The science of decay: Part Sally Mann’s What Remains, part Corpse Farm, our friends at the Science Museum of Minnesota are liveblogging the decomposition of a pig — all in the name of science. By Day 8, I’ve got to add: Gross-out alert!
Kitundu on NPR: A few days ago, NPR interviewed MacArthur “genius” grant winner and former Walker Performing Arts residency coordinator Walter Kitundu. Listen here as he describes how the phonoharp he invented works, how “trial and terror” experimentations lead to a few exploded turntables, and more.
Military “Muse”: Artworks from Suzane Opton’s “Soldier’s Face” billboard project are now on view at LA’s Stephen Cohen Gallery. The series was scheduled to appear in the Twin Cities to coincide with the Republican National Convention, but the local billboard company pulled the plug, fearing viewers might think the boards show dead soldiers (my colleague Chris Steller reports that one version was ultimately produced here). The LA Times‘ Christopher Knight offers an (ahem) dead-on explanation of the vulnerable, horizontal heads Opton features: They derive from Brancusi’s emblematic “Sleeping Muse” sculptures. Beautifully, Knight writes that Opton’s “vulnerable images depict the always shocking youth of soldiers who, like the Greek Titan who stole fire from the gods in Brancusi’s title, have witnessed devastating power up close. They seem almost shell-shocked, caught between the fragile beauty of youth and the desperate gravity of adulthood.”
Free form: Deerhoof (SM&M 2003 and last fall’s Walker concert) offers a free mp3 of its new single “Fresh Born” — and an invitation for fans to download the song’s sheet music, modify it, upload it to fans’ blogs and link to it on their site More than 30 people have already done so. Culture Bully has the “Fresh Born” video.
“Everything must go! Sofa-sized oils!” Twin Cities-based painter (and 2006 Whitney Biennial artist) Todd Norsten‘s having a “massive inventory reduction sale and funfest,” tomorrow evening in St. Paul.