Target Free Thursday Nights in November at the Walker Art Center include Celebration of African Culture, Free Verse with Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, The Artist's Bookshelf, and a Film Screening
The Walker Art Center’s Target Free Thursday Nights in November are highlighted by the lecture Drawing as Primary Medium, during which the work on view in the Walker’s latest exhibition Eva Hesse Drawing is examined by exhibition co-curator Catherine de Zegher (November 9, 7 pm). Other highlights in November include another edition of the Walker book club The Artist’s Bookshelf, featuring Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (November 2, 7 pm); a screening of the film Stone Dream, introduced by director Hu Tai-Li, who will also lead a post-screening discussion (November 2, 8 pm); AfricaNOW: Struggle and Celebration (November 9, 6–8 pm), where visitors can sample African food, talk about the social role of the arts in African society, and enjoy previews of upcoming performances during AfricaNOW: Currents of a Continent, a five-part exploration of contemporary music, dance, and theater from across sub-Saharan Africa; and a Free Verse with Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, authors and legendary figures in the small press literary scene (November 30, 7 pm).
Target Free Thursday Nights are made possible by Target. Additional support provided by The Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Target Free Thursday Nights
November 2, 9, 16, 30 (closed November 23 for Thanksgiving)
Galleries open 5–9 pm; special events follow.
Free
Thursday, November 2
Heart of Darkness Tour, 6 pm
Book Club
The Artist’s Bookshelf: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab, 7 pm
Free, but reservations required; call 612.375.7600
The artists in the exhibition Heart of Darkness create fictional worlds that explore darkness as a fantastical site of wonder. Likewise, American Gods takes the reader on an epic journey through an underworld populated by deities gone awry. Explore these themes during a free gallery tour of Heart of Darkness at 6 pm. For discussion questions and author interviews, visit blogs/walkerart.org/ecp and look for posts marked Artist’s Bookshelf. Books are available at the Walker Shop and the Minneapolis Public Library.
The Artist’s Bookshelf is a book club that focuses on shared themes between contemporary literature and contemporary art. Participants are encouraged to attend the public tour of the related Walker exhibition before each discussion to learn about ways that artists and writers explore common themes. Featured authors are not present at the discussions.
Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library. Find this book at the Walker Shop or the Minneapolis Public Library.
Film: Stone Dream
Introduced by director Hu Tai-Li
Cinema, 8 pm
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 7 pm
The subject of a renowned 1965 documentary, Liu Pi-Chia was one of many Chinese men forced into the army and sent to Taiwan with Chiang Kai Shek who married indigenous Taiwanese women and settled in rural villages. Stone Dream catches up with Liu, now an old farmer, as he gathers rose stones from the riverbed for the beauty hidden beneath their ugly exteriors. A reflection on national and ethnic identity in Taiwan, this film received Best Documentary honors at the Tapei Golden Horse Film Festival. A discussion with the filmmaker follows. 2004, video, in Mandarin and Taiwanese dialect with English subtitles, 79 minutes.
Presented in partnership with the University of Minnesota Asian Film Collaborative’s series and conference DocuLens Asia. www.ias.umn.edu.
Thursday, November 9
Heart of Darkness Tour, 6 pm
Reception/Discussion
AfricaNOW: Struggle and Celebration
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab, 6–8 pm
Explore African food, discuss the social role of the arts in African society, and enjoy previews of upcoming AfricaNOW performances. Join Walker performing arts curator Philip Bither and local African artists for a discussion about transforming the challenges of life into celebratory and inspiring music, dance, and theater.
This program, part of the Walker Art Center’s Civic Engagement Initiative to encourage dialogue around topics of importance to the community, is made possible in part by the Bush Foundation.
Lecture: Drawing as Primary Medium
Cinema, 7 pm
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby Desk from 6 pm
The exhibition Eva Hesse Drawing offers an intimate look at the drawings, working notes, and sculptures of one of the most important artists of the 1960s, Eva Hesse, whose extraordinary oeuvre helped redefine the art of her time. Exhibition co-curator Catherine de Zegher speaks about the development of Hesse’s artistic process and the relevance of her extended vision of contemporary art practice. De Zegher’s unique perspective as the former executive director of the Drawing Center in New York sheds light on the importance of drawing as a primary medium for contemporary artists.
Thursday, November 16
Eva Hesse Drawing Tour, 6 pm
Thursday, November 23
Thanksgiving – Walker closed
Free Verse: Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop
Cinema, 7 pm
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 7 pm
The prolific Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop are legendary figures in the small press literary scene. Keith Waldrop’s first book of poems, A Windmill Near Calvary, was nominated for the National Book Award. His subsequent writing includes poetry, short fiction, and fictional memoir; his most recent book is The House Seen from Nowhere. He has translated numerous French poets into English, and his cutting-edge version of Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil has just been released. Rosmarie Waldrop’s newest books are Dissonance (if you are interested), a collection of essays, and Curves to the Apple, which brings together her widely praised “poetry trilogy.” Her many translations include 14 volumes of French poet Edmond Jabès’ work. Together, they have edited the acclaimed small press Burning Deck for more than 40 years. Join us as these partners in literary life read from their poems, translations, and collaborations.
Free Verse is copresented by Rain Taxi Review of Books.