The Walker Art Center celebrates the completion of its building expansion, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron, with an exclusive
Members’ Preview Party
from 8 pm-1 am, Saturday, April 16, and a daylong
Grand-opening Celebration
, open to the public, from 9 am-9pm Sunday, April 17. Those attending Saturday’s Members’ Preview Party will be among the first to see seven new exhibitions, take in performances by local and national artists, including HIJACK and Bill Frisell, watch daring film screenings, take tours of the new building, and enjoy food and drink by Wolfgang Puck. Tickets to the
Members’ Preview Party
are $30. McGuire Theater performance tickets are an additional $5 each. For tickets, or to become a Walker member, call 612.375.7600. Sunday’s
Grand-opening Celebration
highlights everything the new Walker has to offer, from exhibitions to performances, including Philip Glass, films to family art-making activities, and tours. Special admission for the Grand-opening Celebration is $5 (free for members and children 12 and under), available on day of event only. Film screenings and Art Lab activities are free with admission. Tickets for McGuire Theater performances, on sale now, are an additional $5 each. A limited number of advance tickets are available online at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600. Free rush tickets available day of events (space permitting).
Saturday, April 16
Exclusive Members’ Preview Party
8 pm-1 am, $30
Events marked (*) require a separate $5 ticket for admission.
Dance
Joe Chvala and The Flying Foot Forum with special guest Ruth MacKenzie: Between the Fire and Ice (Mjøllnir II)*
9 pm, McGuire Theater
Minneapolis’ percussive dance master debuts excerpts of his new Walker-commissioned work, a mythic retelling of Norse legends.
Music/Performance
New Humans
10:30 pm and 12 midnight, Skyline Room
New York City’s New Humans collective perform living installations that combining avant-rock experimental noise and minimalist, op-art graphics that translate visual patterns into sound.
Music
Bill Frisell/Greg Leisz Duo*
11 pm, McGuire Theater
Experience the intimacy and superb acoustics of the new theater with composer-guitarist Bill Frisell and pedal steel master Greg Leisz.
Music/Performance
Tracy + The Plastics
11:15 pm and 12:15 am, Walker Cinema
Art-rock tunes, media manipulation, and live performance collide as Wynne Greenwood and her virtual band (Greenwood as Tracy, Nikki, and Cola) deconstruct the question of identity in an increasingly fragmented society.
Dance
HIJACK: Fetish (Minnesota premiere)*
12:30 am, McGuire Theater
The irrepressible and unpredictable Minneapolis dance duo of Kristin Van Loon and Arwen Wilder present the Minnesota premiere of Fetish, a work hailed by Tere O’Connor as “one of my favorite dances of 2004.”
Film
The Lush and the Glamorous: Films from the Walker Collections
8 pm-1 am, Walker Cinema
Works by all-star filmmakers inaugurate the Walker Cinema. Start out with William Klein’s biting satire of the 1960s fashion scene, Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, then stick around for daring films by Matthew Barney, Kenneth Anger, and Derek Jarman. In the Lecture Room, artist-in-residence Ericka Beckman’s Frame UP reimagines the Walker construction project as a pinball game.
Sunday, April 17
Grand-opening Celebration
9 am-9 pm, Admission $5 (free for members and children 12 and under)
Events marked (*) require a separate $5 ticket for admission.
Art-making Activity
Greetings from the Walker
9 am-9 pm, Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Drop in at the new Art Lab anytime to create a mail-art inspired by the new Walker, then sign, seal, and send to your family and friends.
Music
Philip Glass, Etudes*
11 am, McGuire Theater
America’s best known living classical composer comes full circle with the Walker: in 1970, his Minneapolis performance celebrated the new building, and he now inaugurates the McGuire Theater with a solo piano concert of his own, Etudes.
Dance
Mugiyono Kasido: Bagaspati (From the Soul of the Sun) (U.S. debut)
1 pm, McGuire Theater
Originally trained as a classical Javanese court dancer, Mugiyono has emerged as one of the most powerful new voices in contemporary dance. He performs his singular solo work Bagaspati, an intense, ritualistic piece of sound, moveent, and ambience.
Performance
Meredith Monk with Theo Bleckmann*
3 pm, McGuire Theater
For 40 years Meredith Monk’s perception-shifting works of theater, shining compositions, films, and extraordinary singing have redefined the notion of the multidisciplinary artist. Her long relationship with the Walker is celebrated for this historic opening in a performance featuring selections from Facing North. Monk will be joined by longtime collaborator Theo Bleckmann.
Music/Performance
New Humans
4 pm and 7 pm, Skyline Room
New York City’s New Humans collective perform living installations that combining avant-rock experimental noise and minimalist, op-art graphics that translate visual patterns into sound.
Music
Steve Tibbetts and Choying Drolma with guest percussionist Marc Anderson*
6 pm, McGuire Theater
Minnesota electric guitarist Steve Tibbetts beautifully complements Tibetan Buddhist nun Choying Drolma’s haunting chants to create works of ethereal power and spiritual grace.
Music
Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali*
8 pm, McGuire Theater
A memorable and mesmerizing close to the weekend with this 12-member ensemble of singers and percussionists from Pakistan who perform an enrapturing form of Islamic sufi music called Qawwali. Originally popularized in the West by the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, today it is carried forth by his proud torch-bearing nephews Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan.
Film
A Century of Film from the Edmond R. Ruben Film and Video Study Collection
9 am-9 pm, Walker Cinema
All screenings are free with gallery admission, no screening tickets required.
Get a condensed history of cinema with this daylong screening featuring highlights of cinema from the past century, drawn from the Edmond R. Ruben Film and Video Study Collection. On view will be silent films, including early Soviet-era classics, French Surrealist films, and key American experimental works.
For a complete schedule of events, visit calendar.walkerart.org/opening.