The Courtroom Artist Residency Report: Residencies #9-12

This is a collection of reports from Public Collectors’ meal-based artist residency. During these sessions, artists and creative workers observed Criminal Court in Chicago, had a meal at Taqueria Milagro, and discussed their observations. Each residency lasted six hours, including transportation within Chicago. This third zine contains accounts of the ninth through twelfth residencies in this program.

In this installment, the four residents witnessed over a hundred defendants, many different judges, for a wide matter of different issues. The zine describes their experiences and outlier cases, including one where a lawyer attempted to be found in contempt to be given a new judge. It covers things such as the surveillance of people, the hobbies of many Chicago citizens and their crimes, the challenges of evidence that depends on technology and its bugs, and the experience of a victim’s advocacy groups.