Looptopia
Encyclopedia
| Looptopia | |
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| Location: | Chicago Loop Chicago Loop The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago... |
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| Time: | 5:00 PM – 8:00 AM |
| Attendance: | 200,000+ |
| Venues: | 30+ |
| Events: | 130+ |
| Debut | May 11, 2007 |
| Website: | http://www.looptopia.com |
Looptopia was a dusk-to-dawn cultural event that was held in 2007 and 2008 in the city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Billed as "Chicago's White Night", Looptopia was modeled after Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival. A Nuit Blanche will typically have museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for...
held annually in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. It premiered on the evening of May 11 through the morning May 12, 2007 in Chicago's central business district, the Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
. A wide range of entertainment was offered in public spaces, while many universities, museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
s, restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s, park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
s and tourist attractions in the loop remained open throughout the night or offered extended hours. It was the first event of its type held in Chicago or the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Dance Party
A dance party was held in the Sullivan dock of the former Carson Pirie ScottCarson Pirie Scott
Carson Pirie Scott & Co., known informally as Carson's, is an upscale chain of department stores that have been in business for over 150 years. Their product price points are targeted to the moderate-to-upscale shopper...
store. The dance party was produced by MF Chicago, a local creative collaborative made up of artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s, DJs, VJ
VJ (video performance artist)
VJing is a broad designation for realtime visual performance. Characteristics of VJing are the creation or manipulation of imagery in realtime through technological mediation and for an audience, in synchronization to music. VJing often takes place at events such as concerts, nightclubs, music...
s, and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
ians, and featured house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, lighting and video projection effects. In addition to a multimedia show, the entrance to the dance party featured a neon
Neon lighting
Neon lighting is created by brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, presented neon tube lighting in essentially its modern form at the Paris Motor Show from December 3–18, 1910...
and broccoli
Broccoli
Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
installation by Chicago-based installation artist Josh Graff.
State Street and Daley Plaza
Theatre event engineering company Redmoon TheaterRedmoon Theater
Redmoon Theater is a Chicago based not-for-profit theatrical company under the direction of Jim Lasko and Frank Maugeri that specializes in site-specific productions, emphasizing visual spectacle, pageantry, elaborate sets, live music, puppetry, and physical theater. Productions are often out of...
had sight installations all along State Street that culminated in a roving performance with a final show in Daley Plaza that featured the capture of human-sized rat that was locked in a rat wheel that set off pyrotechnics before an audience estimated to number 15,000.
Musical ensemble Mucca Pazza
Mucca Pazza
Mucca Pazza is a 30 piece self-described "circus punk marching band" based in Chicago. The band, whose name comes from the Italian for "crazy cow," has been performing in and around the Chicago area for over seven years. Their repertoire ranges from Balkan-brass to covers of 60's television show...
performed at Looptopia on the Daley Plaza stage.
Oscar Shorts
In the Gene Siskel Film CenterGene Siskel Film Center
"The Film Center" redirects here. Not to be confused with the Film Center Building in New York CityThe Gene Siskel Film Center, formerly The Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and commonly referred to as The Film Center or The Gene Siskel, is the cinematheque attached to The...
, short films were screened throughout the night. Up first were short films from the students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
. These were followed by Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominated and winning shorts in both animation and live action.
Sci-Fi B-Movie Marathon
At the Chicago Cultural CenterChicago Cultural Center
The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
from 2 AM - 6 AM, classic sci-fi films were screened. Those shown included Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an American black and white science fiction film, directed by Fred F. Sears and released by Columbia Pictures. The film is also known as Invasion of the Flying Saucers. It was ostensibly suggested by the non-fiction work Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Donald...
, It Came from Outer Space
It Came from Outer Space
It Came from Outer Space is a 1953 science fiction 3-D film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, and Charles Drake. It was Universal's first film to be filmed in 3-D.- Plot :...
, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Miss Looptopia
Nine contestants competed in this mock drag beauty pageant held at the Hard Rock Hotel. Produced by a local LGBT marketing firm, the show was EmCee'd by Andrew Eninger of the gay comedy troupe GayCo Productions. There were comedy, musical and drag performance by GayCo members, local drag queens and other local performers. The announcement of the winner was carried live on ABC/Channel 7 "190 North" by host Janet Davies. The event reached its 350 person capacity before its start time of 6:00 PM.Aftermath & reaction
The inaugural Looptopia event exceeded attendance estimates and was generally well received by participants. Argo TeaArgo Tea
Argo Tea is a chain of tea cafes that was founded in the Lincoln Park community area in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2003. It is now headquartered in Chicago's Loop community area. It had more than a dozen locations in the Chicago metropolitan area before expanding in 2010 to New York City, where it...
reported their "best day ever" in terms of sales. The Chicago Cultural Center (on Washington Street) hosted a record number of guest
Guest
Guest may refer to:* A person who is given hospitality* "The Guest", a short story by Albert Camus* The Guest , a 2002 album by Phantom Planet* USS Guest , a U.S...
s (an estimated 10,000–12,000 people). Pizano's Pizza recorded a 50% increase in business. Local newspapers such as the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
printed favorable reviews, with the Tribune reporting "to call the inaugural Looptopia a success would be an understatement."
Criticisms of the 2007 Looptopia
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
bloggers spoke of the swarms of people overcrowding the event. Looptopia 2007 also fell on an extremely cold night for mid-May in Chicago.
- Although it is legally closed every night, Millennium ParkMillennium ParkMillennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, USA and originally intended to celebrate the millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city's Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a section of northwestern Grant Park. The area was previously...
, a publicPublicIn public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
outdoor park next to the loop, was by police control completely closed off at midnight. - Few restrooms were made available for the large number of people who attended the late night event. Those that were available were in centralized locations.
- Sound systemSound reinforcement systemA sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience...
inadequate—many people could not hear the music performed on stage at the Daley Plaza. - Some museums and other spaces closed their doors at midnight or earlier contrary to the billing and spirit of the evening.