Culture with Cocktails! Walker After Hours Celebrates Opening of Kara Walker's First Full-Scale American Museum Exhibition on February 16

A Walker Art Center After Hours preview party celebrates the premiere of Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love, the artist’s first full-scale American museum survey, from 8 pm–12 midnight on Friday, February 16. The exhibition, which travels to New York City and Los Angeles, showcases Walker’s signature cutout silhouettes depicting historical narratives set in the American South before the Civil War. Sponsored by Target, this Walker After Hours event features DJs; a screening of Brent Green’s Paulina Hollers, fresh from its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival; an Art Lab activity to create projected silhouettes; cash bars; Wolfgang Puck appetizers; the Bullseye Bellini; and the Party People Photobooth to immortalize the evening. Tickets are $20 ($10 Walker members) and available at walkerart.org or by calling 612.375.7600 (includes one complimentary drink). Save $1 per ticket when purchasing online.

Walker After Hours/Preview Party

Friday, February 16, 8 pm–12 midnight
$20 ($10 Walker members); includes one complimentary drink
Tickets: 612.375.7600 or visit walkerart.org
Save $1 per ticket when purchasing online.
New members receive one free ticket.

Exhibition Preview:

Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love

Galleries 4, 5, and 6
Among the most complex and prolific American artists of her generation, Kara Walker has gained national and international recognition for her room-size tableaux depicting scenes of Southern slavery haunted by sexuality, violence, and subjugation. The exhibition features her signature black cut-paper silhouettes, film animations, and more than 100 works on paper.

Target Ball Room

Gallery 8 Café, 8 pm–12 midnight
Experience Gallery 8 Café in the round when it becomes the “Target Ball Room” for the night, featuring DJ beats and the refreshingly bubbly Bullseye Bellini.

Art Activity: Light Profiles

Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab, 8–11 pm
Add your traced silhouette to a mural-sized wall installation that will change as more silhouettes and the projected shadows of passersby multiply.

Screening: Paulina Hollers (2006)

Cinema, 10 pm
Introduced by filmmaker Brent Green
Fresh from its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Paulina Hollers is a contemporary Appalachian folktale of a wayward boy who dies and finds himself on the way to hell. His desperate mother kills herself to help him escape his fiery fate. Above ground, the story plays out with stop-action figures constructed from rabbit bones and bird’s wings, while below ground the scenes are hand-drawn animations. Earlier animations by Green will also be screened. The New York Times has described Green’s films as “among the most original animations devised by an artist in years.” Program length 75 minutes.

Performance: Beats X 3

Beatrix*Jar

Gallery 8 Café, 8:30—10 pm

“In the glitchy, garbled, sonic universe of Beatrix*Jar, anything that makes a sound can be channeled into a song.” —Chris Roberts, Minnesota Public Radio

BeatrixJar is Bianca Pettis (Beatrix) and Jacob Aaron Roske (JAR). Formed in March 2005, the charismatic duo has adopted a do-it-yourself method for coaxing audio out of familiar and unfamiliar sources. Layering electronic beats, circuit bent devices, and spontaneous samples, the pair creates distinctly futuristic sounds with machines of the past. BeatrixJar also offers circuit-bending workshops at home and on the road to share their appreciation for non-traditional instruments and sound.

In 2006, Beatrix*Jar performed at the Bent Festival in New York and recently released its first CD, I Love You Talk Bird. They are currently working on their second release, tentatively titled Team Perfect.

DJ Marshall

Gallery 8 Café, 10:15–11:45 pm
Set yourself free to the substantial beats of Chicago-based underground house music aficionado Marshall Beecher of Plate C Studios. DJ Marshall has acquired an ardent following for his always danceable sounds that flow from deep and soulful to stripped down and tracky.

DJ James

Cargill Lounge, 9:30–11:30 pm
Step out of the fray and chill within the sizeable sound palette of record connoisseur James Leonardo in the Cargill Lounge. From vintage soul to old-school R&B to unexpected nuggets, DJ James has got you covered.

Party People Pictures

Cargill Lounge, 8 pm–12 midnight
Immortalize the evening with your best party people look at the Party People Photobooth and see your image projected throughout the party. View the photos on www.flickr.com/groups/walkerafterhours.

Win Prizes with a Rant or Rave

Share your thoughts about the selected “rant or rave” artwork and enter to win great prizes, including Target gift certificates, and more