The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

Come out and meet your school board candidates for School Board Districts 6B & 10A (find which school board district you are in here: votechicagoschoolboard.org.) You’ll get an opportunity to hear about their platform directly from them and ask questions so you can make an informed decision at the ballot box this November 3rd. RSVP today!

City Bureau is turning 10 and they are celebrating their first decade at Experimental Station this Friday, October 23!

The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

Where does anger live in your body, and what does it want you to know? Join poet Kemi Alabi for a speculative theory of fibroids and fruit-filled Full Moon in Aries rage ritual. Featuring music by DJ Love Marie, fruit banquet and libations by Alexandra Antoine, and somatic support by Liberation Healing, we'll shake, smash, speak, feel, and air out what ails us.

From September 24–26, Villa Albertine Chicago and MAS Context will present a three-day public symposium on architecture in Chicago, bringing together leading voices to explore the future of sustainable architecture. Experimental Station is excited to host the symposium on Friday, September 25, at our space.

Next City’s annual Vanguard conference convenes a cross-sector cohort of rising urban innovators shaping the future of equitable and sustainable cities.

Private Event – Hosted by the Magnificent Mile Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

We’re proud to once again welcome the Magnificent Mile Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. to Experimental Station in 2026 for their Teen Group Meeting.

The first-ever Chicago Youth Bike Summit is happening this month at Experimental Station! 🚲

Hosted by Blackstone Bicycle Works, the summit will bring young cyclists together to connect, develop new skills, and gain the tools to advocate for safer, more accessible bicycle infrastructure in their communities.

Love finds a way to bloom.

Set in Nairobi, Rafiki follows two young women whose unexpected connection grows into something more as they navigate family, community, and the expectations surrounding them.

Come for the movie, stay for the conversation and community connection. 🍿✨

TIMELESS is more than a show—it’s an evening celebrating Chicago artists and bringing the community together. Join us for a night of music, connection, and Chicago creativity, featuring an incredible lineup of local musicians and creatives.

Ground Rules: Games Night — We’ve got giant Jenga too.
Join us for an evening of play, friendly competition, and community connection—ping pong, giant Jenga, cards, and more. Free and family-friendly!

The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

Join HCL for an artist-led conversation about disability, art, and the archive. Three artists working in different ways to engage with, investigate, and create archives will discuss the issues and opportunities they encounter in their practices.

Ground Rules Movie Night: Fresh Kill—Released in 1994, Fresh Kill by Shu Lea Cheang is a cyberpunk eco-thriller that was far ahead of its time. Bold, expressive, and uncompromising, the film is a wild ride through environmental activism, media satire, and the emerging chaos of the early internet. More than 30 years later, Shu Lea Cheang's visionary storytelling remains strikingly relevant.

This summer, Friends of the Parks is hosting a series of Community Dialogues across the city, inviting neighbors to share their vision for the future of Chicago's public spaces. Next Tuesday, the organization will host its South Side Community Dialogue at Experimental Station.

The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

A physically integrated tango dance theater show presented by Tango 21 Dance Theater!

July 17–19, 2026

7 pm doors open, 7:30 pm show

Physically Integrated Tango Class & Ground Rules Game Night

🕺 Argentine Tango Class
7:00–8:00 PM

🎲 Ground Rules Game Night
7:00–10:00 PM

Ground Rules: Games Night — We’ve got giant Jenga too.
Join us for an evening of play, friendly competition, and community connection—ping pong, giant Jenga, cards, and more. Free and family-friendly!

The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

Ground Rules Movie Night: Paris Is Burning—is a landmark documentary celebrating queer community through 1980s NYC’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene.

Co-hosted by Common Threads & Experimental Station

MonteCristo2020 is an original musical based on Alexander Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo with book and lyrics by Susan Harris and music by Bill Hohnke.

By Hyde Park Community Players

MonteCristo2020 is an original musical based on Alexander Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo with book and lyrics by Susan Harris and music by Bill Hohnke.

By Hyde Park Community Players

MonteCristo2020 is an original musical based on Alexander Dumas’s novel The Count of Monte Cristo with book and lyrics by Susan Harris and music by Bill Hohnke.

By Hyde Park Community Players

Ground Rules: Games Night — We’ve got giant Jenga too.
Join us for an evening of play, friendly competition, and community connection—ping pong, giant Jenga, cards, and more. Free and family-friendly!

Hyde Park Community Players brings MonteCristo2020 to Experimental Station this May—an original musical inspired by The Count of Monte Cristo, with book and lyrics by Susan Harris and music by Bill Hohnke.

Performance Dates:
May 29–31 & June 5–7, 2026
📍 Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave.

The Portal is an artist-led live event series by ChiBrations that brings together creatives, organizers, and facilitators to play, collaborate, and experiment through art.

This year’s Portal Jams feature interactive media, live music, featured speakers, jam sessions, vendors, and food—creating space for connection, curiosity, and collective creativity.

Blank Box, Homeroom’s newest iteration, comes to Experimental Station on Friday, May 15. The program features Ritual, a new work for multimedia ensemble by Julian Otis.

Ground Rules Movie Night: Saving Face—is a romantic comedy-drama that blends love, family pressure, and cultural expectations in the Chinese American community.

Co-hosted by Common Threads & Experimental Station