by mnartists.org   May 13, 2005 mnartists.org has created a contest for Minnesota musicians to have their music or sound art included on a cd-mix to be promoted statewide. Kathleen Kvern, the mnartists.org project director, is coordinating the efforts of the six judges, the sponsors, and the artists. She�s looking forward to creating a truly representative and dazzling record of music, here, now. Any and…

by mnartists.org   May 9, 2005 �Poem of the Week� is a pilot project we are experimenting with in order to increase the presence of poetry on the mnartists.org website. The first round of selections have been made from submissions received this spring. The Poets We read, avidly, the many poems that came in as a response to the call that went out to mnartists.org members, and we�re deeply grateful to the…

by Tim Brennan   May 9, 2005 father broods on his three room stage, rehearses maybe; sips reheated coffee. maybe he thinks about mother; her character now dead these two, almost three years. outside, the ever performing moon murmurs listen but nothing happens save for moths banging against a cool porch light, wings clapping under fresnel stars. I have questions: landscape or seascape? comedy or tragedy…

by Chris Godsey   May 4, 2005 Artist-audience relationships require mutual respect for freedom of expression: I won�t tell you what or how to create if you don�t tell me how to react. If your art is skillful enough, it will speak for itself. If I have questions about it, I�ll ask them; if I make assumptions or pronouncements, I�ll strive for fairness and credibility. You must accept the irrelevance of…

by Michael Fallon   April 24, 2005 Have you ever noticed that certain people seem blessed? Some years ago, while I was in the Peace Corps, the universe always shone on a guy named Billy, despite his obliviousness to the normal rules. If he decided, for instance, to take a sudden weekend trip to the backwoods of Turkey, and he had no plan other than to enjoy himself and see what could be seen, nothing bad…

by Glenn Gordon   April 24, 2005 I volunteered to be one of the critics in today�s Trialogue (together with Michael Fallon) because I am a photographer as well as a writer, and from the perspective of my own experience working as a photojournalist, there is much about the way Alec Soth approaches portraiture that I appreciate. I mean this not so much with respect to his command of camera technique…

by Glenn Gordon   April 7, 2005 The handsome new quarters of the Rochester Art Center, overlooking the Zumbro River on the eastern edge of the city�s downtown, are now barely a year old. Designed by the noted Minneapolis firm of architects, Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson, the exterior of the Center presents two main architectural volumes. One of these is clad in copper; the other is sheathed in zinc, both…

by Kris Douglas   March 30, 2005 Cultural or shared memory, based on relationships specific to images, politics, texts or other popular media, has the distinct capacity to develop into fiction or fabrication, eschewing an impartial “truth” and creating subjective narrative forms. Based on these conditional cultural creations, how does one differentiate between an “authentic” memory and the “constructed,” and…

by Julia Durst   March 29, 2005 Religion and fine art both rely on one essential premise: belief. In religion, it makes mortals into saints, grape juice into blood at Sunday mass. In art, it gives objects� glass, clay, ink and paper� meaning beyond the physical. Because of belief, faith, and the power of perception, a kitschy chalice is a Holy Grail, an aquarium full of basketballs is a Jeff Koons original…