Walker Art Center Announces Acquisition of Approximately 40 Works,  Reflecting Commitments to Los Angeles Community, Artists with Local Ties, and Artistic Experimentation and Cross-Disciplinary Practice 

MINNEAPOLIS, February 26, 2025—The Walker Art Center announced today that has acquired approximately 40 works for its growing collection, including mixed media installations, paintings, sculpture, works on paper, and moving image works. The acquisitions represent the Walker’s ongoing commitments to experimentation, new artforms, and emerging voices; under-recognized artists such as Suzanne Bocanegra, Mimi Smith, and Phel Steinmetz; and cross-disciplinary practices. Objects entering the collection have been acquired through both purchase and gift, reflecting strong internal investment as well as external support for the institution’s collecting vision and strategies.

In recent years, the Walker has placed emphasis on acquiring works from across its broad range of exhibitions, as part of its vision to develop long-lasting relationships with artists and support their practices through time. This includes Cast for a folly (2019/2022) by artist Abbas Akhavan, who will have his first U.S. museum survey at the Walker in November 2026. The large-scale, mixed-media installation restages the lobby of the Iraq Museum, which was looted extensively in 2003, and captures Akhavan’s engagement with the destruction and preservation of cultural heritage. The group of acquisitions also includes two lithographs—All Day (2025) and All Night (2025)—by artist Christine Sun Kim featured in her landmark survey exhibition, opening at the Walker in March 2026; the sculptures Street lamp (2025) and Big Vanity w/ modesty flap (2025) by Jessi Reaves, which reflect her evolving style and were made specifically for the artist’s first museum exhibition at the Walker; and Kandis Williams’s mixed media work ZOMBIE (2024) and painting Modernity is not merely a compromise…(2019), which investigate the construction of power through systems of control—subjects explored in depth her recent solo exhibition.

The Walker is also actively collecting works that transcend the boundaries between visual, performance, and moving image arts, in alignment with the evolution of its uniquely cross-disciplinary program. This includes Autumn Knight Live at the Walker 2025, which builds on the artist’s experiments with streaming during the COVID-19 lockdown and considers the question of “liveness”, as it was presented in real-time across the Walker’s McGuire Theater and Cinema. The performance took place in the Theater on and around a large table upon which Knight executed a series of improvised skits, gestures, and actions with a library of objects and was streamed into the Cinema. For the acquisition, Autumn Knight Live at the Walker 2025 takes the set and objects of this work as a mixed media installation. The Walker has also acquired Scale Figures (2023/2025) by Pan Daijing, which was featured in the artist’s first museum exhibition on view last year at the Walker. The artist describes the work as a composition in three parts and captures her engagement with sound, performance, materiality, and immersive experiences.

In the wake of the January 2025 Southern California wildfires, the Walker committed to purchasing works by Los Angeles-based artists and those offered by Los Angeles galleries to support the community in a moment of hardship. The Walker’s conceptual and minimalist holdings were bolstered by Mary Kelly’s Calculus (2024), a series of ten paper sheets charting the artist’s blood pressure across the years with each page burned with a hot pan. The Walker also acquired Noah Purifoy’s Untitled (1987), a collage emblematic of the artist’s technique of using salvaged materials; Heidi Lau’s ceramic sculpture Cosmic Terrains (2024) from Matthew Brown, Los Angeles, which references Chinese temple architecture and scholar stones; and Kelly Akashi’s Monument (2025), a sculpture made immediately in the aftermath of the destruction of the artist’s Altadena studio.

The Walker has also continued its efforts to add works by artists living and working in Minnesota to its holdings. In the most recent acquisitions, this includes the painting Snoopy (2024) by artist Julie Buffalohead, who is recognized for her charismatic depictions of animals as allegorical figures. Snoopy is an excellent example of Buffalohead’s work and the connections between storytelling, history, and Ponca motifs held within her paintings. Also included are the lithographs Front Reflection and Side Reflection (2025) by Seitu Ken Jones, which are part of a decade-long body of self-portraits that recall the experiences of Black men on this continent over the last 400 years, and a series of four screenprints, titled Jubilant Space I-IV (2022-25), by artist Kim Benson.

A range of generous donors also bolstered the Walker’s collection through exceptional gifts. This includes a group of important works by conceptual artists given by Walker trustee Robin Wright. Among the selections are Menu (2002) by Lutz Bacher; One Step (1975) by stanley brouwn; Untitled (2007) by Trisha Donnelly; and Pins (2004) by Tara Donovan. The Walker also co-acquired, with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, This is New (2003) by Tino Sehgal as a gift from Wright. Other works entering the collection by gift are New Painting (1962) and White Walk (1970) by Robert Rauschenberg; The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (Emmett) (2008) by Rashid Johnson; and Adam and Eve (2019) by Simone Fattal, among others.

“Guided by our Long-Range Acquisitions Plan, these acquisition highlights attest to our commitment to interdisciplinary practices, midcareer and under recognized voices, Minnesota artists, as well as collecting works from Walker organized exhibitions,” said Pavel Pyś, Curator of Visual Arts and Collection Strategy. “Each acquisition represents our belief in the importance and singularity of the artist’s practice and is part of our vision of support, whether for an individual artist or for a community—as was the case with our acquisitions in solidarity with Los Angeles following the devastating wildfires. We are thrilled by the range of works entering the collection and look forward to sharing them with our visitors.”

ABOUT THE WALKER ART CENTER 

The Walker Art Center is a renowned multidisciplinary arts institution that presents, collects, and supports the creation of groundbreaking work across the visual and performing arts, moving image, and design. Guided by the belief that art has the power to bring joy and solace and the ability to unite people through dialogue and shared experiences, the Walker engages communities through a dynamic array of exhibitions, performances, events, and initiatives. Its multiacre campus includes 65,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space, the state-of-the-art McGuire Theater and Walker Cinema, and ample green space that connects with the adjoining Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The Garden, a partnership with the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, is one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States and home to the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Recognized for its ambitious program and growing collection of more than 16,000 works, the Walker embraces emerging art forms and amplifies the work of artists from the Twin Cities and from across the country and the globe. Its broad spectrum of offerings makes it a lively and welcoming hub for artistic expression, creative innovation, and community connection.