Today we, like many others, are remembering John Cage on what would have been his 100th trip around the sun. In 1982, in honor of Cage’s 70th birthday, the Walker produced the exhibition Happy Birthday John Cage. In addition to showing works by his friends and collaborators such as Louise Nevelson, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg, the exhibition also featured pieces from Not Wanting to […] Today…

Cotton balls were given out to lessen the intense volume of Rhys Chatam’s music accompanying Karole Armitage’s Drastic-Classicism (1981), a performance in which “pitting punk pretenses against formal facility, it was a ferocious barrage of smashing guitar chords juxtaposed with an off-kilter corkscrewing of classical dance techniques.” – Allen Robertson, The Minneapolis Star, October 6, […] Cotton balls…

Walker executive director Olga Viso shares snapshots and notes from her late July 2012 trip to European art exhibitions and venues. In addition to dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel–which she reviewed this week–she visited Antwerp, Genk, and Ghent. Here are some of the works that stood out. Kendall Geers’ flaming tire sculpture outside the entrance of Manifesta, the roaming European Biennial which took…

Yesterday, Walker executive director Olga Viso shared her review of dOCUMENTA (13), the art exhibition that occurs in Kassel every five years. As a supplement, here’s her top picks from her July trip. Coming soon, her highlights from Manifesta and TRACK.  1. Pierre Huyghe’s transfiguration of the compost area in Karlsaue Park through subtle insertions and site modifications. 2. Ryan Gander‘s gusting…

“The failings of the body were never lost on Franz,” Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander wrote in late July in remembrance of Vienna-based artist Franz West, who passed away July 25. “He devoted much of his career to thinking about the oddities and wonder of the physical realm. How people walk, interact, make love, snore in public, and do other intimately human and occasionally embarrassing things…

On November 29, 1994, art historian Amelia Jones gave a lecture at the Walker Art Center entitled, “The Duchampian Phallus.” Jones’ introduced her book, Postmodernism and the En-Gendering of Marcel Duchamp. Her critique of the “fetishization” of Marcel Duchamp offered an alternative view to the masculine-oriented sensibilities that pervaded modern art. The talk was presented in conjunction with the…

On November 8, 1994, Vassar professor Molly Nesbit gave a lecture at the Walker Art Center in which she discussed gender and language in Marcel Duchamp’s glass painting, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even—a work commonly referred to as The Large Glass(1915-1923). Nesbit’s talk was presented in conjunction with the Walker’s exhibitionDuchamp’s Leg. Below is an excerpt from the…

“The trip I took into the mystic was inspired by Duchamp,” says Minneapolis-based painter Frank Gaard, subject of an early 2012 solo show at the Walker, “as was my sense that language was a medium for visual artists.” In commemoration of today’s 125th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp’s birth, Gaard shares ten musings on the man.   Marcel Duchamp,Étant donnés: 1° la chute d’eau, 2° le gaz d’éclairage… (Given: 1…

Untitled (Blog): An open-ended look at contemporary art – both inside the Walker and out – as framed by our Visual Arts curators.