The Invisible Institute is a tough concept to get your mind around. It calls itself a “journalistic production company” that develops strategies “to expand and operationalize transparency.” The name itself is a joke: years ago founder Jamie Kalven was running a muckraking website, the View From the Ground, out of an empty apartment in a since demolished CHA high-rise along South State Street. To dress up the operation in ironic fashion, Kalven declared that the View operated under the auspices of the Invisible Institute, a name pulled from thin air. But it has a ring to it, and it’s stuck.
The Experimental Station, which houses the Invisible Institute (and City Bureau and much more) in Hyde Park, was also mentioned in the citation.
