In 1995, artist/choreographer Ralph Lemon embarked on a 10-year odyssey of quest and discovery that resulted in the Geography Trilogy, a synergy of anthropology and history with movement, sound, and art. The Trilogy was a profound self-examination and a remarkably sustained inquiry into the social gravities of race and identity at the turn of the 21st century. During the process, the artist developed…

During times of national or global urgency, artists become bellwethers—many redirecting their energies in an attempt to respond to, or at least make sense of, political and social upheaval. From dancer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s recent solo work Once, a stirring examination of American militarism set to the Vietnam-era music of Joan Baez, to theater artist Richard Maxwell’s rumination on today’s…

Punk drummer, producer, guitarist, artist, activist, comic-strip illustrator—British-born Chicago resident Jon Langford is a prolific creator. In his latest multimedia endeavor, he addresses the moral and political issues surrounding the death penalty. Taking time out of his busy schedule, Langford recently answered some of life’s most—or possibly, least—pressing questions. Describe a recent dream you…

Dear Friends, In just a few short months since its opening, the Walker Art Center’s incredible William and Nadine McGuire Theater has assumed an essential role as a new home for performance innovation locally and nationally. In the face of declining funds for art and artists nationally, particularly risk-taking art, this is an explosively hopeful thing. Our first full season in the expanded facility…

As art world VIPs and Twin Cities visitors alike filled the William and Nadine McGuire Theater on the Walker’s opening weekend, the whimsy and “dark intrigue” of the space (as the Los Angeles Times would later say) enchanted audiences, and the response from performers was uniformly enthusiastic (Bill Frisell told me it didn’t feel like a new theater but one that had been “broken in” long ago). But it…

Peggy Shaw’s “supremely transgressive art explodes every box which might be used in some vain attempt to contain her: language, societal norms, sex, fashion, romance, art,” writes Craig Lucas in BOMB magazine. This legendary actor/producer/playwright—winner of three OBIEs and three Awards for Emerging Forms from the New York Foundation for the Arts—recently took time to answer some of life’s most—and…

Dyke Night. The name alone has proven so radical that it’s taken the local press years to even print it in its events calendars. Since 1991, queers of all gender stripes have been treated to extravaganzas of song and dance; masterful martial arts and baton twirling; fabulous feats of stand-up comedy; parades of dykes and their dogs; agitprop magic acts; transgressive tale-telling via film, poetry, and…

Jazz probably hasn’t seen a more compelling or contentious figure than Ornette Coleman. Expanding the boundaries of “free jazz” with radical inventiveness, a polyglot infusion of musical traditions and techniques, and an impossible-to-define musical philosophy called “harmolodics,” he has sparked furious opposition during his half century of performing and composing. An angry musician once punched him…