Target Free Thursday Nights in July feature Open Field Activities, Gather Chef-In Residence Alex Roberts, Machine Project Summer Jubilee Field Days, McKnight Photography Panel, and Art Chats
Minneapolis, June 28, 2011— The Walker Art Center’s Target Free Thursday Nights in July feature public activities on Open Field, the community gathering spot located on the Walker’s greenspace, including weekly drawing clubs and happy hour at Garden Grill by D’Amico. Other highlights in July include a panel discussion with recent McKnight Fellowship for Photographers recipients (July 7, 7 pm), a free tasting of July featured menu items with Chef Alex Roberts at Gather (July 7, 5-9 pm), and weekly roaming art chats in the Walker galleries. Open Field artists-in-residence, Los Angeles-based artist collective Machine Project, presents Summer Jubilee Field Days, (July 21 & 28, 2–10 pm) days and eves filled with “happenings” in and around the Walker.
Target Free Thursday Nights
July 7, 14, 21 and 28
Galleries open 5–9 pm; special events follow.
Free
Thursday, July 7
Panel Lecture: McKnight Artist Fellowships for Photographers
Walker Cinema, 7 pm, Free
McKnight Photography Fellows Carrie Thompson, Monica Haller, Karl Raschke, and Amy Eckert discuss their work and how it relates to themes of place, power, memory, and recovery.
Bites and Pieces with Chef-in-Residence Alex Roberts at Gather
Gather, 5–9 pm, Free
Culinary artists serve as “chefs-in-residence” at Gather, the Walker’s new dining destination, unveiling specially created small plates on the first Thursday of each month. On July 7, Alex Roberts, celebrated chef from Restaurant Alma and Brasa, shares free samples of his two featured Gather July menu items.
Roberts, who was born in New York but raised in Minneapolis, attended the French Culinary Institute and gained experience working in several renowned New York restaurants including Gramercy Tavern, Bouley, and Union Square Café.
He returned to Minneapolis and opened Restaurant Alma in 1999, a casual, fine dining restaurant dedicated to a changing menu of seasonal cooking and local foods. Roberts continues to advance his commitment to organic, sustainably produced food and has received numerous accolades in the process including the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest in 2010.
Art Chat Every Thursday in July
Walker Galleries, 6:30–7:30 pm
Have a question about contemporary art? Find an Art Chat guide as they roam the galleries engaging visitors on their topic of choice.
Target Free Thursday Nights at Open Field
Join us for a mash-up of events every Thursday night, both inside the Walker and outdoors at Open Field, including the popular Drawing Club from 2–7 pm, acoustic campfires on select dates, and happy hour specials at the Garden Grill by D’Amico.
Garden Grill by D’Amico
Featuring grilled sausage classics, hot dogs, burgers, brats, and a variety of local beers, wines, soda, and lemonade.
Happy Hour at the Garden Grill
Thursdays, 5–9 pm
Enjoy drink specials on the outdoor patio at the Garden Grill every Thursday night.
Tap beer: $4.00
Drawing Club
Thursdays 2–7 pm
The first rule of Drawing Club: What’s made at Drawing Club stays at Drawing Club. Drawing Club is about the social experience of art making, collaboration and play. Come add your creative touch during weekly sessions open to local artists and the public. Here is how it works: Art supplies are provided on large tables in shaded areas of the outdoor Open Lounge. Start a new drawing or select one in progress from the table. Slide it back into the pool, pass it around, and alter, edit, or amend it until the group declares it complete. All ages, abilities, and aesthetics welcome. The finished works are collected and displayed throughout the summer at future sessions. There are no assignments, structured projects or formal processes for drawing club. This idea is to make collaborative works…however that manifests itself and what can beat making art under a grove of trees with a cold drink! View past art work at www.mnartists.org/drawingclub
Acoustic Campfires July 7 & 14, 8–9:30 pm
Close your Thursday evenings with free performances by local musicians on the Open Field. From vocal ensembles in the outdoor Skyspace chamber, to old-fashioned jams under a grove of trees, to acoustic sing-alongs on the greenspace, each event will offer intimate musical experiences nestled within the unique setting of the Walker grounds.
July Target Free Thursday Nights Related Event
Machine Project–Open Field Artists-in-Residence
Machine Project’s Summer Jubilee
July 20–29
Walker Open Field/Building/Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
It’s hard to settle on just two words to describe encounters with the work of Machine Project, but “enjoyably confusing” is a pretty good pairing. This non-profit confederacy of artists makes its home in an unassuming storefront in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, but the group also produces shows at locations ranging from beaches to museums to parking lots. Recently, over a one-year period at L.A.’s Hammer Museum, they produced some 80 events including an overnight Dream-In, micro-concerts in a coatroom-turned-theater, needlepoint group-therapy sessions, and a “cultural retreat” for houseplants—a string of insightful happenings that touched on various aspects of how visitors experience that arts institution.
Whether they’re investigating art, technology, natural history, science, music, literature, food, or any other topic in a wide array of interests, Machine Project approaches everything they do with a curiosity and enthusiasm that’s infectious. Last January three collaborators, Emily Lacy, Chris Kallmyer, and Joshua Beckman, visited the Walker to meet with potential local collaborators and prepare for this summer’s residency. On the coldest weekend of the year, donning borrowed down and wool, the trio hosted readings and concerts in an igloo built to accommodate two performers, plus an audience of two to four. They also tested out the parking garage, several stairwells, and other spaces as potential performances sites, even going so far as to wedge themselves in between the huge glass window panels in the Hennepin Lounge.
Six months later, Lacy, Kallmyer, and a crew of 10 other artists present Summer Jubilee at Open Field: two weeks of Machine Project activities, experiments, and oddities. Part of the fun of this group is expecting the unexpected—serendipity and spontaneity, it would seem, are two of their chief operating principles.
Machine Project Summer Jubilee Field Days
Thursdays, July 21 & 28, 2–10 pm Free
Partake in a series of Machine Project happenings throughout the Walker, indoors and out, and in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
Thursday, July 21, 2–10 pm Free
Poetry Phone
Roaming Locations, 11 am–5 pm
Look around the Walker for the black rotary dial phone on a fake rock. When the phone rings, pick up! There is probably a poet on the line waiting to read to you. The poetry phone offers mobile personal poetry performances, given via telephone by a variety of poets. Readings take place throughout the day in a variety of locations across the Walker campus. Poetry curated by Joshua Beckman, who is a poet himself, and enjoys the occasional phone call.
Car Theft for Kids
Walker Open Field, 1 pm–3 pm and 4 pm–6 pm
Join us for a hands on workshop for parents, children and teens where participants will learn to break into a car, hotwire it, and escape from its trunk.
For most kids (and adults), modern cars are simply these gleaming, aggressive-faced jellybeans that house air-conditioning units and MP3 players while they idle in traffic. But underneath their shiny surface lurks all manner of exciting machinery that needs some demystification. That’s where we come in. In this class, we’ll focus on a few key aspects of cars while learning a bit about the physics and mechanics behind how it all works. This is a hands-on workshop, with an actual car to break in and out of. Taught by car historian and inventor Jason Torchinsky, who has already successfully guided at least six children in Los Angeles towards future grand theft auto. Pre-registration required; call 612-375-5812.
Cowboys and Angels
Bazinet Garden Lobby, 2 pm
Join musician Emily Lacy for a twelve-day world tour of the Walker Art Center. Starting every day from a different location on the Walker campus, she’ll be creating improvised music in reaction to each different space, with an ear towards wistful country songs and vocal electronica. Length of each performance will vary.
Music for Parking Garages
City of Minneapolis Parking Garage at the Walker, 3–8 pm
Los Angeles and Minneapolis musicians will partner to create site-specific sound works for the Walker Art Center’s parking garage. These pieces will create a warm ambient environment for visitors as they park their cars, stop in to listen, or even nap to the music. Come pull up a bean bag chair or backseat, and experience the acoustical charm of the parking structure.
Team LA
Casey Anderson
Chris Kallmyer
Team Minneapolis
Jonathan Zorn
Jon Davis and Adam Patterson
Members of Cantus
Curated by Chris Kallmyer
Tragedy on the Sea Nymph: An Operetta in Three Acts Starring an All-Dog Cast
Walker Open Field, 9:15 and 9:45 PM
Tragedy on the Sea Nymph is a filmed 10-minute operetta depicting the romance and tragedy of clandestine lovers shipwrecked at sea. Starring an all-dog cast accompanied by live human singers and the Cedar String Quartet, this piece explores the remarkable connections between the affectations of operas and the lives of dogs. This performance is marked by focused, myopic attentions, yearning, love, and loss. Dogs and humans welcome to attend. BYO water bowls and hankies. Written by Elizabeth Cline with music by Lewis Pesacov.
Thursday, July 28, 2–10 pm Free
Poetry Phone
Roaming Locations, 11 am–5 pm
See description above.
Meet the Earbees or Games for Ears
Walker Open Field, 11:30 am–12:30 pm, 2–3 pm, 4:30–5:30 pm, and even 7–8 pm
Join artist Sara Roberts for sound-based group participatory activities using Earbees.
What are Earbees?
Earbees look a lot like transistor radios, but instead of playing top 40 they record whatever you like and play it back looped. They can be placed somewhere particular, hidden, stacked, gambled with, buried, and thrown, there are lots of possibilities. The inventor of Earbees, Sara Roberts, will lead some favorite activities and we’ll see if you come up with some more. Make noise, make more noise, make better noise!
Composition for Photoelectric Array and Ambient Light
Walker Open Field, 12:30 pm
Sound artist Kamau Patton performs live on the Open Field using the sun’s rays. Via solar panels and a light-to-frequency converter, you’ll be able to listen to sounds composed by measuring the rays of the sun as the light changes throughout the day. As a favor to Kamau, please refrain from doing any rain dances until at least Friday July 29th.
Cowboys and Angels
Walker Open Field, 2 pm
See description above.
Electric Melon Workshop
Walker Open Field, 2–4 pm
Make your own amplified melon! All you need are simple soldering skills we will teach you, and one small melon, which we can provide while supplies last. In one afternoon you will:
1) Build your own contact microphone
2) Combine your mic with a melon to make an amplified melon
3) Join our amplified electric melon drum circle
4) Eat your melon when you’re done and/or take your melon rinds to the World of Pickling at the Walker Open Field and pickle your rinds.
All participants will be able to borrow soldering materials. No advanced registration required. Drum circle or previous electric melon experience also not required.
The Fol Chen Verbal Algorithm Composer-Free Song Generator
Bazinet Garden Lobby Desk, 2–7 pm
Samuel Bing of the band Fol Chen (Asthmatic Kitty) will produce a customized, one-of-a-kind song for each person who participates in the Fol Chen Verbal Algorithm Composer-Free Song Generator. This is a one-day-only event.
Come fill out a survey about your experience at the Walker, turn your survey in to Bing, and receive a CD of your very own custom song minutes later. He will also host a field recording workshop the day before, on Wednesday, July 27 from 1–5 pm. Stop by and borrow a field recorder to tape your own sounds from around the museum, then give them back to Bing for use in future song-making. At the end of Summer Jubilee, he will release the songs as a digital download Open Field EP.
Echo Park Film Center: Filmmobile Screening (at night) and Workshop (during the day)
Workshop: FlatPak House, 3–6 pm
Film Pickling Workshop: Walker Open Field, 6–7 pm
Screening: Walker Open Field, 9 pm
Join Los Angeles’ Echo Park Film Center at the FlatPak House for hands-on workshops in filmmaking and stay for a screening of the workshop films in the evening. Between the workshop and the screening Walker curator Dean Otto leads a film pickling workshop. Creating equal and affordable community access to film and video resources since 2001, the EPFC are taking their show on the road this summer in a big blue bus that has been transformed into the EPFC Filmmobile: a full-service, eco-friendly screening and educational facility on wheels. They are stopping at the Walker for one night only—make sure to catch the bus!
www.echoparkfilmcenter.org/www.filmmobile.org
World of Pickling
Walker Open Field, 4–7 pm
What’s summer without pickles? Come and partake in the wonderful world of pickling on the Walker’s Open Field. Watch in awe with a growling stomach as local chefs and brothers, Chris and Rhett Roberts demo the art of melon rind pickling and surprise the crowd with pickling some unexpected objects. Taunt your palate further as chef-farmer Nick Schneider makes sauerkraut and introduces you to the world of lacto-fermentation. Draw a pickle still life at Drawing Club and look for a life-sized pickle on the Field ready to pose with you for a portrait. To round out the pickling panoply there will be a pickling film workshop with the Walker’s own Associate Curator of Film/Video Dean Otto.
The American Lawn, and Ways to Cut it
Walker Open Field, 5–8:30 pm
Grand Finale Featuring Bells and Push Mowers, 7 pm
Join us for Machine Project’s grand finale event: a three-part exploration of the American lawn and ways to cut it, via sheep, choreographed gasoline-powered ride-on-mowers with mounted oscillators tuned to the drone of their engines, and push mowers. Come help us examine the sonic nature of the Walker’s Open Field, while giving the lawn a much-needed trim. Choreographed by Chris Kallmyer.