Opening Weekend: 9 Artists
By Alex Lauer
On October 24, the much anticipated group show 9 Artists opened in the Target and Friedman galleries. The night brought with it some surprises and kicked off an extended weekend of events in and out of the Walker. Much of the excitement came in the reveal of the night’s surprise guest—Phùng Vo, father of artist Danh Vo and the obvious subject of his piece Tombstone for Phùng Vo. Attendees had plenty to see, hear, and discuss amongst the wide array of installations from Vo, Yael Bartana, Liam Gillick, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Renzo Martens, Bjarne Melgaard, Nástio Mosquito, and Hito Steyerl.
Artist Danh Vo introduces his father, Phùng Vo, in the Walker Cinema.
Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu playing while Phùng Vo’s calligraphy is projected on the screen
Artist Danh Vo’s father, Phùng Vo, and family
Artists Renzo Martens and Liam Gillick in front of Gillick’s wall text, The State Itself Becomes a Super Commune (2006)
Artists Nástio Mosquito and Vic Pereiró in the gallery
Visitors discovering the many facets of the exhibition
Attendees watching Bjarne Melgaard’s Untitled (Bjarne Melgaard interviews Leo Bersani) (2011)
Artist Marie Karlberg in the gallery
Artist Hito Steyerl with 9 Artists curator Bartholomew Ryan
Danh Vo and a portion of his massive I M U U R 2 installation
Museum-goers inspect the contents of Danh Vo’s I M U U R 2
Hito Steyerl’s Red Alert (2007) glows in the middle of the gallery, Bjarne Melgaard’s video interview plays in the background
Natascha Sadr Haghighian with her piece de paso (2011)
Visitors observe Natascha Sadr Haghighian’s de paso (2011)
9 Artists is on view through February 16, 2014. Are you a Walker member? Make sure to come to the next installment of the ongoing series Art School: What the %#@! is Contemporary Art?; Art School: Visual Arts focuses on 9 Artists on Sunday, November 10.
