Walker Channel Archives

Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight post-screening Q&A : Wendy Keys : Talk

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Among America's most celebrated graphic designers, Milton Glaser is best known for co-founding New York Magazine and the enduring I♥NY campaign. Wendy Keys' affectionate portrait surveys the breadth of Glaser's work, which includes newspaper and magazine designs, logos and brand identities, interior spaces, and prints, drawings, posters, and paintings. The documentary offers a glimpse into everyday moments of Glaser's life and captures his warmth and vitality as well as the boundless depth of his creativity.

This post-screening discussion with filmmaker Wendy Keys discusses the process of making the film and Keys' thoughts on Glaser and the desgin world.

Artist Talk: Behind the Scenes with Ty Evans : Ty Evans : Talk

Thu, 21 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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From the benches of Barcelona to the streets of Shanghai, videographer Ty Evans (Fully Flared, Yeah Right!) travels the world with good friends filming skateboarding. Evans set the standard for the genre by combining the D.I.Y. spirit of skate culture with the precision of a Hollywood shoot. What appears to be a dream job at times is in reality a cumbersome tangle of irate security guards, difficult locations, looming deadlines, stolen equipment, and temperamental talent. Join Evans for a discussion about cinematography and skateboarding spiked with clips. Copresented by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council and Familia Skateshop.

Opening-Day Artist Talk: TomA!s Saraceno : TomA!s Saraceno : Artist Talk

Thu, 14 May 2009 23:00:00 GMT

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Tomas Saraceno talks with curator Yasmil Raymond about the ideas behind his work on view in the gallery as well as other projects, including his recent Walker residency involving the solar-powered balloon Museo aero solar.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Tomas Saraceno: Lighter than Air.

Designing Obama : Sol Sender and Scott Thomas : Lecture

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Dubbed a "strategic and smart campaign" by Fast Company, the Obama "brand" has received much recognition not only within the design community, but also throughout the nation and abroad. Sol Sender and Scott Thomas, creators of the official Obama logo and Web site, will describe their experiences developing this historic political brand. The event features a special exhibition of posters from Threadless Loves Democracy, a challenge to design the most unique and conceptual call to vote, sponsored by Sappi Fine Paper, Threadless, Rock the Vote, and Jones Soda. The conversation will be moderated by Paul Schmelzer, editor of the Minnesota Independent news site, author of the blog Eyeteeth, and contributor to Adbusters, Cabinet, Ode, Utne Reader, and other journals focusing on the intersection of art, media, and politics.

Sol Sender
As founder and principal of Sender LLC, Sol Sender spearheaded the logo development for Barack Obama's historic 2008 campaign. Now a strategist with VSA Partners, he works across disciplines to impact the communications of some of the world's most valuable businesses and brands. Over the course of his career, Sender's work as a designer and a strategist has been recognized by the AR100, the Webby Awards, The International Web Awards, Communication Arts, How Magazine and as a nominee for The Brit Insurance Design of the Year. A faculty member at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1999, his articles on design history and design education have been published and distributed by Allworth Press.

Scott Thomas
Scott Thomas (a.k.a SimpleScott) is constantly seeking the simplest answer to complex problems. His design pursuits began by studying architecture before bouncing to graphic design and web development. He started practicing design in London's Shoreditch, before moving to Chicago where he started focusing on user experience design informed through immersive user research. From products to websites, Scott works to simplify the experience of use. In 2006, he and 5 others began a design collective, lovingly titled, The Post Family. The group is devoted to supporting each others design habits, from silk screen to letterpress, from illustration to blogging, in an effort to "get back to the hand." In 2007, his career took a dramatic leap when Thomas was invited to join the New Media team at Obama for America. The chance encounter led Scott to becoming the Design Director of the historic Obama Presidential campaign.

Making Music Series: Jason Moran : Jason Moran : Interview

Fri, 8 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Jason Moran takes the McGuire stage for a special evening with the University of Minnesota's Whole Music Club. Local musician James Everest (Vicious Vicious, Roma di Luna) interviews Moran about his career in a program that includes live demonstrations, video, and questions from the audience. An evening not to miss!

Copresented with mnartists.org and the Whole Music Club at the University of Minnesota.

Timekeeper by Pierre Huyghe : Pierre Huyghe : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Pierre Huyghe's Timekeeper and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

All your last week's desires by Tobias Rehberger : Tobias Rehberger : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Tobias Rehberger's All your last week's desires and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

What Will Become of Me by Adrian Piper : Adrian Piper : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Adrian Piper's What Will Become of Me by and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

Bicho by Lygia Clark : Lygia Clark : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Lygia Clark's Bicho and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

All your last week's desires by Tobias Rehberger : Tobias Rehberger : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Tobias Rehberger's All your last week's desires and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

What Will Become of Me by Adrian Piper : Adrian Piper : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Adrian Piper's What Will Become of Me by and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

Timekeeper by Pierre Huyghe : Pierre Huyghe : Exhibition

Wed, 6 May 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Walker Art Center curator Peter Eleey discusses Pierre Huyghe's Timekeeper and the Walker's exhibition The Quick and the Dead.

Design at the Walker Art Center : Andrew Blauvelt : Talk

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Design Director and Curator Andrew Blauvelt discusses the history of design at the Walker Art Center, which dates back to the 1940s, when "design" was referred to as "everyday art," a concept used to bridge the gap between people's daily lives and the heady world of modern art. Since then, the Walker has hosted numerous exhibitions displaying the best of product design, graphic design, interior design, and architecture; published the influential magazine Design Quarterly; commissioned world famous designers to create everything from our building expansion to our custom typeface; maintained an in-house design studio and fellowship program; and integrated design into the fabric of the institution.

Objectified post-screening Q&A : Gary Hustwit : Discussion

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Join Director Gary Hustwit and Design Curator Andrew Blauvelt as they discuss Objectified, the new feature-length independent documentary about industrial design from the director of Helvetica.

Design at the Walker Art Center : Andrew Blauvelt : Talk

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Objectified post-screening Q&A : Gary Hustwit : Discussion

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Opening-Day Artist Talk: Sturtevant : Sturtevant : Artist Talk

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

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It's been said that Sturtevant is the only artist who can't be copied--but she is best known for making repetitions of works by artists such as Joseph Beuys, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, and Jasper Johns. She began this practice in the 1960s--some 20 years before strategies of appropriation marked the American art world of the 1980s. "The brutal truth is they are not copies; the push and shove is interior movement; the dynamics are the jetting of representation," says Sturtevant of her work. Her intentions are to "create space for new thinking, to trigger thinking."

During this rare appearance, the artist will discuss the philosophical base of this radical and influential work and the discourse on "the imposition of our cybernetic world and the zip zap of our digital world with its dangerous potent power." Sturtevant's Beuys Fat Chair is prominently featured in The Quick and the Dead, an experimental exhibition that considers the romantic legacy of conceptual art through works by an international roster of 53 artists.

Artist Talk: Mark Bradford : Mark Bradford : Artist Talk

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:00:00 GMT

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Using scavenged materials to create wall-sized collages and installations, Mark Bradford responds to the impromptu networks--underground economies, migrant communities, or popular appropriation of abandoned public spaces--that emerge within a city. Most recently seen at the Walker in the 2007 exhibition Brave New Worlds, Bradford's works draw heavily on his native Los Angeles, referencing events ranging from civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s to contemporary protests concerning immigration issues. For this talk, Bradford discusses his work, including a project for the recent Prospect.1 New Orleans exhibition: a 22-foot-high wooden ark built from the shell of a destroyed house and discarded material from the area hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Copresented with Art:21 in conjunction with the National Art Educators' Association national conference, April 16-21 in Minneapolis.

Free Verse: The Collaborative Artists' Book : Bill Berkson, Vincent Katz, and Lewis Warsh : Reading

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Many artworks in the exhibition Text/Messages: Books by Artists are the result of a creative alliance between an artist and a writer. Join us for an evening of verse and image with three noteworthy poets who have collaborated with visual artists on limited-edition books--Bill Berkson worked with artist Alex Katz; Vincent Katz joined forces with painter Francesco Clemente; and Lewis Warsh worked with video artist Julie Harrison. Each offers a brief, illustrated reading followed by a roundtable Q&A at which they'll discuss the dynamics of feeding the written word into a collaborative, visual work.

Copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Goodbye Solo post-screening Q&A : Ramin Bahrani : Discussion

Fri, 3 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

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Q&A with director Ramin Bahrani.

About Goodbye Solo
The differences in age and family culture create an interesting conflict in Bahrani's latest film. While Senegalese taxi driver Solo's winning joie de vivre is embraced by everyone he meets, he can't charm 70-year-old William, a mysterious fare he picks up late one night in Winston-Salem. When he asks to be taken to a location where many suicides have taken place, Solo attempts to discover why the man is so troubled. 2008, 35mm, 91 minutes.

Ellen Lupton, Baltimore : Ellen Lupton : Lecture

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Ellen Lupton's prolific career spans the realms of design practice, education, criticism, and curating, and is specifically aimed at bringing design awareness to a broader audience. She directs the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, where she also serves as director of the Center for Design Thinking. As curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum since 1992, Lupton has organized numerous exhibitions, including the National Design Triennial (2000, 2003, 2006), Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office (1993), Mixing Messages: Graphic Design and Contemporary Culture (1996), Letters from the Avant-Garde (1996), Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age (1999), and Skin: Surface, Substance + Design (2002). In addition to the robust catalogues that accompany these shows, she has written and co-authored the best-selling books Thinking with Type (2004), D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006), D.I.Y. Kids (2007), and most recently Graphic Design: The New Basics (2008). With J. Abbott Miller, Lupton's essays on design and culture were published in Design Writing Research (1996). Her writing has been featured in magazines such as Print, Eye, I.D., and Metropolis. She has a regular column, "The El Word," in Readymade magazine and her editorial illustrations have been published in the New York Times. Lupton is a 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, the profession's highest honor.

Part of Avant la lettre: Insights 2009 Design Lecture Series.

13 Most Beautiful Young Artists : Various Artists : Teen Art Showcase

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:30:00 GMT

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Inspired by Andy Warhol's Screen Tests and Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips' 13 Most Beautiful . . ., the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC) created 13 original films and commissioned young musicians to compose accompanying soundtracks. Join us for the resulting collaboration--a raucous night of live performance and film. Musical performances by Nakami Green, Daudi Long, MMMs, Henry Misa, Dylan Perese, Jon Mitchell and Denis Terzic, and Shallow Creek.

Experimental Jetset, Amsterdam : Marieke Stolk and Danny van den Dungen : Lecture

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Based in Amsterdam and founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers, and Danny van den Dungen, Experimental Jetset has been consistently reinterpreting the implications of modernism, often from the perspective of a youth-based counterculture. The studio is perhaps best known to U.S. audiences from their appearance in the documentary Helvetica (2007), and their dogmatic use of that typeface has become a defining aspect of their work and has influenced new generations of graphic designers. Experimental Jetset's iconic print work explores ways in which we are both shaped by and help shape our material environment. Projects for cultural clients include collaborations with the Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, Purple Institute, Centre Pompidou, Colette, Dutch Post Group, Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Le Cent Quatre, De Theatercompagnie, and 2K/Gingham, which released their iconic John&Paul&Ringo&George T-shirt design. The studio's work has been exhibited in galleries across the world, and in 2007 New York's Museum of Modern Art acquired a large selection of their projects for inclusion in its permanent collection. Since 2000, members of Experimental Jetset have been teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.

Part of Avant la lettre: Insights 2009 Design Lecture Series.

David Reinfurt, New York : O-R-G and Dexter Sinister : Lecture

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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At the vanguard of a recent wave of young designers whose practices blur the lines between the worlds of client-driven projects and critical investigation, David Reinfurt melds highly conceptual ideas with technological experimentation. After receiving his MFA in Graphic Design from Yale University in 1999 and working as an interaction designer at IDEO in San Francisco, he founded the studio O-R-G in New York, where his clients included the New York Times, AIGA NY, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Brill's Content, and Dean Sakamoto Architects, among others. In 2006, with graphic designer Stuart Bailey, Reinfurt established Dexter Sinister, a small workshop/bookstore on the Lower East Side. Counter to the assembly-line realities of today's large-scale publishing, the studio's process involves working on-demand, using inexpensive local machinery, considering alternate distribution strategies, and collapsing distinctions of editing, design, production, and distribution into one efficient activity. Dexter Sinister was featured at the Centre d'Art Contemporain Geneve in Switzerland and the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Reinfurt has written for magazines such as the New York Times Magazine, Dot Dot Dot, Social Text, Visual Communications (UK), Modern Painter, Metropolis M, Idea Magazine (Japan), and Nozone Empire. He previously held a yearlong research affiliate position at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT and currently teaches at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and the Rhode Island School of Design.

Part of Avant la lettre: Insights 2009 Design Lecture Series.

Documenting Culture : Jim Walsh, Xavier Tavera, Melba Price, and Chuck Olsen : Panel Discussion

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Elizabeth Peyton aims to capture people at "that particular moment when they're about to become what they'll become" Is she giving us a glimpse of a world rarely seen by outsiders? Writer and longtime music critic Jim Walsh, photographer Xavier Tavera, artist Melba Price, and documentary filmmaker/journalist Chuck Olsen talk about their work, the people and cultures they cover, and why the public is so interested in these subjects. Look for the online discussion which will take place throughout the exhibition at mnartists.org/peyton.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton.

Process Type Foundry, Minneapolis : Eric Olson and Nicole Dotin : Lecture

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

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Process Type Foundry has quickly become one of the most sought-after type foundries in the United States. Created in 2002 by Eric Olson, the company is known for its unique contemporary typefaces, extensive extended character sets, and custom commissioned work. Its early font releases included the rounded sans serif Bryant, the quirky modular FIG Script, and Locator & Locator Display, a type family designed to represent the Twin Cities. Klavika, released in 2004, has become the foundry's most popular typeface to date, appearing in everything from the Facebook logo to NBC's on-air graphics and magazines such as Blender and Architecture MN. Process Type Foundry has worked with clients such as the New York Times Magazine, Thomson-Reuters, and Chevrolet to strengthen their identities with custom type work, and in 2005 Olson engineered the Walker Art Center's new graphic identity. The studio's work has been featured in the book Metro Letters and in numerous magazines, including Eye, Nylon, PRINT, etapes, HOW, STEP, Metropolis, Task Newsletter, and CAP&Design. Prior to forming Process, Olson taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and was a design fellow at the University of Minnesota Design Institute and a graphic designer at the Walker. A principal in the company, Nicole Dotin received her MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, England, and previously taught at MCAD. In 2006 she joined Olson as the foundry's second designer.

Part of Avant la lettre: Insights 2009 Design Lecture Series.

Making Music Series: David Longstreth : David Longstreth : Artist Talk

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 01:00:00 GMT

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The leader of Dirty Projectors takes the McGuire stage for a special evening with the University of Minnesota's Whole Music Club. Local musician James Everest (Vicious Vicious, Roma di Luna) interviews David Longstreth about his career in a program that includes live demonstrations, video, and questions from the audience.

A History of Chapbooks : Eric Lorberer : Lecture

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

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From xylography to xerography, chapbooks tell the history of literacy and disseminate the expression of thought, from musings to manifestos. To enlighten us on this subject Rain Taxi Review of Books editor Eric Lorberer will give an overview of the chapbook, paying special attention to its fascinating history, its variable design elements and formats, and its vibrant role in contemporary literature and publishing. Rain Taxi, a nationally acclaimed journal, includes regular critical commentary on chapbooks and will be launching a Chapbook Finder feature on its website soon. The chapbook is generally a pocket-sized, paper-covered publication, noteworthy for being accessible to create and circulate. Its pages may contain edicts issued by the establishment or criticisms articulated by a counter-culture voice.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Text/Messages: Books by Artists and Multiples Mall: A Bookish Fair.

End of the Century : Laura Hoptman : Lecture

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:00:00 GMT

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Spend an afternoon in the world of Elizabeth Peyton. For the past 15 years, this artist has created intimate paintings, prints, watercolors, and drawings that make up a snapshot of contemporary popular culture. Join exhibition curator Laura Hoptman for an illustrated, inside perspective of the art world of the 1990s that gave rise to her career.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton.

The Art of the Book : Various : Panel Discussion

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 01:00:00 GMT

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Artists' books have always held an important place in the Walker's collection, yet they are rarely exhibited in the gallery. David Platzker, book dealer/scholar and former director of Printed Matter, Inc., moderates a discussion on the current state of artist's book production. Panelists include artist Buzz Spector and Harriet Bart, Sally Alatalo of Sara Ranchouse Publishing, and James Hoff of Primary Information.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Text/Messages: Books by Artists.

Young Jean Lee and Philip Bither in Conversation : Young Jean Lee : Interview

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:00:00 GMT

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Join theater innovator Young Jean Lee for a candid discussion about her upbringing, her perspective on theater today, the process of writing/producing her work, and the creation of both CHURCH and her newest work, The Shipment. Walker Performing Arts curator Philip Bither engaged Lee in this wide-ranging discussion during her recent tour to Minneapolis to present the Walker-commissioned performance piece CHURCH.

Samuel R. Delany : Samuel R. Delany : Lecture

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:00:00 GMT

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Spend an afternoon in another world with author Samuel R. Delany, who visits the Walker in conjunction with the exhibition Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis. Just as Kudo proposed a "new ecology" of humanity and technology, so has Delany's groundbreaking science fiction--including awardwinning titles such as Babel-17, Dhalgren, and The Einstein Intersection--offered captivating glimpses of hypothetical and shifting realities. In addition to science fiction and fantasy, Delany's highly acclaimed works include autobiography, literary criticism, and eroticism. His latest novel, Dark Reflections (Running Press), presents a devastating "portrait of the artist" for the 21st century. Copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Olga Viso on Ana Mendieta : Olga Viso : Lecture

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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Join Walker Art Center director Olga Viso for an illustrated lecture on her extensive research into the little-seen work of this celebrated artist. Viso's newly released book, Unseen Mendieta: The Unpublished Works of Ana Mendieta (Prestel), presents a selection of photographs and drawings from the archives of the pioneering Cuban-born American artist, many of which have never been seen before, including early studies and public art projects in development at the time of her tragic death in 1985. Viso, who served as director of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., before coming to the Walker, is the author of several books on contemporary Latin American art.

Mike Leigh Regis Dialogue with Scott Foundas : Mike Leigh and Scott Foundas : Interview

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:30:00 GMT

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Meet iconoclastic British director Mike Leigh in conversation with LA Weekly film critic Scott Foundas.

Presented in conjunction with the film retrospective Mike Leigh: Moments

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Donald Albrecht : Donald Albrecht : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:30:00 GMT

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Donald Albrecht, Curator of Architecture & Design, Museum of the City of New York, curator of Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, with an overview of this groundbreaking exhibition.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Jennifer Komar Olivarez : Jennifer Komar Olivarez : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:15:00 GMT

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Jennifer Komar Olivarez, essay contributor to the catalogue Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, discusses Saarinen's architecture of sacred spaces.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen : Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

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Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Architecture, and coeditor of the catalogue Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, on Saarinen's search for form.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Nancy Miller : Nancy Miller : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:30:00 GMT

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Nancy Miller, Associate Director, Center for World Heritage Studies, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota College of Design, on Saarinen's corporate campuses.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Beatriz Colomina : Beatriz Colomina : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:00:00 GMT

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Beatriz Colomina, Professor of Architecture and Founding Director of the Program in Media and Modernity, Princeton University, on Saarinen's use of the media.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Christopher Monkhouse : Christopher Monkhouse : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:00:00 GMT

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Christopher Monkhouse, Eloise W. Martin Curator and Chairman, Department of European Decorative Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, and essay contributor to the catalogue Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, on the design of the Miller House.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen Symposium: Tom Fisher : Tom Fisher : Lecture

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:30:00 GMT

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Tom Fisher, Professor and Dean of the University of Minnesota College of Design, on Saarinen's legacy in contemporary architecture.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC Q&A : Christopher Monkhouse, Tom Fisher, Nancy Miller, Jennifer Komar Olivarez, and Andrew Blauvelt : Panel Discussion

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:45:00 GMT

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Q&A with Christopher Monkhouse, Tom Fisher, Nancy Miller, and Jennifer Komar Olivarez, moderated by Andrew Blauvelt.

Part of the symposium Eero Saarinen: Beyond the Measly ABC presented in conjunction with the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.

Free Verse: The Flarf Collective : Nada Gordon, Sharon Mesmer, K. Silem Mohammed, and Gary Sullivan : Reading

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:30:00 GMT

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The controversial poetry movement Flarf began in 2001 as a small e-mail list composed of writers dedicated to the creation of poems using un-poetic language, often with the aid of Internet search engines (a practice sometimes called "Google-sculpting"). The Flarf Collective is now 30 members strong, with participants scattered across the United States and Europe. Join us for a special Free Verse Evening of Flarf as four of these poetry provocateurs--Nada Gordon, Sharon Mesmer, K. Silem Mohammed, and Gary Sullivan--share their unique writing procedures.

Free Verse is copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Performing Arts 2008-2009 Season Preview : Philip Bither : Lecture

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Senior performing arts curator Philip Bither illuminates the entire 2008-2009 season with personal stories and accounts; music and video highlights, including samples from Eiko & Koma and the Builders Association; highlights from Out There 21, the popular January performance festival; and the fourpart series UK Performance Now! (winter/spring 2009) that introduces new performance innovators from across the pond.

Merce Cunningham: Talking Dance : Merce Cunningham : Artist Talk

Sun, 7 Sep 2008 19:00:00 GMT

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Legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham joins friend and patron/dancer Sage Cowles for a conversation on his relationship to the Walker during his 50-year career as a dance maker. Stories about innovative artistic collaborations for which Cunningham is known set the stage for a discussion about one his most ambitious works, just days before it is performed. This talk is an exciting opportunity to hear about the upcoming performance of Ocean directly from its creator.

Artist Talk: Sharon Hayes : Sharon Hayes : Artist Talk

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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New York artist Sharon Hayes is mounting large-scale public performances titled Revolutionary Love 1: I Am Your Worst Fear and Revolutionary Love 2: I Am Your Best Fantasy at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Hayes will lead a postproduction conversation about this project and her work in video, performance, and installation. Copresented by the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

The Listening Project post-screening Q&A : Dominic Howes and Joel Weber : Discussion

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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Q&A with the directors Dominic Howes and Joel Weber.

About The Listening Project
The Listening Project is a cinematic journey in search of an answer to the question "What does the world think of America?" Surprisingly nuanced--even contradictory--responses are unearthed from the far reaches of the globe as we see how Americans are citizens of the world, not just their own country. 2007, video, 76 minutes.

Performing Arts 2008-2009 Season Trailer : Season Trailer

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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Welcome to our 2008/2009 season,

It is hard to imagine a more spectacular and fitting way to open a Walker performing arts season than by restaging, on the floor of a breathtaking granite quarry, the monumental Ocean. The most ambitious project ever conceived by Merce Cunningham and John Cage, two of the 20th century's towering artistic figures, this work embodies key hallmarks of our program-- high-level artistry, interdisciplinary innovation, audacious risk-taking, partnership, site-specific production, and a sustained commitment to artists--but pushes them to new, previously unimagined levels.

Ocean is, however, only the opening chapter of this diverse season's story. The 27 events reflect our world through the eyes of artists--what it means to be human and where our culture may be heading. The Walker's decision to commission seven new works for the season, one of the largest numbers in our history, helps fill a critical gap in the American cultural landscape, a place where many of our most essential innovators don't have standard support structures to sustain their work.

This year, the genre of music-theater is radically rethought by artists of distinctly different generations and backgrounds: David Gordon, Cynthia Hopkins, and Jay Scheib. The UK Performance Now! series surveys the rich and diverse "live art" scene in England and Wales, introducing four artistic voices new to the Walker and the United States. Some of the season highlights reflect on the social whiplash of our times (The Builders Association, Toshiki Okada /Chelfitsch, Young Jean Lee, Tim Crouch), while others look back to 20th-century history/artworks to rethink the age we live in now (National Theater of the USA, David Gordon, Jay Scheib).

The creative ferment bubbling up in the outer reaches of the rock and pop universe is reflected through rare concerts or special projects by such mavericks as Stephin Merritt / The Magnetic Fields, Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Dean and Britta, and Dave Longstreth /Dirty Projectors, who join a mix of global music innovators, modern classical composers, and new jazz heroes to round out one of the most fertile music lineups in recent years.

Extreme intimacy and expansive spectacle; increasingly blurred lines between disciplines; surprising, sometimes disturbing visions; new performance art forms offered in new kinds of ways--I look forward to sharing these adventures with you over the coming year.

Philip Bither
William and Nadine McGuire Senior Curator, Performing Arts

Secrecy post-screening Q&A : Peter Galison : Discussion

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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Q&A with a director Peter Galison.

About Secrecy
A compelling documentary peering into the invisible world of government secrecy and its tug-of-war with civil liberties, Secrecy delves into the 1940s origins of the national security policy and its unexpected consequences for contemporary democracy. Filmmakers Peter Galison and Robb Moss (The Same River Twice) utilize animation, installations, a mesmerizing score, and riveting interviews. 2008, video, 85 minutes.

Solutions for the Other 90% : Various : Lecture

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Good design shouldn't just be for the world's richest 10% anymore, and the Twin Cities is at the forefront of a new movement toward humanitarian design. In conjunction with the outdoor exhibition Design for the Other 90%, the Walker hosts an evening of short, rapid-fire, media-rich presentations featuring a cross section of designers working to bring sustainable solutions to the water, energy, education, health care, and transportation shortages affecting the 90 percent of the world's population that has little or no access to these products and services. Featuring presentations from Emily Pilloton of Project H; Tom Fisher, Dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota; Marc Swackhamer of HouMinn Practice; Stephanie and Kelly Kinnunnen of NEED Magazine; Jeffrey Swainhart and Cassie Neu of Architecture for Humanity; Gabriel Cheifetz of 612 Authentic; Peter Rich of Microfinance Alliance; and Anne-Marie Hendrickson of Compatible Technology International. Curated by Solutions Twin Cities founders Troy Gallas and Colin Kloecker.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Design for the Other 90%.

The Judge and the General post-screening Q&A : Elizabeth Farnsworth and Blair Gershkow : Discussion

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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Post-screening Q&A with director/producer Elizabeth Farnsworth and editor Blair Gershkow.

About The Judge and the General
On September 11, 1973, a coup d'etat against democratically elected socialist president Salvador Allende placed the government of Chile in the hands of General Augusto Pinochet. During his brutal 17-year dictatorship, thousands of Chileans were killed, tortured, and went "missing." Years after the coup, criminal complaints filed by the families of victims landed on the desk of former Pinochet supporter Judge Juan Guzman, whose investigations, he says, "opened the eyes of my soul." The filmmakers followed Guzman for three years in order to make this cautionary tale about the violation of human rights. 2008, video, 87 minutes.

Man Walking Down the Side of a Building : Trisha Brown Dance Company : Dance

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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The Trisha Brown Dance Company, as part of Year of Trisha, presented free outdoor performances of rarely staged early works. This day of dance reflected the Walker's long relationship with Brown and included the Walker-premiered Group Primary Accumulation on Rafts, first unveiled in Loring Park in 1974; her popular Spanish Dance from Line Up (1979); Spiral (1974); and the seminal Man Walking Down the Side of a Building (1970), which hadn't been seen in the United States since its New York debut nearly 40 years ago.

Museum Sculpture Gardens: Whose Idea Was That? : John Walsh : Lecture

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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John Walsh, Director Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Museum, looks at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the post-World War II explosion of sculpture gardens and parks built as annexes to museums and as independent outdoor museums. Where did the idea come from in the first place? Which, in addition to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, have been particularly successful? What might come next?

20 Under 20 Final : Various Artists : Teen Art Showcase

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Highlighting some of the best young talent under the age of 20, the 20 Under 20 Final featured a visual art exhibition in the Walker's Star Tribune Art Lab and a performance showcasing bands, rap, spoken word, and film in the Walker's Cinema. Participants competed in two preliminaries in May, at which a panel of judges and the audience selected the top artists featured in 20 Under 20 Final at the Walker Art Center on June 12.

Featured artists: Vaski, The Velveteens, Loud+2, Phonetic ONE, MG, Evan Gabriel, Jess Nelson, Tyler O'Neill, Abraham Pineda-Fischer, Moira Pirsch, and Sarah Beth Ryther

Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson : Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson : Artist Talk

Fri, 2 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Artists Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson emerged from the late '90s San Francisco-based skater/surf/graffiti scene, known to many as the Mission School, with portfolios of charged, figurative drawings and immersive three-dimensional environments. As a husband and wife team, the two collaborate often on projects, including an installation that runs from May 3 through June 1 at the Art of This Gallery in South Minneapolis. Join the artists for a talk about their processes, sources of inspiration and influence, and future projects. Presented by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTA C).

Next Exit: The Shifting Landscape of Suburbia : Various : Panel Discussion

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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In today's expanding metropolitan areas, the lines between urban and suburban are rapidly blurring. Population growth, immigration, and transportation are among the many factors that city planners, designers, and developers confront as they prepare for the next million people to move into Minnesota's suburbs. Join panelists Lance Nekar of the Metropolitan Design Center, Dan Bergin of Twin Cities Public Television, Michael Lander of Lander Group, and others for a discussion about the challenges and successes of new suburban design, how suburbs are becoming destination environments, and the cultural implications of these shifts. Moderated by Todd Melby.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes.

Trisha Brown: Talking Art and Dance : Trisha Brown : Artist Talk

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Join modern dance legend Trisha Brown for a candid discussion about her remarkable career as both a dance innovator and a visual artist. Performing arts curator Philip Bither and visual arts curator Peter Eleey add their insights on Brown's contributions to contemporary art and moderate audience questions.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Trisha Brown: So That the Audience Does Not Know Whether I Have Stopped Dancing.

Trisha Brown Drawing/Performance : Trisha Brown : Performance

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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In conjunction with an exhibition of her drawings, modern dance legend Trisha Brown improvises movements across a large piece of paper placed on the Medtronic Gallery floor.

Part of Trisha Brown: So That the Audience Does Not Know Whether I Have Stopped Dancing.

Standard Operating Procedure post-screening Q&A : Nubar Alexanian, Errol Morris : Discussion

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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Groundbreaking Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War) investigates what he calls "the mystery" behind the images that shocked the world; the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Utilizing more than 200 hours of interviews with Americans who served at the prison, Morris' latest film Standard Operating Procedure calls into question the blurred lines between followers and leaders, humiliation and torture, and "standard operating procedure" and creative license.

Morris participated in a Q&A when the film was screened at the Walker in April 2008.

Miloš Forman Regis Dialogue with Scott Foundas : Miloš Forman and Scott Foundas : Interview

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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Miloš Forman and LA Weekly film critic Scott Foundas discuss the director's celebrated career, punctuated by clips from his films.

Part of Miloš Forman: Cinema of Resistance.

Free Verse: Kent Johnson : Kent Johnson : Reading

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Kent Johnson achieved notoriety when it was discovered that he had authored poems attributed to a Japanese Hiroshima survivor named Araki Yasusada. Far more than a hoax, his work was intended to provoke questions of authorship, translation, artistic sincerity, and cultural desire. In the wake of the controversy, Johnson has continued to needle readers' notions about art and politics. In addition to Doubled Flowering, the supposed Yasusada poems, his books include A Nation of Poets: Writing from the Workshops of Nicaragua; Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry, edited with Craig Paulenich; Third Wave: The New Russian Poetry, edited with Stephen M. Ashby; and Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz: Nine Submissions to the War. Join us as Johnson reads from his work and discusses the intriguing issues related to authorship and originality that compel so much of contemporary art.

Free Verse is copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Youth Showcase : Various Artists : Performance

Fri, 4 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Local young spoken-word and video artists present works they created during the residencies of poet/theater artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and hip-hop filmmaker Eli Jacobs Fantauzzi, demonstrating how spoken word and media can serve as vehicles for personal expression and positive civic and social dialogue.

Ed Fella : Ed Fella : Lecture

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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When he was in his forties, Ed Fella returned to school to complete his undergraduate and graduate degrees in graphic design, after three decades as a successful designer practicing in the Detroit area where he grew up. Fella received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1987 and then headed to California to teach at the California Institute of the Arts. His innovative hand-rendered and manipulated typographic compositions, masterful collages, and prolific sketchbooks prefigured the resurgence of the art form and inspired countless other designers to find their hand again in the age of computer-assisted design and desktop publishing. Fella's work has been shown worldwide and has been the subject of several books, including Edward Fella: Letters on America (2000). In 1997 he received the Chrysler Award for Design Innovation and in 2007 the AIGA Medal, its highest honor.

Part of Reinventions: Insights 2008 Design Lecture Series.

Nancy Spector on Richard Prince : Nancy Spector : Lecture

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:00:00 GMT

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Join exhibition curator Nancy Spector for an afternoon of ideas on the work of Richard Prince. Images of the artist's major series illustrate this discussion of the ways that his focus on ordinary elements of American culture alters our sense of reality. Spector is chief curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where she has organized exhibitions on conceptual photography, the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Richard Prince: Spiritual America.

Project Projects, New York : Prem Krishnamurthy and Adam Michaels : Lecture

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Before joining forces to form Project Projects in 2004, Adam Michaels, a Minneapolis College of Art and Design graduate, was associate art director of Architecture magazine; and Prem Krishnamurthy, a Yale University graduate, had completed a Fulbright Fellowship and worked as a designer in Berlin and New York. The two forged a cool, calm, and collected aesthetic that resonates with their nonprofit and cultural sector clientele. Project Projects has emerged as a leading design studio working for such organizations as Artists Space, Creative Time, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Metropolis magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Princeton Architectural Press, the Van Alen Institute, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Their work has been featured in Japan's most progressive graphic design magazine, IDEA, as one of 100 of the world's most interesting studio practices, and identified by the Art Directors Club of New York and Print magazine as an emerging new design firm to watch.

Part of Reinventions: Insights 2008 Design Lecture Series.

Moving the Moving Image : Steina Vasulka, Amy Youngs, and Christiane Robbins : Panel Discussion

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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In the late 1960s, when artists began to use emerging media technology to push the boundaries of contemporary art, film, and video, women were on the forefront of that movement, pioneering the connections. Musician/new media artist Steina Vasulka, media artist Amy Youngs, Christiane Robbins, a cross-disciplinary director and scholar working in media arts, and others talk about the use of moving images in their work and the ways they leverage ever-changing technologies to serve their creative processes. Moderated by art historian Jane Blocker. Presented as part of the University of Minnesota's symposium Wonder Women: Art and Technology, 1968 to 2008, and the Walker's Women with Vision Festival.

Work Worth Doing, Toronto : Lorraine Gauthier and Alejandro Quinto : Lecture

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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Inspired by their shared experience as part of the inaugural team of designers at Bruce Mau's Institute without Boundaries program and its Massive Change project, Lorraine Gauthier and Alejandro Quinto formed their interdisciplinary studio, Work Worth Doing, in 2004 with the simple yet complicated goal of creating positive social and environmental actions for corporations, governments, and communities. Recent projects include: Now House, a demonstration project for green housing, which will turn a post-World War II house into a near-zero energy home; an installation and research project that asks the question "What if Greenland was Africa's water fountain?"; a proposal for civic participation in discussing democratic solutions to terrorism in Madrid involving text messaging and public projection; and Hyperborder, a research and book project about the U.S.-Mexico border in collaboration with architect Fernando Romero. Prior to Work Worth Doing, Gauthier operated her own successful communications design studio for more than 10 years, and Quinto studied new media and design at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and at the University of Brighton, England, and recently served as designer-in-residence at North Carolina State University.

Part of Reinventions: Insights 2008 Design Lecture Series.

Drawn Here: Sean Griffiths of FAT : Sean Griffiths : Lecture

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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FAT (Fashion Architecture Taste), as its name implies, pushes for a more inclusive architecture that is responsive to contemporary culture. Its quirky, allusive work challenges the profession's notions of acceptable taste and operates from the premise that architecture is a form of communication and should speak the language of its users. The London-based group, established in 1995, has developed a reputation for making buildings, installations, and interiors that embrace a more populist sensibility found in easily recognizable forms, the use of decoration and ornament, and a vibrant palette of color. FAT's projects range from the creation of a new "summer village and hobby park" in a suburb of Rotterdam to the transformation of a former Gothic church into the offices for advertising firm Kassels Kramer in Amsterdam to designs for trailer homes for artists in northern Scotland.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes.

Marian Bantjes : Marian Bantjes : Lecture

Wed, 5 Mar 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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After a decade working as a book designer and typesetter in Vancouver, British Columbia, Marian Bantjes decided to chuck it all and reinvent her practice. Widely hailed in the recent resurgence of ornamentation in graphic design, her connection to that tradition draws on her 20 years of work in painting and printmaking. Now a self-proclaimed "graphic artist," Bantjes produces designs of intricate craft, elaborate patterning, and complex ornamentation. Her work has been widely acclaimed and her projects include commissions for a limited-edition cover for Wallpaper magazine, catalogues and bags for Saks Fifth Avenue, illustrations for such publications as Yale Alumni Magazine, Wired, and Print.

Part of Reinventions: Insights 2008 Design Lecture Series.

Drawn Here: Teddy Cruz, Estudio Teddy Cruz : Teddy Cruz : Lecture

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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In a society increasingly obsessed with policing borders and erecting boundaries, architect Teddy Cruz operates in the zone between countries, disciplines, and cultures. "We should be turning our attention away from the wall and toward the landscape, the ecology, and the communities," says Cruz, whose work is featured in the Walker exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes. He has followed that admonition with projects of passion, gaining critical acclaim for engaging issues of community, sociability, and immigration, and for collaborating with community-based nonprofit organizations on affordable, sustainable housing and its potential to transform urban policy. A native of Guatemala, Cruz has won the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture, has his own longtime architecture practice (Estudio Teddy Cruz), and is a professor in the visual arts department of the University of California, San Diego.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes.

Contemporary Art in Conversation: JoAnn Verburg : JoAnn Verburg, Siri Engberg, Susan Kismaric : Discussion

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:30:00 GMT

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JoAnn Verburg's portraits, landscapes, and still lifes engage the viewer in a push and pull of time. Her images feature bodies floating in and out of space, newspaper headlines that recall past events, and olive trees that belong to no era in particular. In this conversation with Walker consulting curator Siri Engberg and Museum of Modern Art photography curator Susan Kismaric, Verburg discusses her 30-year career and muses on the ways artists performing on the Walker stage in the early 1980s altered her view of photography.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Present Tense: Photographs by JoAnn Verburg.

Performing Gender: Identity, Ethnicity, and Sexuality in Frida Kahlo and Onstage : EsmA(C) RodrA$guez : Lecture

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:00:00 GMT

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Frida Kahlo's primary form of artistic expression--the self-portrait--allowed her to use images of her body to comment on her daily experiences as a Mexican of mixed ethnicities, a woman, and an artist. This self-representation became an important act of performance that defined her life. At this performative discussion, Eden Torres, professor of Chicana feminist studies and chair of the Chicano Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, interviews drag queen/University instructor Esme Rodriguez (a.k.a. T. Kupin) on the staging of gender and identity in her work and in the art and life of Kahlo.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Frida Kahlo.

Drawn Here: Vince James and Jennifer Yoos, VJAA : Vince James and Jennifer Yoos : Lecture

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:00:00 GMT

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Vincent James and Jennifer Yoos, principals of VJAA, declare in their recently published monograph, "We believe that if the profession of architecture is to remain relevant, then the practice of architecture needs to become more plastic, not simply in terms of the appearance of buildings but in terms of how they are conceived, how they function, and how they respond to particular conditions." It is the degree and type of response that ultimately shapes the range of projects undertaken by VJAA since its inception a decade ago.

Rejecting the expectation of a signature style, VJAA adopts instead a self-described "polyvalent" approach in which architectural form is not the incidental by-product of various constraints but rather the careful result of responding to particular contexts--whether cultural, geographic, or social--and challenging programmatic assumptions as well as the performance of conventional building types. In this way, architectural form may be a response to a specific impetus, perhaps found in the client's proclivities, borne out of prevailing climatic conditions, or the desire to reframe social interactions.

This approach can be seen in such early works as the Type/Variant House (1996). Paralleling the owners' interests in serial collecting, the carefully modulated structures that comprise the house, which is located in the woods of northern Wisconsin, constitute a collection of similar yet different wood-lined, copper-clad volumes. Sometimes architectural form is a response to the subject at hand. For instance, the dynamic nature of rowing is reflected in the wavelike roofline and wood and steel trusses of the Minneapolis Rowing Club Boathouse (2001), which echo the rhythmic pattern of the oarsmen's motion. For a proposed museum of natural history in Cable, Wisconsin (2000), VJAA designed the structure as a symbiotic unit within its woodlands setting. A series of hourglass-shaped columns have been transformed beyond their traditional role of structural support and function also as light wells and water collectors, and in essence become chambers that can both sustain and display natural growth processes. Additionally, the building collects and processes rain water and wastewater through remediation ponds. In this instance, the conventional modernist strategy of blurring inside and outside takes on new meaning. The firm's design for a student union building at Tulane University in New Orleans (2006) examines issues of climatic regulation with a desire for enhanced social activity. At Tulane, VJAA employs a variety of innovative building systems and technologies that enhance both the social and thermal permeability of the building envelope, allowing greater fluidity of circulation between inside and outside and among dining, studying, and socializing zones when conditions permit, while providing protection during climatic extremes.

Although based in Minneapolis and known locally for its elegantly refined Dayton House (1997) and the aforementioned rowing boathouse, the firm's work is geographically diverse and includes projects such as the recently opened Hostler Student Center at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon (2007); residential loft projects in New York and Chicago; and an upcoming gatehouse for the University of Cincinnati campus. VJAA is the recipient of 10 national design awards within the past eight years, including six Progressive Architecture awards and two National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards. The firm's work has been published in Architecture, A+U, Architectural Record, the New York Times, Praxis, Architecture Review, and Perspecta, and most recently in VJAA, a monograph published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Janine di Giovanni : Janine di Giovanni : Lecture

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:00:00 GMT

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Janine di Giovanni is one of the world's top foreign correspondents specializing in human rights. Committed to working in conflict zones, she has reported from war-torn regions such as Rwanda, Nicaragua, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans for numerous major publications, including The Times of London, Vanity Fair, the New York Times Magazine, the New Republic, and National Geographic. Her many books include Madness Visible, a memoir of the Balkan conflicts. Join di Giovanni for a talk about her life as an international reporter and the responsibilities journalists hold to bear witness to the atrocities of war.

Joe Sacco : Joe Sacco : Artist Talk

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:00:00 GMT

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Joe Sacco combines the techniques of eyewitness reportage with graphic storytelling to explore complex, emotionally weighted situations in some of the most volatile regions of the globe. His series Palestine set new standards for the use of the comic book as a documentary medium, and his 240-page exploration of a Muslim enclave in Serbia titled Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995 received widespread critical acclaim. Sacco is praised for the depth of his research and his sensitive handling of delicate political topics as well as his dynamic layouts and sophisticated narratives. Join him for a visual tour of his celebrated approach to comics journalism. Copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Drawn Here: David Adjaye, Adjaye/Associates : David Adjaye : Lecture

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 01:00:00 GMT

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David Adjaye formed Adjaye/Associates in 2000, a London-based architectural practice that has quickly garnered international acclaim for its inventive approaches to the design of a variety of private residences and public buildings. Exploring the dualities of "private retreat and public engagement" and responding to the urban complexities of diverse sites and cultures has been central to his growing body of work. His projects in the United States include a new five-star hotel and residences planned for downtown St. Paul.

Although Adjaye has gained acclaim with residential and studio designs for notable clients such as actor Ewan McGregor and artists Jake Chapman, Chris Ofili, and Lorna Simpson, his work occupies a more grounded realm. Rejecting a signature style, his designs are elegant and occasionally enigmatic objects that choreograph inventive spatial experiences, stage the interplay of light and shadow, and explore an innovative material palette. Elektra House (2000) juxtaposes its sober, windowless front facade with a glass-walled rear, thereby transforming the structure into a kind of giant light box. The exterior of Dirty House (2002) has been coated in dark anti-graffiti paint, a gesture that signals a material connection to its urban circumstance while providing its owners a retreat from the city. Lost House (2004) occupies a "sliver lot"--a former delivery yard--between two existing buildings and uses a series of skylights, light wells, and courtyards to activate its chamberlike spaces.

The architect's civic buildings--which range from libraries to a performing arts center and multiresidential housing developments to marketplaces and community centers--actively explore the conditions of their public nature, providing answers to the architect's own query, "What is a public building in the twenty-first century?" His designs for two neighborhood libraries in London (2004/2005), dubbed Idea Stores, acknowledge their immediate context as multipurpose spaces for diverse communities. While their name suggests a specific retail experience, the libraries in fact evoke the sociability of a local marketplace: their distinctive, alternating green and blue panes of glass are reminiscent of the striped awnings of vendors' stalls that line the streets. The gray, etched-glass-clad Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, which opens in October, contains a series of distinct spaces whose arrangement Adjaye describes as "a mini city in itself, with galleries like houses entered from a street."

Adjaye frequently collaborates with artists such as Olafur Eliasson, with whom he created a pavilion to house the light installation Your Black Horizon, which debuted in conjunction with the 2005 Venice Biennale, and Chris Ofili, who created a dazzling wall mural in different tones of green for a cafe located in the Adjaye-designed Nobel Peace Center (2005) in Oslo, Norway. Adjaye's work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including Gritty Brits: New London Architecture at the Carnegie Museum of Art and David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings, which opened at the Whitechapel Gallery in London and travels to the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, among other venues. Another exhibition, African Cities, at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, where he is a visiting professor, offers a complementary insight into his philosophy. Over the last several years, the Tanzanian-born Adjaye has been photographing Africa's capitals, documenting both the "tropical modernism" of its colonial architectural legacies as well as the affinities of its more informal structures and inhabited spaces. What drives the project is a desire for architecture to perform its public engagement. Adjaye says, "What I am interested in is how they have a very strong public life: the markets, the way people use the spaces in front of their homes, the way life is lived as networks. The house is just a unit you sleep in. Even in Muslim countries that are very extreme, it still plays out. That is something we have lost in the West."

Frida Kahlo: Opening-day Talk with Hayden Herrera : Hayden Herrera : Lecture

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:00:00 GMT

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Art historian Hayden Herrera presents an opening-day talk about Kahlo's life and art. Herrera discusses ways that the artist's self-portraits chronicle the ups and downs of her marriage to muralist Diego Rivera as well as how they also helped her to cope with physical suffering. Kahlo's artistic sources, her relationship to Mexican culture in general, and her effect on a number of artists who came of age in the 1980s is also touched upon.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Frida Kahlo.

Artist Talk: Walid Raad : Walid Raad : Artist Talk

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Join artist Walid Raad for a performative lecture on his writing and visual art, which grapples with the representation of traumatic events of collective historical dimensions and the ways that film, video, and photography function as documents of physical and psychological violence. His recent work includes The Atlas Group (1989-2004), a project composed of audio, visual, and literary elements dealing with the contemporary history of Lebanon, particularly the Lebanese wars from 1975 to 1991. Raad teaches at Cooper Union in New York, and his pieces have been shown at documenta 11 in Kassel, Germany, the Venice Biennale, and the Whitney Biennial, among many others. Copresented by Mizna.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Brave New Worlds.

Brave New Art: Artists and Political Consciousness : Various : Panel Discussion

Fri, 5 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Join artists Jorge Macchi, Dan Perjovschi, Runa Islam, and Haegue Yang as well as exhibition curators Doryun Chong and Yasmil Raymond for a lively panel discussion focusing on, among other topics, the responsibility of artists in times of political fallout, globalization, and unstoppable technological process.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Brave New Worlds.

Brave New Worlds: An Introduction to the Exhibition : Various Artists : Introductory Video

Mon, 1 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT

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Produced by the Walker Art Center. The exhibition Brave New Worlds was on view at the Walker October 4, 2007-February 18, 2008.

Friends with You : Friends with You : Artist Talk

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Join Friends with You (FWY) Miami-based artists Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, known for their popular designer toy line, public art installations, new-form playgrounds, live performances, and multimedia projects.

Part of Student Open House: The Big Dance.

BA(C)la Tarr Regis Dialogue with Howard Feinstein : BA(C)la Tarr and Howard Feinstein : Interview

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 01:00:00 GMT

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Bela Tarr and film critic Howard Feinstein discuss his innovative filmography, punctuated by clips from his films.

Presented in conjunction with the film retrospective Bela Tarr: Mysterious Harmonies.

Catherine Sullivan, Dylan Skybrook, and Sean Griffin : Catherine Sullivan, Dylan Skybrook, and Sean Griffin : Artist Talk

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Catherine Sullivan is best known for her video work that explores multiple themes with historic and cultural references. Her newest project, Triangle of Need, continues this practice in a multichannel, multilayered video installation that combines elements as seemingly disparate as figure-skating, prehistoric communication, and e-mail scams into a work that investigates evolution, wealth, poverty and our global economy. For this talk, Sullivan and her collaborators, Minneapolis-based dancer/choreographer Dylan Skybrook and Los Angeles-based composer Sean Griffin strike up a conversation on their working process and how they turned a multitude of concepts into a successfully integrated piece.

Part of Catherine Sullivan: Triangle of Need.

Free Verse: Jerome Rothenberg and the Poetry of Picasso : Jerome Rothenberg : Lecture

Fri, 7 Sep 2007 00:30:00 GMT

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Few people realize that in addition to being one of the 20th century's most influential painters, Pablo Picasso wrote a body of poetry that Andre Breton described as "an intimate journal of the feelings and the senses such as never was kept before." Collected in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz and Other Poems, this writing is indeed Picasso at his erotic and experimental finest. Hear Burial coeditor Jerome Rothenberg present these riveting translations of Picasso's poetry as well as his own acclaimed verse, which is deeply obsessed with modernism in all its manifestations.

Poet/editor/translator Rothenberg's many acclaimed anthologies include Technicians of the Sacred, Shaking the Pumpkin, and the two-volume Poems for the Millennium. His most recent volume of poetry is Triptych, which assembles three long serial poems into one multilayered sacred text.

Copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Presented in conjunction with Picasso and American Art.

Performing Arts 2007-2008 Season Preview : Season Preview

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 05:00:00 GMT

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Dear Friends,

We count on artists to investigate the currents of our time and give us a glimpse of the future. Contemporary performing artists not only reflect the world we inhabit in unimagined, inspired ways, but they are increasingly pushing art forms in new, hybrid configurations, transforming traditional notions of live performing art and blurring the lines between visual, media, theatrical, literary, musical, and movement disciplines with abandon.

In 2007-2008, the Walker's performing arts season is filled with events that layer the social with the observational, the live with the digital, the conversational with the performative. Our five-event In: Site/Out series features artists who are expanding and redefining the nature of theatrical space and the lines between audience and performer. The New World Jazz thread explores the pairing of chamber and experimental music with centuries-old folk and classical traditions from Tunisia, India, and Norway. And the Walker's monthlong festival Out There celebrates its 20th anniversary by looking ahead to the next generation of trailblazers who are new to the Walker and to Minnesota.

Of course, established masters continue to teach and inspire us. In 2008, we commission interdisciplinary wizard Meredith Monk to create a new music-movement-theater work with visual artist Ann Hamilton, and we celebrate the pioneering dance, visual art, conceptual, and site-specific work of choreographer Trisha Brown. We are also thrilled to offer major productions by two of Europe's most important innovators--Belgium's Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker remounting one of her early dance masterpieces (in an exclusive U.S. engagement), and Italy's radical theater visionary Romeo Castellucci presenting his stunning large-scale work to Minnesota for the first time.

We hope you can join us on many of these adventures. I look forward to seeing you at the Walker this season.

Philip Bither
McGuire Senior Curator for Performing Arts

Why is Picasso Famous? Art Celebrity and Becoming a Fan : Joli Jensen : Lecture

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Was Picasso a genius, a self-promoter, a media icon, a product of the museum system, or all of the above? Each role brings to light different assumptions about ways that art, celebrity, and fandom connect, including the relationships between the "master" artist and the painters he inspired. Joli Jensen, scholar of American cultural and social thought at the University of Tulsa, explores evidence for each of these options.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Picasso and American Art.

Picasso and American Art: Opening-day Talk with Michael FitzGerald : Michael FitzGerald : Lecture

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:00:00 GMT

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Young painters should take up our researches in order to react clearly against us--the whole world is open before us, everything waiting to be done, not just redone." --Pablo Picasso, 1935

Picasso's influence on American artistic production is one of the fundamental stories of art in the 20th century. He stimulated generations of practitioners to create innovative new work, under the sometimes anxious influence of an artist they perceived as a "master." These contributions also include the development of institutions that supported new thinking about contemporary art. Michael FitzGerald, curator of Picasso and American Art and professor of art history at Trinity College, speaks about his extensive research on this topic and the process of selecting works for the show.

Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop : Cey Adams, Jeff Chang, Roger Cummings, and Rachel Ramist : Panel Discussion

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Since its beginning, hip-hop has left its mark on theater, poetry, performance art, dance, visual arts, film, and video. Though it is one of the big ideas of this generation, hip-hop is often subcategorized into such themes as "spoken word poetry," "street literature," "post-black art," or "urban art." This panel discussion focuses on how hip-hop is expanding in ways that cannot be so easily defined.

Cey Adams' graphics can be seen on countless album covers (Jay-Z, Method Man, DMX) and have been featured in clothing lines (Sean John), movies, and TV shows (Belly, Next Friday, Chapelle's Show). Jeff Chang, author of the books Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop and Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, has written extensively on race, culture, politics, and the arts for numerous publications. Roger Cummings is the cofounder and artistic director of Juxtaposition Arts, a North Minneapolis urban art center whose mission is to empower youth and community to use the arts to actualize their full potential. Rachel Ramist is a Twin Cities-based filmmaker and director of Nobody Knows My Name, which chronicles the stories of five women in hip-hop.

Presented by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC).

Free Verse: Kevin Young : Kevin Young : Lecture

Fri, 4 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Join poet Kevin Young for a reading of his own work and a discussion in conjunction with the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love. Although Walker is known best for her visually arresting silhouettes, her use of language in her artwork is just as striking and conceptually integrated. As Young says in the exhibition catalogue, the artist's writing serves to both connect and contrast elements in her work, such as history, race, and form. The editor of several anthologies, Young is the author of five poetry collections, including the recent For the Confederate Dead. Copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.

Becoming an Internet Phenomenon : Panel Discussion

Wed, 2 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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You can become an Internet phenomenon! Using MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, mnartists.org, blogs, social networking, viral marketing and more. Hear from artists and organizations that have had success getting their work seen and heard on the Internet. This panel discussion, moderated by Chris Roberts and Carolyn Petrie, will be useful to individual artists of all disciplines and arts organizations who want to utilize the web as part of their career or marketing strategy.

Moderators: Carolyn Petrie, freelance theatre critic and writer and Chris Roberts, host of "The Local Show" on Minnesota Public Radio

Panelists: Kathleen Kvern (mnartists.org), Hans Eisenbeis (The Current), David DeYoung (Howwastheshow.com), Emma Berg (mplsart.com), Nate Schroeder (Walker Art Center), Brian Beatty (MySpace Comedy) and Chuck Olson (filmmaker, mnstories and Blogumentary).

Becoming an Internet Phenomenon is a coproduction of Springboard for the Arts and mnartists.org.

Humor Noir : Simon Critchley : Lecture

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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I have a funny problem with humor, I guess, because I don't consider it fun."--Kara Walker, 1996

Humor is a complicated human response, prompting us to laugh at things both absurd and tragic. Kara Walker constantly tests these boundaries by employing her sense of humor within violent imagery. To address these issues, Simon Critchley, professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research and the Getty Research Institute, speaks about the definition and possibilities of the comic as well as humor's ethical limits and function in culture and visual art.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.

Violating Black Womens Bodies: The Legacies of Slavery in Contemporary U.S. Society : Dorothy Roberts : Lecture

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

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Kara Walker's portrayal of the antebellum South pays particular attention to the plight of women in slavery. Northwestern University law professor Dorothy Roberts approaches this subject through her sociopolitical work on the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues concerning reproduction, bioethics, and child welfare. Join her for a lecture linking the historical and contemporary use of black women's bodies as sites of control and experimentation as well as a discussion about the connections between the artist's work and her own.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.