Not many people know that, one hundred years ago, the Chicago Tribune put out a call for designs focusing on a new office building. The local paper made its selection and the Tribune Tower became an emblem of journalism and the city's skyline—but things might have turned out differently if officials had selected another contest entry instead.
Now, on the anniversary of the competition, cartoonist Klaus (birth name: Luis Miguel Lus-Arana) is exploring all those scrapped entries as part of an immersive exhibit in Downtown Chicago dubbed Welcome to Tribuneville: An Imaginary Vision of Old Chicago.
According to Block Club Chicago, Klaus has drawn 60 of the proposed building designs, incorporating each one in the city's landscape.
"Klaus’ imagination also seeps into his fictional Chicago, with flying machines, elevated walkways and monorail tramways throughout the scene," reports the outlet.
"This is a way of looking at a fictional city [and] what would Chicago look like in 1922 had 60 of these entries been built," Klaus said to the website. "You remember the one who won because it was built, and maybe two other ones or three that have gone into the kind of canon of architecture. But all the other ones actually, are lost as part of the memory of the city. So this was an idea of reclaiming 60 of them and then organizing into fictional neighborhoods."
Although the artist drew the work on 11 feet of paper (it took him three months!), the pieces are actually on display on 89 separate digital panels inside the all-glass lobby of 150 Media Stream at 150 N. Riverside Plaza, truly catapulting visitors into the city's skyline.
"The iconic design and location of the 150 North Riverside Plaza is a perfect backdrop for this installation that celebrates the exuberance of Chicago architecture," said Yuge Zhou, video artist and curator of 150 Media Stream, in an official statement. "Klaus’s work is a unique and meticulous reconstruction of history with tantalizing glimpses of a wonderous Chicago. The scale and structure of the 150 Media Stream feels like an ideal platform to envelope the viewers with his world-building."
Locals and tourists alike have until December 30 to catch the public art exhibit, which is open Mondays through Fridays from 11am to 2pm and Saturdays from 1pm to 10pm.