A Walker Art Center
After Hours Preview Party
celebrates the opening of The Quick and the Dead from 9 pm–12 midnight on Friday, April 24, an exhibition that considers the romantic legacy of conceptual art, reaffirming its ability to engage with some of the deeper mysteries and questions of our lives. Expanding outside the Walker’s main galleries to its public spaces, parking ramp, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and the nearby Basilica of Saint Mary, the show brings together works by an international roster of 53 artists. Sponsored by Target, this Walker After Hours event features music by To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie and DJ Leonardo; screenings of the films Map of Parallel 52 N, at a scale of one degree longitude, Powers of 10, and CROSSROADS; a scientific art-making activity; cash bars; Wolfgang Puck appetizers; Party People Pictures; and an After After Hours midnight performance of John Cage’s Organ2/ASLSP. Tickets are $35 ($25 Walker members), and are available at walkerart.org or by calling 612.375.7600 (includes one complimentary drink). Save $2 per ticket when purchasing online. Tickets are limited; advance purchase recommended.
Walker After Hours/Preview Party
Friday, April 24, 9 pm–12 midnight
$35 ($25 Walker members)
Tickets: 612.375.7600 or visit walkerart.org
Save $2 per ticket when purchasing online.
New members may choose one free ticket for joining, while tickets remain.
Exhibition Preview:
The Quick and the Dead
Galleries 4, 5, and 6
Offering profound ways of seeing things beyond the immediately visible, the exhibition surveys art that reaches beyond itself to describe the limits of what we know—and the immensity of what we don’t. This experimental exhibition juxtaposes a core group of works from the 1960s and ’70s with more recent examples, featuring new works and a number that have not been previously shown.
Art Activity
Improbable Substances: Science and Art Meet
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab, 9:15–11:15 pm
Explore the scientific world through art experiments in the Art Lab. From 3D paper activities to mixing solutions, the conceptual art world is explored through hands-on experiments.
Film Screenings: Art and Science
Cinema, 9:30 and 10:45 pm
Program length: 49 minutes
Map of Parallel 52 N, at a scale of one degree longitude
Directed by Helen Mirra
Mirra’s silent film breaks down geography into colors as she traverses the world across a map at 52 degrees north. In her hand-painting film, the screen transforms in to a wash of blue representing areas covered water and green, the land. 1999, 16mm, silent, 11 minutes.
Powers of 10
Directed by Charles and Ray Eames
The Eames have created one of the most breathtaking films illustrating a mathematical construct. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out and we reach the limits of our galaxy. The film reverses to bring us back to earth and further down to the interior of a proton of a carbon atom. 1977, 16mm transferred to DVD, 9 minutes.
CROSSROADS
Directed by Bruce Conner
Conner’s rarely-screened film consists of 23 unedited shots derived from declassified U.S. Government footage of the first underwater atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll, July 25, 1946, made available through the National Archives, Washington, D.C. The cameras began filming before the explosion and continued to the end of the film roll. Some of the film was shot at very high speed, and other sections appear to be fogged by radiation. All of the footage is marked by the duress of its original production. With music by Patrick Gleeson and Terry Riley. 1976, 35mm,
36 minutes
DJ Leonardo
Cargill Lounge, 9:30–11:30 pm
DJ Leonardo is an aspiring librarian living in Minneapolis. His DJ sets are eclectic, energetic, and educational. DJ Leonardo only plays all analog, 100% authentic vinyl, the way it should be.
Performance: To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie
Gallery 8, 10–11:45 pm
Having found apt comparisons to Portishead, Cocteau Twins, and early Björk, To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie creates a near perfect storm of structure and chaos, melody and noise, the precise and the random. TKAPB consists of Jehna Wilhelm (guitar and vocals), Mark McGee (electronics and sound manipulation), Jesse Ackerley (guitar), Tom Helgerson (electronics and vocals), and Andrew Berg (bass, violin, and vocals).
Party People Pictures
Cargill Lounge, 9 pm–12 midnight
Stop by the Party People Photo Booth to document your experience, then find your face on the wall. View all photos at www.flickr.com/groups/walkerafterhours.
After After Hours: John Cage’s Organ2/ASLSP
Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis, 12 midnight
American composer John Cage (1912–1992) adapted Organ²/ASLSP in 1987 from his work ASLSP (1985) for solo piano. The title is derived from his direction to play the work “as slow as possible.” In a 1982 interview, Cage said that he wanted to make his “music so that it doesn’t force the performers of it into a particular groove, but which gives them some space in which they can breathe and do their own work with a degree of originality. I like to make suggestions, and then see what happens, rather than setting down laws and forcing people to follow them.” Christopher Stroh, the Basilica’s principal organist, will perform Organ2/ASLSP at varying speeds weekly through September 24 with a special closing performance on the final day of the exhibition.
A free shuttle bus runs continuously from the Walker to the Basilica from 11:30 pm–1:30 am. The shuttle can be picked up at the Walker’s Vineland Place entrance.