APRIL 8-SEPTEMBER 9, 2001
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: SPENCER NAKASAKO
Exhibition
THE ANDERSEN WINDOW GALLERY



   

Believing that everyone should have access to the media of video and television to tell their stories, California-based filmmaker Spencer Nakasako became the artist mentor for a youth video program in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. For more than a decade, Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian youths have produced short videos based on their personal memories and experiences. As a Walker artist-in-residence, Nakasako will conduct two workshops with groups consisting of 8 to 10 young people, each from a different ethnic community in the Twin Cities.



This summer, Nakasako will take the digital media lab housed in Walker on Wheels (WoW) to Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. Under his direction, a group of teens from the Twin Cities' Hmong and Native-American communities will shoot and edit short films during a weeklong digital-video workshop designed to give participants the tools to document their own stories. More on Walker on Wheels programs.

Nakasako won a national Emmy Award for a.k.a. Don Bonus, the video diary of a Cambodian immigrant teenager. His recent work, Kelly Loves Tony, a video diary about a Lu Mien teenage couple growing up too fast and too soon in Oakland, California, aired nationally on PBS last summer. He also wrote the screenplay and codirected a feature film about Hong Kong, Life Is Cheap . . . but Toilet Paper Is Expensive, with Wayne Wang. Recently, he was awarded a fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation, and he also teaches film in the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California at Berkeley. Nakasako has just returned from Cambodia where he has been filming a diary project for public television.

Spencer Nakasako's residency is made possible by generous support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts. A project of the Walker Art Center, Walker on Wheels is made possible by generous support from the Medtronic Foundation, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Showcasing Nakasako's work and creative process, the installation in the Andersen Window Gallery features various elements of his Twin Cities residency, including videos produced in the teen workshops. A selection of his own works and a mini-retrospective of videos created during the past 10 years with young people in San Francisco's Tenderloin district will be available for viewing in the gallery.

For more information and to see previous Window Gallery installations, visit the Web site.

The Andersen Window Gallery is made possible by generous support from Andersen Corporation. Additional support is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Charles J. Betlach II. This gallery was designed in partnership with Blu Dot Design of Minneapolis.

Curator: Olekemi Ilesanmi



AUGUST EVENTS

FREE THURSDAY TALK
SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: MEDIA ACCESS 101
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2001, 7 PM  FREE
Teen participants from Nakasako's residency screen their videos. A discussion with experts from area media organizations follows.


JUNE EVENTS

AN EVENING WITH SPENCER NAKASAKO
FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2001, 7:30 PM  FREE
Nakasako's teaching style and enthusiasm for storytelling has made him a legendary figure with teen videomakers in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Join the artist for a discussion and screening.

ARTIST TALK AND TEEN VIDEO SCREENING WITH SPENCER NAKASAKO
FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2001, 9 PM  FREE
Meet Nakasako and see a screening of videos made by local teens in collaboration with the filmmaker in the Walker's mobile media lab.





THE ANDERSEN WINDOW GALLERY IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM ANDERSEN CORPORATION. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT IS PROVIDED BY THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS AND THE BETLACH FAMILY FOUNDATION. THIS GALLERY WAS DESIGNED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BLU DOT DESIGN OF MINNEAPOLIS.