Odette Stout

Odette Stout is a reality artist and drag performer whose experimental costumes are a staple in Chicago underground nightlife. They stage intermedia performances that cast collaborating artists as otherworldly living artworks, called on to help tell stories from spaces where self-creation is a survival art practice. Their runway events synthesize fashion, digital installation, dance, drag and poetry and are designed to catalyze short experiences of the ever-present possibility of transformation. Their unique handmade silicone wearables, often augmented reality responsive, are lended out of their studio to local performers and artists. These wearables are documented through their many lives and uses as they gradually degrade and vanish into underground lore.

​ Notable exhibitions include The Sculpture Center, Currents New Media, Roots and Culture, Co-Prosperity, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Ars Electronica, Kinsey Institute, Hyde Park Art Center. In 2022 they received support from Chicago Artists’ Coalition’s ENVISION Grant and DCASE Individual Artist Grant to complete their project Local Legend, a mixed-reality runway performance dramatizing their queer family’s last year in Indiana. Local Legend was featured in the Chicago Reader’s annual Best of Chicago issue as the “Best art show that flexed on Chicago’s place in the new media landscape.” They have organized intermedia workshops at MOCA Cleveland, The Rock Hall of Fame, and Ps1 Close House. Other partners in support include 3Arts and Southern Graphics Council. Stout’s writing has been published in WUSSY magazine and featured at Poetry Foundation. They currently teach digital media at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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