Minneapolis, April 7, 2014—The Walker’s green space comes alive this summer as a dynamic place for social and creative exchange. Open Field kicks off June 14 as part of Northern Spark and concludes with the wildly popular Internet Cat Video Festival on August 14. What happens in between is a playful mix of planned and unexpected events. Open Field favorites return, including weekly public Drawing Club events and Acoustic Campfire concerts featuring sunset performances by local musicians. Throughout the season, The Walker also invites artists-in-residence to create and host activities for the community. This summer, Open Field artists-in-residence pay tribute to the spirit of Fluxus featured in the Walker exhibition Art Expanded, 1958–1978 (June 14, 2014 – March 8, 2015). San Francisco-based artist/musician Chris Kallmyer—who made his debut on Open Field as part of Machine Project’s Summer Jubilee in 2011—returns for a two week long artist-in-residence project called if all action were music (July 10–17). Additionally, Alison Knowles, a leading member of the Fluxus artist group, will be in residence with her collaborator, Joshua Selman, to restage her iconic event score Make a Salad on Open Field (July 10). New to the Open Field Experience this year is Field Lab. The Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab is transformed into a combination studio/classroom for artists to explore publicly-engaged practices. All forms of participation are welcome—whether it’s simply relaxing at the picnic tables or joining a round of Drawing Club —Open Field is what we make together.
Bring Your Program to Open Field
In the first three seasons of Open Field, more than 300 individuals and groups contributed to this festival of community-sourced activities. Offerings included everything from poetry readings, art-making, music, and yoga on the lawn to skill-share lessons with a twist. Find out how to get your program on the summer lineup: go to walkerart.org/openfield for more information.
Learn more at Open Field information sessions, held in the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab:
Thursday, May 1, 6-7 pm
Thursday, May 15, 6-7 pm
Open Field and Walker Gallery Hours
June 14–August 14
Tuesday–Sunday, 11 am–5 pm
Open late Thursday, 11 am–9 pm
Closed Mondays
Tool Shed
Open during gallery hours
Games, hula hoops, art supplies, sports equipment, books, radios, and more—all free for check out and use on the field.
Ongoing Open Field Activities
Drawing Club
Thursdays, June 19–August 7, 4–8 pm
Open Field’s Drawing Club invites participatory and collaborative drawing and discussion each Thursday from June 19-August 7. The sessions are open to artists of all ages, abilities, and aesthetics, and led by the Drawing Club team.
Field Lab
June 19–August 7
This summer as part of Open Field, the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab becomes an open laboratory and space for research and development for visiting and local artists. A cross between a library and archive, studio and classroom, the Field Lab will be an ever- transforming place enlivened with ideas related to publicly-engaged artistic practices.
Acoustic Campfire
Select Thursdays, June 19–August 7, 8–10 pm
Close out Target Free Thursday Nights with acoustic sets performed by local musicians as the sun goes down on the field. Jayanthi Kyle (Black Audience, Gospel Machine) brings a range of music from reggae to gospel, while Nona Marie Invie’s Anonymous Choir delivers choral covers of popular music from Neil Young to Leonard Cohen. A range of world music includes traditional Irish music from The Two Tap Trio, a set of cello and tabla duets from Michelle Kinney and Gary Waryan (half of Jelloslave), and Balkan party music from Orkestar Bez Ime. The summer is rounded out by an assortment of musical styles, from folk (The Erickson’s), to hip-hop (Toussaint Morrison), to pop music vocals (Eric Mayson with Lydia Liza; Fort Wilson Riot).
Acoustic Campfire Schedule
June 19
The Two Tap Trio (Traditional Irish)
Jayanthi Kyle (Singer/guitarist of Black Audience, Gospel Machine, and Jayanthi and the Crybabies fame)
June 26
Toussaint Morrison (Hip-hop & spoken word)
Anonymous Choir (Choral twists on pop favorites)
July 3
Michelle Kinney & Gary Waryan (Cello & tabla duo)
Fort Wilson Riot (Layered pop vocals with a variety of instruments)
July 31
The Erickson’s (Sister folk duo)
Eric Mayson & Lydia Liza (Vocals & keys)
August 7
Orkestar Bez Ime (Balkan party music)
Father You See Queen (Experimental music duo of Mark McGee and Nicole Tollefson)
Open Field Summer Residencies: Alison Knowles, Chris Kallmyer & Maria Mortati
Chris Kallmyer: July 10–17
if all action were music
Chris Kallmyer returns to Open Field for a two week long artist-in-residence project called if all action were music. Exploring action, sound, and music, Kallmyer will write and perform a series of event scores that position everyday objects and activities, like lamps and doing laundry, as poetic experiences. In the spirit of Fluxus, Kallmyer will re-perform famous scores by artists like George Brecht and Yoko Ono, whose work is featured in the exhibition Art Expanded, 1958–1978.
About Chris Kallmyer
Chris Kallmyer has composed electronic music using cheese, car horns, sheep and lawnmowers, as seen in his performance of the american lawn and ways to cut it in Walker Open Field. His work sits on the fringes of music and contemporary art, often engaging sound through touch, taste, participation, and process. He has presented work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, the Hammer Museum, the Getty Center, REDCAT, Machine Project, and other spaces in America and Europe. Kallmyer is an artist who works with Machine Project, is a member of wild Up, and earned his MFA in music from the California Institute of the Arts. He holds a BA in trumpet performance from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. In fall 2013 Chris was the first visiting artist at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in central New Mexico.
Alison Knowles: July 10
Make a Salad
Alison Knowles, a leading member of the Fluxus artist group, will be in residence with her collaborator, Joshua Selman, to restage her iconic event score Make a Salad on Open Field. While each performance is unique, the basic ingredients include Knowles preparing a massive salad by chopping the ingredients to live music, tossing it in the air, then serving the salad to the audience. Event scores involve simple actions, ideas, and objects from everyday life recontexualized as performance. Originally performed in London at the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1962, Make a Salad has been restaged more than a dozen times in cities around the world, most recently at the Highline in New York City in 2012, and in London at Tate Modern in 2008. Alison Knowles’ work is included in the Walker Art Center’s exhibition, Art Expanded: 1958-1978, which will be concurrently on view.
About Alison Knowles
Alison Knowles was born in New York City in 1933. She is a visual artist known for her sound works, installation, performances, publications, and her collaborations with John Cage and Dick Higgins. Knowles has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Documenta Professorship at the Kunstakaedmie Kassel, and the College Art Association Lifetime Achievement Award. Her work has been shown at the Whitney Museum, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; the 1983 Venice Biennale, Venice, IT; and the Guggenheim Museum, NY. She has performed at the Dia Foundation, NY; Museum of Modern Art, Strasbourg, DE; Museum of Modern Art, Marseilles, FR; and the Whitney Museum, NY.
Maria Mortati
Museum Exhibit Designer Maria Mortati will bring participatory design and an art practice skill set to the Field this summer. Mortati will craft audience experiments around the campus, mastermind mobile elements to engage garden visitors in pop-up activities that offer moments for pause, contemplation, and play. She is collaborating with Education and Community Programs staff on the Field Lab, which will transform the Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab into an open laboratory and residency space for research and development for local and visiting artists.
Free First Saturdays
Family fun on the first Saturday of each month, 10 am–3 pm
Enjoy Free First Saturday Family events on the Field, Saturdays July 5 and August 2.
Open Field Special Events
Northern Spark @ Walker Art Center
Saturday–Sunday, June 14–15
9 pm–6 am, Free
The lights stay on and the galleries remain open for Northern Spark, the annual city-wide dusk-to-dawn festival. Experience a 24-hour screening of the major cinematic work The Clock by Christian Marclay, catch the opening of the exhibition Art Expanded, 1958–1978, and view the exhibition Hopper’s Drawing: A Painter’s Process. Artists from the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Art bring Hopper’s iconic painting Office at Night to life as they sketch a tableau with live models.
Head upstairs to the terraces for amazing views of the city, poetry tarot readings presented by Rain Taxi Review of Books, and a multimedia installation about Sophronia, the two half cities—one stone, one a carnival—in Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities. Then get energized by glow-in-the-dark yard games and Drawing NIGHTclub in Open Field. The Garden Café by D’Amico and a range of food trucks—AZ Canteen, A Cupcake Social, and Gastro Truck—provide fuel throughout the night.
For more information about the festival, visit northernspark.org.
Graffiti Angel in Sophronia/a Netprov by Joellyn Rock, Kathy McTavish, and Rob Wittig is copresented with Northern Lights.MN.
Internet Cat Video Festival
Thursday, August 14
5-10 pm, screening at dusk
The Walker brings the Internet Cat Video Festival back to its origins as a free community event at Open Field on August 14. This year’s Internet Cat Video Festival will be programmed by cat video producer Will Braden, creator of the Henri Le Chat Noir videos. Braden has hosted several Cat Video Festival tour events and received the first Golden Kitty (people’s choice) Award.
Summer Music and Movies Closing Night
Monday, August 25th at dusk
Grab a blanket and join us on the grassy hillside next to the Walker for a special live score/silent film event. Nationally respected experimental musicians Laurent Estoppey, Ikue Mori, and Anthony Coleman perform the live score to Christian Marclay’s found film and computer animation montage Screen Play in “an extraordinary evening of looking and listening.” (New York Times)
