Target Free Thursday Nights at the Walker Art Center in April are highlighted by a Free Verse with poet Susan Howe and musician David Grubbs (April 29, 7 pm), copresented with Rain Taxi Review of Books. Mixing language and sound art, Howe, whose books include Souls of the Labadie Tract and The Nonconformist’s Memorial, and Grubbs, a solo artist and co-founder of the bands Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol, join forces in an encounter that takes poetry and music into new territory.
Other highlights in April include a gallery talk with Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander on the new exhibition Hélio Oiticica/Rirkrit Tiravanija: Contact (April 8, 7 pm); an art lab activity creating typographic self-portraits, led by Kindra Murphy of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (April 15, 6–9 pm); and a Designing Play Lecture with developmental psychologist Edith Ackermann (April 22, 7 pm), who discusses her work which explores the intersection of play, learning, design, and technology.
Sound Bites gallery talks, offered throughout the month on select Thursday evenings at 6:30 and 7 pm, illuminate an artist or work of art from the Walker’s world-class collection or one of its special exhibitions.
Target Free Thursday Nights
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Galleries open 5–9 pm; special events follow.
Free
Thursday, April 1
Sound Bites: Featured artist from the exhibition 1964, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker tour guides. Each highlights selected artworks, artists, or themes that serve as topics for illuminating discussions.
Thursday, April 8
Curator Talk: Hélio Oiticica/Rirkrit Tiravanija: Contact, 7 pm
Burnet Gallery
Explore ways that art can function as a platform for engagement while lounging in hammocks or piecing together a large-scale puzzle. Within the immersive installations of Hélio Oiticica, Neville D’Almeida, and Rirkrit Tiravanija, Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander gives an in-depth discussion on the participatory aspects of these two works and how they transform the relationship viewers have with art and each other.
Thursday, April 15
Designing Play Art Lab Activity: Type Face, 6–9 pm
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
Join graphic designer Kindra Murphy of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to create a typographic self-portrait by mixing and matching old-school transfer type. Recommended for adults and kids ages 10 and up.
The Walker’s Raising Creative Kids initiative is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Sound Bites: Cathy Wilkes: Commissioned work for Abstract Resistance, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
This 15-minute gallery conversation led by a Walker tour guide spotlights Cathy Wilkes’ floor installation commissioned for the exhibition.
Thursday, April 22
Designing Play Lecture: Edith Ackermann
Playful Inventions and Explorations: What’s to Be Learned from Kids?, 7 pm
Cinema
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 6 pm
How does play translate into creativity, innovation, and real-world grown-up life? Developmental psychologist Edith Ackermann talks about her work with people of all ages in exploring the intersections between play, design, learning, and technology. Affiliated with LEGO and the LEGO Learning Institute for more than 20 years, Ackermann also worked under the direction of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget.
The Walker’s Raising Creative Kids initiative is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Thursday, April 29
Sound Bites: Thomas Hirschhorn’s Abstract Resistance, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
This 15-minute gallery conversation led by a Walker tour guide spotlights Abstract Resistance, Thomas Hirschhorn’s 2006 sculpture featuring a cacophony of visual information, surfaces and colors, and disturbing “historical facts” that defy political correctness.
Free Verse: Susan Howe and David Grubbs, 7 pm
McGuire Theater
Free tickets available at the Hennepin Lobby desk from 6 pm
Language and sound art mix as poet Susan Howe and musician David Grubbs present their work live onstage. The pair joined forces on two projects, Theifth and Souls of the Labadie Tract, described as “neither traditional recitation nor music-with-words . . . in Howe’s imagination, the past becomes a very current stake, [and] Grubbs’ sonic architecture is a striking accompaniment to the text” (Artforum). Howe is renowned for her deft layering of history and myth in numerous books of poems, including Souls of the Labadie Tract and The Nonconformist’s Memorial, as well as the critical studies The Birth-Mark and My Emily Dickinson. “Words are artifacts Howe arranges and rearranges, fighting the impulse to impose order on a chaotic historical record” (Rain Taxi). Grubbs, a cofounder of three musical groups (Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and Gastr del Sol), has released 10 solo records. A frequent collaborator with writers, artists, and filmmakers, he has also recorded with the Red Krayola and the Wingdale Community Singers. Copresented with Rain Taxi Review of Books.
