How Do You Visit Stacey Lee Gee’s ROTATOR at Chicago’s ARC Gallery?

Short answer

Stacey Lee Gee’s ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS is on view at ARC Gallery in Chicago through October 30, 2026. The exhibition connects sculptural work with the artist’s account of rotation, balance and living inside a future once imagined. On Saturday, October 24, at 7pm, Gee and markie present ROTATOR: PULSE, a one-time performance with erotic poetry, ambient sound and collaborative audiovisual work.

The exhibition and performance are different ways to encounter the project. Regular gallery hours are Thursday-Friday, 2-6pm, and Saturday-Sunday, noon-4pm. The October 24 performance starts after those regular Saturday hours. All times below are local to Chicago.

Key facts

• Exhibition: Stacey Lee Gee, ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS.
• On view through: October 30, 2026.
• Venue: ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation, 1463 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60642.
• Gallery hours: Thursday-Friday, 2-6pm; Saturday-Sunday, noon-4pm.
• Performance: ROTATOR: PULSE, Stacey Lee Gee and markie, Saturday, October 24, starting at 7pm. The event calendar lists a 7-9pm window.
• Admission and reservations: the cited pages do not state a charge or reservation policy. Check with ARC before making a special trip.
• Contact: info@arcgallery.org; (312) 877-5760.

What does ROTATOR mean here?

ROTATOR is a palindrome: its letters read the same forwards and backwards. In the statement published by ARC, Gee uses that structure to think about movement and presence. The word has a symmetry that can be grasped from outside, while a person living through change remains inside it.

The statement names a gyroscope, a bicycle wheel and a spinning top as examples of objects whose function depends on rotation. These are examples in the artist’s argument, not a checklist of objects confirmed in the exhibition. Gee connects that movement to the balance and disorientation of finding oneself in a life that was once only imagined.

A question to carry into the gallery is: where does a form suggest movement, and where does it suggest balance? That is an invitation to look, not a claim that every sculpture must illustrate the statement. ARC’s pages do not provide individual sculpture titles, materials or dimensions, so this guide does not assign those details to the works.

How does the performance differ from the exhibition?

ARC describes ROTATOR: PULSE as a collaboration between Gee and markie, presented within ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS. Gee will read from My Mouth Is for Salt, a collection of erotic poetry written in the California high desert. markie introduces an ambient/modern-classical direction under the name emmr. The program includes audiovisual works made by the two artists together.

The evening also marks the book release and the release of ROTATOR X EMMR, an album connected to the project’s framework of rotation and presence. ARC links that framework to the sculptural works on view. Rather than treating the sound as background to the sculpture, a question remains: what changes when an idea moves between an object, a spoken text and a recording?

For another Chicago example of text and sound in an exhibition, see Tony Cokes: On Boredom. The Melanie McLain: Peripersonal guide offers a separate comparison between an exhibition and scheduled live performance. Its listed October 10-18 performance dates have passed; it is not a listing for another event this weekend.

What kind of space is ARC Gallery?

ARC describes itself as a nonprofit, woman artist-run cooperative. Founded in 1973 during the women’s movement, it developed as an alternative to the mainstream gallery system and continues to offer exhibitions across media.

That history gives the visit an organizational context as well as an artistic one. An artist-run space is not simply a room where artists exhibit: the term concerns who runs the space and shapes its program. Here, the cooperative structure is part of ARC’s own account of its work.

The artist statement is also a form of context, but it need not settle what a visitor sees. Cultural mediation can connect a work, its setting and a visitor’s questions without turning that connection into a single required interpretation.

How should you plan the visit?

Choose between a regular gallery visit and the October 24 evening program, or check with ARC if you want to do both. Do not assume the gallery stays open continuously between the regular 4pm Saturday closing and the 7pm performance.

The program explicitly includes erotic poetry. The cited pages do not give an age policy, detailed access information or a reservation requirement. Contact the gallery for those details rather than assuming that an unlisted rule means no rule applies.

FAQ

When does ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS close?

ARC’s exhibition and event pages agree on October 30, 2026, as the closing date.

When is ROTATOR: PULSE?

Saturday, October 24, 2026, starting at 7pm Chicago time. ARC’s event calendar lists 7-9pm.

What are ARC Gallery’s regular hours?

Thursday-Friday, 2-6pm, and Saturday-Sunday, noon-4pm. The performance has its own evening start time.

Is admission free, and do you need to reserve?

The cited official pages do not state a charge or reservation policy. Ask ARC at info@arcgallery.org or (312) 877-5760.

Is the performance the same as the exhibition?

No. ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS is the exhibition; ROTATOR: PULSE is a one-time performance within it, with Gee and markie, poetry, sound and audiovisual work.

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Sources

• ARC: Stacey Lee Gee / ROTATOR: OSCILLATIONS: artist statement, closing date, gallery hours and performance start.
• ARC: ROTATOR: PULSE: artists, program, date, event-calendar window and relation to the exhibition.
• ARC: About: cooperative structure, history, address and contact details.