YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL (YAB) is my favorite public art collective based in Chicago.

YAB is powered by a hundreds-large gang of anonymous visual artists that install the same three-word poem—"YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL"—on abandoned buildings, street posts, and, sometimes with the cooperation of the gov, in large-scale roadside installations. If you want to do it yourself, stickers are available for you to put someplace and add to the worldwide campaign to MAKE PEOPLE FEEL BETTER FOR ONE SECOND.

The next "poem" will be published at the third annual Printers' Ball in Chicago, at the Zhou B. Art Center in Bridgeport. The Printers' Ball is a yearly celebration of print literature, hosted by Poetry magazine and the Poetry Foundation.

For the past month, a handful of Chicago's most dynamic reading series presented evenings in collaboration with local print publications. The festival wraps up this Friday at the Printers' Ball party, where literary organizations of all kinds gather under one roof for a spree of the city's reading scene. That means free admission, magazines (yes, free magazines from virtually all the independent and university publishers in the city), live music, and much, much more.

Some highlights include a demonstration of the Gnoetry poetry machine, a Haunting Machine (as in ghosts) built by Terry Plumming, magazine installation by Chicago Underground Library, bands selected by Punk Planet and Venus Zine, a DVD screening from Shortpants Press (comics), and Reading Under the Influence. You'll see a lot of familiar logos (ACM, Court Green, In These Times, LVNG, TriQuarterly) and then some ninety more.

If you're in Chicago this Friday, do stop by:

The Printers' Ball
Friday, July 20, 2007 8pm
Zhou B. Art Center
1029 West 35th Street
Chicago

But back to YAB...