liveness through an interdisciplinary approach and how that may shift the way we look at producing inclusive live work in a post-pandemic future.
Contact
lsteinb9@gmail.com