Renaissance Society at the University of Chic

A catalog of an exhibition by contemporary artist Max Guy that uses The Wizard of Oz as a way to ask questions about society and culture.

This book accompanies Max Guy’s exhibition ＂But tell Me, is it a civilized country?,＂ an installation of new works centered on The Wizard of Oz. The title is drawn from a conversation between the Witch of the North and Dorothy in which the Witch defines ＂civilized＂ as not including magic.

Anchored in Chicago--where L. Frank Baum’s novel was written and first published, and home to enduring monuments to Oz fandom--the exhibition and book bridge the parallel universes of the Emerald City and its birthplace, drawing out the traces each carries of the other. A number of latent currents course underneath the work: critical perspectives on modernist urbanism, the peculiar products of fan culture, and the transformative power of storytelling and other acts of world-making.

This catalog features essays by artist and writer Brit Barton and the exhibition’s curator, Michael Harrison, as well as a transcription of a conversation between Guy and artist and writer Irena Haiduk. The book will also include a new artist project made specifically for the book in the form of an annotated bibliography created by Guy of writings and images that relate to and inspire his practice.