Tagged “art/commmunity/cultural activism,” Artpaper chronicled art in the Twin Cities during a pivotal decade, its short life spanning from 1981 to 1993. As head of the monthly publication’s artists’ advisory committee then as Artpaper director, Neal Cuthbert had a clear view of Minneapolis’ creative life. Now vice president of program at the McKnight Foundation, he shares his memories of the 1980s.

In marked opposition to the economic forces that have dominated the contemporary landscape for more than a decade, dOCUMENTA (13) curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev offers a vision that is fiercely skeptical of the “persisting belief in economic growth,” organizing one of the most earnest, authentic, and refreshing surveys of contemporary art in my recent memory.

“Warhol’s bulimic capacity to swallow the moment and spit it out as another image helped [his Race Riot works] transform themselves into pagan icons, devoid of moral weight.”

For Israel-born, California-based artist Dorit Cypis, the Twin Cities was home for much of the 1980s and 1990s, decades when she says the arts became institutionalized, identity politics became entrenched, and her own art more deeply embraced both politics and performance. For our ongoing series Then and Now: The Twin Cities in the 1980s, she shares her memories of a turbulent decade.

In celebration of the 125th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp’s birth—he was born in Normandy on July 28, 1887—we look back at curator Joan Rothfuss’ essay on the Dadaist provocateur from our collections catalogue, Bits & Pieces.

As executive director of the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM), the renowned feminist art collective, and a health educator during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, Catherine Jordan had clear views of two of the 1980s most pivotal concerns. Continuing our series of reflections on the Twin Cities during a turbulent decade, Jordan shares her recollections with the Walker’s Yesomi Umolu.

Many of the artists featured in This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s came of age in an era that saw the assimilation of two powerful and converging forces—mass-media saturation and movements for social justice. Exhibition curator Helen Molesworth talks with Walker assistant curator Bartholomew Ryan about the impetus for the show and what she hopes will resonate with viewers.