Keith Bringe

Chicago, 1963.  A Chicagoan since birth, Keith Bringe studied art history and museum administration and has worked as an artist and in non-profit administration for over 40 years in the fields of historic preservation, family violence, the arts and HIV/AIDS. From 2008 to 2015, Keith served as Director of the Chicago Art Deco Survey Project which documented, researched and cataloged over 900 area buildings, sites and monuments, 200 artists and 150 manufacturers from the modern period 1915 - 1945.  The Art Deco Survey formed the basis of the book “Art Deco Chicago” (2018, City Files / Yale).  Previously, from 2002 to 2006, Keith served as Executive Director of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple Restoration Foundation.  Bringe is a past board member of the Society of Architectural Historians Chicago Chapter and served as co-president of the Chapter from 2006–2010.   Keith consulted on documentary films such as “Louis Sullivan: The Struggle for American Architecture” and “Robert A. M. Stern: Presence of the Past” for WTTW and others.  He served as Executive Producer of the feature length documentary “Out of the Box: Ending the Cycle of Incarceration” directed by Zarko Mladenovic (2018, Enlightenment Films). Bringe has lectured for Alliance Francaise, the Coalition of Art Deco Societies at Havana Cuba, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Chicago Art Deco Society, Landmarks Illinois, among others. His architectural photography has been published internationally. In 2002, together with artist Gregory Scott, Keith created Available Space Gallery, an ad hoc (pop-up) exhibition program that worked with the Chicago Association of Realtors to host shows in vacant downtown locations.

The Lover’s Discourse Project

Roland Barthes’s “Fragments d’un discours amoureux” was published in Paris in 1977 by Editions du Seuil and was translated in an English edition in 1978.  The book comprises 80 chapters or “fragments” which explore common concepts in the language of love. In this important semiotic, linguistic analysis, Barthes draws upon references from the worlds of literature, music, painting and philosophy.  The author cites Plato, Balzac, Goethe, Racine, Nietzsche, Brecht and many more forming a tapestry of utterances – sublime and brutal – illuminating the human language of love.

Chicago-based artist Keith Bringe conceived of a project that would interpret “A Lover’s Discourse” through 80 constructions – one for each chapter.  Each “fragment” is contained within a vintage French wine crate that forms an environment for an assemblage of drawings, paintings, found objects, photographs and more.

Labeled with chapter headings in French and English, the individual fragments form a text of their own through configurations ranging from towers to traditional wall-hung series.  The collection is meant to be tailored to the environment in which it is shown.

Artist’s Statement

“The ‘Lover’s Discourse’ made a lasting impression on me that endured for more than twenty years.  Barthes abandoned clichés and clearly integrated his own experience with historical references.  These ‘fragments’ contain a seed of the unreal joys and excruciating pain of love. I thought about the ‘Discourse’ for many years.  Barthes’ personal history seems parallel with a tradition of the French poets and artists Gide, Cocteau, Rimbaud and Genet.  Also, the “green” component of this project is appealing in that the great majority of materials are recycled or reclaimed.”

Exhibition

In May of 2019, the Lover’s Discourse Project premiered at Rare Nest. The exhibition was complimented by a multi-channel sound installation by composer Edward Herrmann. The piece was comprised of readings from Barthes’ text by seven community members, layered and intertwined then broadcast from multiple locations.