December Tours at the Walker Art Center Provide Final Look at Closing Exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Tours in December at the Walker Art Center offer a last chance to see the exhibition Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, closing January 4. This first major retrospective of one of the most prolific, unorthodox, and controversial architects of the 20th century—a collaborative presentation with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts—features never-before-seen sketches, working drawings, models, photographs, furnishings, films, and other ephemera from various archives and private collections. A special double-feature tour at both venues takes place on Saturday, December 2.
December tours also examine Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis (through March 22), the late Japanese artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States, including the Target Free Thursday Nights gallery talk Electronic Kudo on Thursday, December 11, 7 pm, on developments in the ecology movement of the late 20th century using Kudo’s work and writing as a reference; ongoing collection exhibitions; and the Walker building.
Sound Bites gallery talks, held 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.
Gallery admission is $10 adults; $8 seniors (65+); $6 students/teens (with ID); and free to Walker members and children 12 and under. Admission is free with a ticket to a same-day Walker event, $4 with a ticket stub up to six days after an event. Gallery admission is free to all every Thursday evening from 5–9 pm and on the first Saturday of each month.
December Public Tours
Gallery and Architecture Tours
Thursday–Sunday, 2 pm
Free with gallery admission
Check the calendar listing, visit the lobby desk, or call the box office for details and tour topics. To schedule a private group tour, visit learn.walkerart.org or call 612.375.7609.
Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future Gallery Tours
Thursday, December 11, 2 pm
Sunday, December 14, 2 pm
Sunday, December 28, 2 pm
Tetsumi Kudo: Garden of Metamorphosis Gallery Tours
Friday, December 19, 2 pm
Sunday, December 21, 2 pm
Walker Collection Tours
Friday, December 5, 2 pm
Sunday, December 7, 2 pm
Friday, December 12, 2 pm
Saturday, December 13, 2 pm
Thursday, December 18, 2 pm
Saturday, December 27, 2 pm
Architecture Tours
Thursday, December 4, 2 pm
Saturday, December 20, 2 pm
Friday, December 26, 2 pm
Double-Feature Tour of Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future
Saturday, December 6, 1 pm (MIA) and 3 pm (Walker)
Free with gallery admission at the Walker; free at the MIA
Get a well-rounded look at the work of 20th-century modernist architect Eero Saarinen during back-to-back tours of this collaborative presentation at the Walker and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Visitors must provide their own transportation from the MIA to the Walker.
Target Free Thursday Nights Gallery Talk: Electronic Kudo
Thursday, December 11, 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
In his 1972 manifesto, artist Tetsumi Kudo proclaims a theory for a “new ecology” wherein he critiques the antagonistic relationship of man versus machine and offers a vision for a combined existence of the two. To contextualize these ideas, Andrew Opitz from the cultural studies and comparative literature department at the University of Minnesota leads a talk on the basic theories of cybernetics—which greatly influenced and inspired Kudo—and developments in the ecology movement of the late 20th century using the artist’s work and writing as a reference.
Sound Bites
December 4: Charles Ray
December 11: Art and Performance
December 18: Unexpected Materials
Free
Select Thursdays at 6:30 and 7 pm
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker curators and tour guides. Each offers an illuminating discussion, and participants leave feeling connected to new and exciting ideas. Carry this fresh, energized perspective with you to one of the Target Free Thursday Nights programs.