Free Virtual Events in January Feature Dance and Draw with Har Mar Superstar, Mack Lecture Conversation with MacArthur Fellow Annie Dorsen and More

Target Free Thursday Nights
Thursday January 7, 14 & 21
Wednesday, January 27

Start the weekend early with these free, virtual programs!

Studio Visit: Parsons & Charlesworth
Thursday, January 7, 7pm, Free

Parsons & Charlesworth is an art and design studio in Chicago that creates objects, exhibits, texts, and images encouraging reflection on the current and future state of our designed culture. Founders Tim Parsons and Jessica Charlesworth will give a behind-the-scenes tour of their studio and discuss the concepts and themes behind their multipart, ongoing research project Catalog for the Post-Human, currently installed in the Walker exhibition Designs for Different Futures.

Catalog for the Post-Human features the products designed by a fictional, near-future company that caters to the acute needs of contingent workers in a more technologically oriented society. They will talk about the process behind some of the objects on display inside the Catalog for the Post-Human vending machine at the Walker and give insights into their new presentation for the upcoming Venice Architecture Biennale in May 2021. The Venice project expands the scale of the work into a trade fair stand, featuring a collection of body-related sculptural works and accompanying animations that will create an immersive experience for the viewer.

Parsons & Charlesworth craft glimpses into alternate realities, telling stories with objects and inviting thoughtful questioning of contemporary life. They practice an investigative, research-driven, speculative approach to art and design that uses installation as a means of engaging viewers in critical topics through the use of storytelling. They have exhibited in galleries, museums, institutions, and festivals around the world including the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon; Science Gallery Dublin; Chicago Cultural Center; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago), Wanted Design, New York City; and the London Design Festival, among others.

Workshop: Dance and Draw
Thursday, January 14, 7pm, Free

Feeling stir crazy already this winter? Join us for an all-ages interactive workshop/dance party/performance showcase, all from the comfort of your own home. Inspired by the Dance Party coloring book, one of books in the Coloring Books for a Cause series published by Harmar Superstar (Sean Tillman) and Laura Hauser, this hour will be packed full of performances, art-making moments, and of course, dance breaks.

The coloring book illustrators, Emma Eubanks and Michael Gaughan, are your hosts for this fun-packed hour.

Purchase your own Dance Party coloring book here by January 7 to get your coloring book delivered to you to color-along. Or simply download a few pages from the book here.

Proceeds of Dance Party purchases will support Violence Free Minnesota, an advocacy group raising awareness and creating support for victims of domestic abuse.

Deep Dives: Don’t let this be easy
Thursday, January 21, 7pm, FreeLooking to connect with contemporary art from home? Join cultural scholar Gretchen Gasterland-Gustafsson for a virtual tour of the exhibition Don’t let this be easy. We will take a slow-art approach and focus on select pieces from the show. Take a deep dive into ways womxn artists in the Walker’s collection expanded definitions of art and boundaries of accepted aesthetics.

Featuring works from the 1970s to today, Don’t let this be easy is an institutional project taking the form of an exhibition, coupled with new scholarship and online publishing focused on women artists from the Walker’s collection. The initiative is presented in conjunction with the Feminist Art Coalition (FAC), a nationwide effort involving more than 100 museums committed to social justice and structural change.

About the Presenter:
Gretchen Gasterland-Gustafsson is an associate professor of liberal arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in printmaking with a concentration in fiber, where her work focused on citizenship and belonging, and a PhD from the University of Minnesota in comparative studies. She has an advanced degree in art history from Lunds University in Sweden, where she focused on contemporary art and social consciousness, specifically in the work of Adrian Piper, David Hammons, and Glenn Ligon. She went to Sweden on a Fulbright scholarship for a project centered on Swedish emigration to Minnesota. She is currently the head of costume design for Out on a Limb Dance and collaborates with local artists on various projects involving both writing and making.

Mack Lecture: Conversation with Annie Dorsen
Wednesday, January 27, 7pm, Free

Writer/director Annie Dorsen aims “to make perceptible how ideas change over time: where they come from, how they influence and are influenced by politics and culture, and how they take root in the body, physically and emotionally.” Join this MacArthur Fellow as she discusses her practice that is rooted in artificial intelligence. Discover how she explores the intersection of algorithms and live performance with experts in the field. The conversation will be moderated by WNYC Radio Lab Producer Simon Adler.

About the Artist:
Annie Dorsen is an acclaimed writer and theatre director. Her most recent project, Infinite Sun (2019), is an algorithmic sound installation commissioned by the Sharjah Biennial 14. She has collaborated frequently with musicians and choreographers, including Anne Juren, Ethel, Questlove/The Roots, DD Dorvillier, and Sébastien Roux. She is the co-creator and director of the 2008 Broadway musical Passing Strange. In addition to awards for Passing Strange, Dorsen received a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2018 Spalding Gray Award, a 2016 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant to Artists Award, and the 2014 Herb Alpert Award for the Arts in Theatre.

About the Mack Lecture Series:
Since its inception, the Walker has hosted talks by artists, writers, and other great thinkers whose insights and ideas have informed our world. The Mack Lecture series explores our culture and contemporary moment through inspiring conversations and lectures aimed to deepen our understanding and appreciation of the great thought leaders of our time. This series will be hosted twice per academic semester.