THE HAPPY SHOW... yes, yes, yes. it is

How happy are you?  Stefan Sagmeister's exhibit will have you pondering this question as you meander through the black, yellow & white gallery wrought with the designer's quirky thoughts & poignant observations about humans, sex, life & happiness.  You'll smile, you'll furrow your brow, you'll laugh, you'll be surprised and - despite Sagmeister's warning on the first big yellow wall you'll pass as you enter the exhibit - I think you will leave feeling happier.  I know we did.

YES, YES, YES.
IT IS 

It's up to you to get yourselves to the Chicago Cultural Center by September 23 to check out The Happy Show.  Time's running out and you really won't want to miss this one.  If my opener wasn't enough to sway you, here's a bit more information from the Chicago Cultural Center's website...followed by some photos taken by yours truly.  

"Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister not only tests the boundaries between art and design, he often transgresses it through his imaginative implementation of typography. Filling the fourth-floor galleries and activating the in-between spaces of the Chicago Cultural Center, The Happy Show offers visitors the experience of walking into the designer's mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via meditation, cognitive therapy and mood-altering pharmaceuticals. "I am usually rather bored with definitions," Sagmeister says. "Happiness, however, is just such a big subject that it might be worth a try to pin it down." Centered around the designer's ten-year exploration of happiness, this exhibition presents typographic investigations of a series of maxims, or rules to live by, originally culled from Sagmeister's diary, manifested in a variety of imaginative and interactive forms.

To contextualize the maxims that appear throughout the exhibition, Sagmeister has gathered the social data of Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Steven Pinker, psychologist Jonathan Haidt, anthropologist Donald Symons, and several prominent historians. A 12-minute segment of the Happy Film, a feature length exploration of whether it is possible to train the mind the way we train the body, will also be on view." - source: Chicago Cultural Center

everything | I do | ALWAYS | comes | BACK | to me

A little secret to boost your spirits? #1 was the only gumball machine working when we visited.

"Uselessness is gorgeous"

capturing Garrett capturing gorgeous

double duty | #peddleandsnap

banana wall or banana stand?

EVERYBODY comes before THINKS

? ! ! ! .

(Garrett gets credit for this one)

THE HAPPY SHOW

Dates 

Saturday, July 13 - Monday, September 23, 2013

Location 

Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibition Hall & Yates Gallery - 78 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 

Hours 

Monday–Thursday, 9 am–7 pm; Friday, 9 am–6 pm; Saturday, 9 am–6 pm; Sunday, 10 am–6 pm

Admission 

FREE

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