Recorded live from the Chicago Architectural Biennial’s booth at EXPO Chicago, Bad at Sports tailgates with artist Edra Soto and designer Dan Sullivan—Chicago’s unofficial art-world power couple. Soto unpacks her first solo art fair booth at Engage Projects, where monoblock plastic chairs, airbrushed T-shirts, and Puerto Rican vernacular architecture collide with memory, loss, and celebration. Sullivan, founder of Navillus Woodworks, riffs on craft, Ikea hacks, and the business of making high-end furniture while moonlighting as Soto’s collaborator and fabricator. "Dan helps."

What starts as a playful conversation about paparazzi, beer coolers, and chairs spirals into a meditation on grief, Puerto Rican cultural identity, and the design politics of everyday objects. Along the way, we hit Bad Bunny, the Bear restaurant, euphemisms around death, Catholic ritual, and the French (yes, the French). We close out with music talk—Sullivan on his bands Nadnavillus and Arriver—and a standing invitation for Bad at Sports to share the stage.

Death, dying, lawn chairs, and punk rock. Welcome to EXPO.

Artists & Designers

• Edra Soto
  • Instagram: @edrasoto
  • https://edrasoto.com/home.html
• Dan Sullivan / Navillus Woodworks
  • Instagram: @navillus_woodworks
  • https://navilluswoodworks.com/
• Ryan Peter Miller
  • Instagram: @ryanpetermiller
  • http://ryanpetermiller.com/
• Miguel Aguilar (Kane One)
  • Instagram: @kane_one_ 
  •  kane-1.com
  • https://www.3arts.org/artist/miguel-aguilar/
• Susan Gomes
• George Ortiz
  • Instagram: @georgeortizphotography
  • https://www.georgeortizphotography.com/
• Bad Bunny
  • Instagram: @badbunnypr 
  • https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/459095/bad-bunny-puerto-rico-residency-history

Institutions / Venues / Events

• Engage Projects
• Instagram: @engageprojects
• https://www.engage-projects.com/

 

• Chicago Architecture Biennial
• Instagram: @chicagoarchitecturebiennial
• https://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/

 

• EXPO Chicago
• Instagram: @expochicago
•  expochicago.com
• WBEZ
• Instagram: @wbezchicago
•  wbez.org/about 
• 105.5 FM Lumpen Radio (WLPN‑LP)
• Instagram: @lumpenradio  
• lumpenradio.com 
• The Franklin (project space)
• Instagram: @thefranklinoutdoor (site-run by Edra Soto & Dan Sullivan) 
• https://thefranklinoutdoor.tumblr.com/ABOUT
• The Bear restaurant (Sullivan furniture)
• This refers to the TV show The Bear on FX, 
• Art Basel
• Instagram: @artbasel
• artbasel.com
• The Armory Show
• Instagram: @thearmoryshow 
• thearmoryshow.com
• NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance)
• Instagram: @newartdealers 
• newartdealers.org 
• Color Factory
• Instagram: @colorfactoryco 
• colorfactory.co 
• Electrical Audio (recording studio)
• Instagram: @electricalaudio 
• Tenement Museum (NYC)
• Instagram: @thetenementmuseum 
• https://www.tenement.org/ 

Cultural Figures & References

• Yolanda, Lucetta, Anita (Puerto Rican celebs)
• Gilberto Santa Rosa
• Lil’ Kim, Lil’ Romeo, Neil Young, Slayer, Jeff Koons
  •  

Bands & Music

• Navilus (Dan Sullivan’s project)
• https://navilluswoodworks.com/
• Arriver (art-metal band)

image courtesy of Engage Projects