Target Free Thursday Nights in October Highlighted by Student Open House and Screening/Discussion on Poster Culture
The Walker Art Center’s Target Free Thursday Nights in October are highlighted by Student Open House: School of Rock on Thursday, October 29, 5–9 pm. The evening features art-making activities, DJs from Radio K, a screening of The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, a preview of the exhibition Dan Graham: Beyond, and a mixtape exchange.
Also in October is a Drawn Here: Contemporary Design in Conversation screening/discussion, presented in conjunction with the Sound Unseen Film Festival, featuring a screening of Eileen Yaghoobian’s documentary about the underground poster culture in North America, Died Young, Stayed Pretty (October 1, 7 pm), after which the filmmaker will take part in a Q&A. Preceding the screening and discussion is a Poster Mart from 5–7 pm, featuring work by local design collectives and Village Voice cartoonist/Minneapolis native Ward Sutton.
Other highlights of the month include the panel discussion There’s Just Something about Clay (October 8, 7 pm), featuring artists from the exhibition Dirt on Delight: Impulses That Form Clay discussing their work; a screening of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Burn After Reading (October 15, 7:30 pm, presented in conjunction with the Regis Dialogue and Retrospective Raising Cain: Joel and Ethan Coen; an artist talk with documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor (October 22, 7 pm); and a discussion of Paul Chan’s Baghdad in No Particular Orde_r (Chan’s work is on view this fall in the Lecture Room), with Utne Reader_ senior editor Jeff Severns Guntzel who discusses his own experiences in Iraq (October 22, 7:30 pm).
Sound Bites gallery talks are offered throughout the month on select Thursday evenings at 6:30 and 7 pm. Sound Bites illuminate an artist or work of art from the Walker’s world-class collection or one of its special exhibitions.
Target Free Thursday Nights
October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Galleries open 5–9; special events follow.
Free
Thursday, October 1
Sound Bites: Haegue Yang’s Installations, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker tour guides. Each highlights selected artworks, artists, or themes that serve as topics for illuminating discussions.
Poster Mart, 5–7 pm
Bazinet Garden Lobby
Rock poster artists strut their stuff before the screening of Died Young, Stayed Pretty. Work by local collectives Flora Fauna and Spy Print Lab as well as by Village Voice cartoonist/Minneapolis native Ward Sutton will be on display to buy, or just admire. Copresented with the Sound Unseen Film Festival.
Drawn Here: Contemporary Art in Conversation
Film Screening/Discussion: Died Young, Stayed Pretty, 7 pm
Directed by Eileen Yaghoobian
Cinema
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 6 pm
“Raw . . . an outlaw movie about outlaw artists.” —National Public Radio
Exploring the outer edges of design, this candid documentary delves into the underground poster culture in North America, examining the creative spirit that drives outsider artists to pick through the dregs of America’s schizophrenic culture and piece them back together in arresting images. Eileen Yaghoobian’s formal training in filmmaking, 3-D animation, theater, and photography provides a foundation for this intimate look at some of the giants of this modern subculture, many of whom are virtually unknown outside of their own circle. In posters for groups such as Arcade Fire, Radiohead, and Sonic Youth, these aesthetic brawlers publicly argue the merits of octopus imagery, hairy ’70s porn stars, and the spotty underbelly of Western civilization with a visual language that’s all their own—strikingly obscene, blasphemous, and often quite beautiful—and they’re not shy about throwing it in the face of polite society.
Yaghoobian also focuses on Gigposters.com—a site that has become a key outlet for these artists—highlighting the almost unintentional sense of community that has grown up around this disparate band of renegades throughout the United States and Canada. In the process, questions arise about the fantasy and reality of the contemporary “underground.” Canada, 2008, 95 minutes. A Q &A with the director follows the screening. Copresented with the Sound Unseen Film Festival.
Thursday, October 8
Sound Bites: Tour Guide Choice: Collection Favorite, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker tour guides. Each highlights selected artworks, artists, or themes that serve as topics for illuminating discussions.
Panel Discussion: There’s Just Something about Clay, 7 pm
Cinema
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 6 pm
Dirt on Delight artists Kathy Butterly, Ann Agee, and Beverly Semmes describe the process of working in clay as malleable, sensual, and open to interpretation in conversation with Walker curatorial fellow and coordinating curator Andria Hickey. Copresented by the University of Minnesota and Northern Clay Center.
Thursday, October 15
Sound Bites: Tour Guide Choice: Collection Favorite, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker tour guides. Each highlights selected artworks, artists, or themes that serve as topics for illuminating discussions.
Film: Burn After Reading, 7:30 pm
Written, directed, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen
Cinema
Free tickets available at the Bazinet Garden Lobby desk from 6 pm
Opening the 2008 Venice Film Festival, Burn After Reading marked the Coens’ return to raucous black comedy. With its story of a scheme gone awry, the film is replete with espionage, infidelity, and Internet dating. With Frances McDormand, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich, and Brad Pitt, who does a surprising comic turn as a dim-witted personal trainer caught in the crossfire. 2008, 35mm, 96 minutes.
This screening is presented as part of the Regis Dialogue and Retrospective Raising Cain: Joel and Ethan Coen.
Thursday, October 22
Sound Bites: Haegue Yang’s Quasi MB, 6:30 and 7 pm
Meet in the Bazinet Garden Lobby
Contemporary art and artists are the focus of these 15-minute gallery conversations led by Walker tour guides. Each highlights selected artworks, artists, or themes that serve as topics for illuminating discussions.
Artist Talk: Astra Taylor on the Unschooled Life, 7 pm
Cinema
Join documentary filmmaker Astra Taylor as she shares her personal experiences of growing up home-schooled without a curriculum or schedule, and how it has shaped her educational philosophy and development as an artist. Her latest feature, Examined Life, screens at the Walker on October 21.
This talk is organized as part of the Walker’s Raising Creative Kids initiative, made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Film/Discussion: Inside Iraq, 7:30 pm
Lecture Room
Following a screening of Paul Chan’s hour-long Baghdad in No Particular Order, Utne Reader senior editor Jeff Severns Guntzel discusses his impressions of the video based on his own experiences in Iraq. Chan’s work is on view this fall in the Lecture Room.
Thursday, October 29
Student Open House: School of Rock, 5–9 pm
Bang your head and throw up the horns during this one-night celebration of rock and roll and art. Presented by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council (WACTAC).
Art-Making: T-shirt Art, 5–9 pm
Star Tribune Foundation Art Lab
From the iconic Ramones shirt to the classic white tee, rock and roll has always been outfitted with T-shirts. Bring your own shirt and screenprint a rock-inspired design with Birk Grudem of Overproof.
Art-Making: Off the Record, 5–9 pm
Cargill Lounge
Remix old album covers and vinyl records with Sharpies, scissors, and glue.
Music: Radio K’s The Breakfast Club, 5–9 pm
Cargill Lounge
Dance the stress of school away as you rock out to DJs from Radio K.
Film: The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, 6:30 pm
Directed by Julien Temple
Cinema
Check out this classic mockumentary about the fictionalized rise and fall of the infamous Sex Pistols. The film trails the band and manager Malcolm McLaren on a wild journey through manipulation, success, and inevitable breakup. 1981, 16mm, 103 minutes.
Exhibition Preview: Dan Graham: Beyond, 7–8 pm
Galleries 4, 5, and 6
Take in the work of Dan Graham, an influential artist whose work in art, architecture, performance, and music defies easy categorization. Join us for this special exhibition sneak preview.
Social: Mixtape Exchange, 7:30 pm
Bazinet Garden Lobby
Put together your favorite tracks, swap a mix, and geek out with other music lovers. Bring 10 copies in the format of your choice to exchange.