Wandering Caterpillar is meant to be a central information point for the part of Chicago's contemporary art scene that is often fluctuating or hard to find. It aims to maintain a current and comprehensive list of the artists' run, experimental, alternative, non-profit, one-time-only and apartment galleries in Chicago. Wandering Caterpillar tries to focus on the spaces you wouldn't notice or hear about otherwise. Ideally, this site will get more people, especially curators and collectors, out into Chicago's many alternative art spaces.

To keep the site focused, I have excluded venues that are mature and prominent. For example, I have excluded the Museum of Contemporary Art as well as Chicago's premiere contemporary art non-profit Threewalls. I have also decided to exclude spaces such as Gallery 400 which are affiliated with academic institutions. And, I have excluded the commercial galleries in the River North and West Loop neighborhoods. Most of these are listed in the Chicago Gallery New's Gallery Guide.

This site succeeds two other similar Chicago-based projects. On The Make is a website documenting, listing the art openings, lectures and spaces across Chicago. Phonebook, put out by Threewalls and Green Lantern Press, is an annual (tangible) book listing alternative spaces across the nation.

If you have any suggestions, additions or editions, please contact wanderingcaterpillar [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks to Lucia Fabio for drawing the wandering caterpillar!