The Walker Art Center’s Target Free Thursday Nights in April are highlighted by the panel discussion Rap Sessions: Race and Hip-Hop, co-presented with Macalester College (April 6, 7:30 pm). The forum features such hip-hop luminaries as Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture, and former executive editor of The Source, as well as Adam Mansbach, author of Angry Black White Boy, or The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay and Shackling Water. On the same night at 7 pm, is another edition of the Walker’s book club, The Artist’s Bookshelf, featuring the book Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Other highlights in April include a tour and performance lab for the Walker exhibition OPEN-ENDED (the art of engagement), utilizing artist Rirkrit Tiravanija’s sculptural stage (April 6, 6 pm); a karaoke battle/open-mic contest for prizes (April 20, 7 pm); a Free Verse with punk rock legend and author Richard Hell (April 20, 7:30 pm); and a Contemporary Art in Conversation between filmmaker Jem Cohen and musician Vic Chesnutt (April 27, 7:30 pm).
Target Free Thursday Nights are made possible by Target. Additional support provided by The Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Target Free Thursday Nights
Apriil 6, 13, 20, 27
Galleries open 5–9 pm; special events follow.
Free
Thursday, April 6
OPEN-ENDED (the art of engagement) Tour and Performance Lab
Bazinet Garden Lobby, 6 pm
Free, but reservations are required. Call 612.375.7600.
What is your story? How can you tell it? Engage in the art of performance using Rirkrit Tiravanija’s sculptural stage in the exhibition OPEN-ENDED. Explore key questions generated by Walker artist residency projects on this unique interactive tour and then craft a performative response.
The Artist’s Bookshelf: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Gallery 8 Café, 7 pm
In a timeframe that spans 1,000 years, British novelist David Mitchell weaves history, science, suspense, humor, and pathos through six separate but loosely related narratives. Choreographer Joe Chvala joins as guest moderator to share insights into how the novel informed his staging of Between the Fire and Ice (Mjøllnir II) last December at the Walker. Books are available in the Walker Shop and at the Minneapolis Public Library (www.mplib.org). Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library.
Rap Sessions: Race and Hip-Hop
McGuire Theater, 7:30 pm
Free, tickets are available from 6:30 pm at the Hennepin Lobby Desk.
Since it’s inception, hip-hop has been the gathering point for MCs, DJs, b-boys, and graffiti artists from all races and ethnicities. This mixing of cultures has formed a major cultural movement that effects individual communities and neighborhoods, as well as our society at large. Join five leading hip-hop writers, thinkers, and artists in a discussion of the changing face of race in America and how the hip-hop generation is processing race in radically new ways.
Panelists include Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention, author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture and former editor of The Source; Adam Mansbach, author of Angry Black White Boy, or The Miscegenation of Macon Detornay and Shackling Water; Oliver Wang, co-author of Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide; Ernie Paniccioli, photographer and author of Who Shot Ya!; and Deanna Cummings, curator of B-Girl Be: A Celebration of Women in Hip Hop and Executive Director of Juxtaposition Arts.
This program, part of the Walker’s Civic Engagement Initiative to encourage dialogue around topics of importance to the community, is made possible in part by generous support from the Bush Foundation. Teen Programs are made possible by generous support from the Surdna Foundation and Best Buy Children’s Foundation.
Thursday, April 13
Kiki Smith: A Gathering, 1980–2005 Tour, 6 pm
Thursday, April 20
Architecture Tour, 6 pm
Karaoke Battle/Open Mic
Target Gallery, 7 pm
Free; sign-up starts at 6 pm in the gallery
Limber up those lungs for this mighty contest. First prize is a $100 gift certificate to the Walker’s new restaurant, 20.21 Restaurant & Bar by Wolfgang Puck, and second prize is a Playskol microphone. The lucky person who places third receives a singing lesson from the winner. Immediately following the battle, join in an open-mic session. Sponsored by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council.
Teen Programs are made possible by generous support from the Surdna Foundation and Best Buy Children’s Foundation.
Free Verse: An Evening with Richard Hell
Cinema, 7:30 pm
Free; but ticket required; available from 6:30 pm at the Bazinet Garden Lobby Desk
Poet/novelist Richard Hell became one of the founding fathers of punk rock with the release of his seminal 1977 album with the Voidoids, Blank Generation. His reputation as a writer has been building ever since, through major works that include Go Now (1996), a novel about a junkie on the road in an ever-decaying America, and Hot and Cold (2001), a compendium of poems, essays, artwork, and song lyrics. His recent projects include the novel Godlike; Rabbit Duck, a new collection of collaborative poems by Hell and David Shapiro; and a CD retrospective of his music called Spurts: The Richard Hell Story (all 2005). Join him for a reading of both poetry and prose and a discussion of his work.
Free Verse is cosponsored by Rain Taxi Review of Books.
Thursday, April 27
Sharon Lockhart: Pine Flat Tour, 6 pm
Contemporary Art in Conversation: Jem Cohen and Vic Chesnutt
Cinema, 7:30 pm
Free tickets available from 6:30 pm at the Bazinet Lobby desk.
Shooting in hundreds of locations with little or no crew, Cohen collects street footage, portraits, and sounds. The resulting films include elements of documentary, narrative, and experimental approaches. His feature-length documentaries are Instrument (1999), made with and about the band Fugazi, and Benjamin Smoke (2000), co-directed by Peter Sillen. Vic Chesnutt is a singer-songwriter who sifts through similar material to write songs about the dark and beautiful side of human life, including his own. His 11 albums include Extra Credit EP (2005); Ghetto Bells (2005); Left to His Own Devices (2001), and Drunk (1993). This conversation between long-time collaborators begins with a projection and sound performance and features film clips, songs, and lively discussion about music and film.
Cohen’s most recent film Chain screens on Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 pm in the Cinema.
