Next week, we get the pleasure of meeting artist Tomas Saraceno. This will be the first of several visits to Minneapolis for Tomas. During his residency, he hopes to work on his ongoing Museo Aero Solar project, a solar-energy balloon made of reused plastic bags. Check out the video below and if you want to get more info click here.

Gap and the Whitney Museum of American Art have teamed with some of my favorite artists to create some cool Tee’s for Men and Women. I am very excited that today I went to the Walker Art Center instead of ordering offline or dragging myself into my local gap store to purchase my Marilyn Minter Tee.

Featured artists tees are :

Hanna Liden

Chuck Close

Jeff Koons

Marylin Minter

Kenny Scharf

Glenn Ligon

Sarah Sze

Kiki Smith

Barbara Kruger

I must admit I am not one to usually enjoy art and retail or art and advertising but after I heard the Walker was selling the shirts and it benefited the museum, I was on board. All the shirts sold at the Walker benefit the museum, and they are the same exact price as Gap!The shirts are 100% cotton,they run kinda large..and they are super soft.$28 dollars and you can have your favorite art on a shirt.

The above photo of Skullphone’s reported billboard hack ended up being a paid for ad (as reported by Wired Magazine). I guess it pays to do your fact checking before reporting.

Many museums, including the Walker (check out the images below), have bought billboards to place art on. I have to admit, I’m not bothered by him paying for it. Does it bother you? Do you think it’s still art of it’s paid for commercial space?

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Over the last 5 months WACTAC has been working with artists Matthew Bakkom and David Bartley to amass a collection of objects that speak to corruption. We will be unveiling the collection on Thursday, April 17 at 5:30 PM. Come and check it out.

Yesterday night the Walker screened Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks , 2 Days a film portraying the harrowing story of a young woman living in Romania in 1987 and her story of undergoing and illegal abortion. Based on an actual story of a friend of Mungiu's the film is an in depth look at actual life under the Communist rule. "In 1966, a law than banned abortion was imposed in Romania. The effect was immediate: up to 1970 there were four huge generations of children, a few times more numerous that the generations before 1966. The number of children in a classroom increased from 28 to 36... By the end of communism sources say that more than 500,000 women had died because of ..." trying to receive illegal abortions.

4 Months, 3 Weeks , 2 Days is apart of the New Wave movement in Romania. The stylistic elements that are defining this movement are "long takes , fixed camera positions, a taste for plain lighting and everyday décor." Many of the stories have a tendency to follow everyday ordinary lives. If you are bummed you were unable to attend the film you still have time to go and see other Romanian new wave director Cristian Nemescu's film California Dreamin'(Endless) on Febuary 8th at 7:30 ( In "one of the best films about how America is perceived abroad ever made"--Washington Post and winner of Un Certain Regard at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, a Romanian bureaucrat delays an American NATO train on its way to Kosovo as a way to avenge the arrogance and neglect he feels the United States displayed toward Romanians after World War II) or Free Thursday, Febuary 7th at 7:30 you can see an early short by him called Marilena from P7 which follows a juvenile who befriends a prostitute. Make sure if you go to the free film on Thursday you reserve your tickets.

Now I know I haven’t written any movie scripts myself… lately. But I fail to be impressed by Juno, sure I chuckled few times, maybe even slapped a knee or two, but I just don’t see what all the hype’s about.

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Shining down on the Walker like a dope ray of sunshine, Joe Sacco gave an artist talk Tuesday, November 13th.

Hailing from Malta, Sacco is a comics-journalist who goes to overseas countries and spends time living with, studying, and interviewing the people who live there. Unlike most journalists, Sacco has the opportunity to learn on his own time and spend a few months where he stays because Sacco don’t answer to no one. Upon returning to his home, he begins on what is typically a 2-3 year journey in drawing comics and describing what he’s seen.
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A couple weeks ago WACTAC had the opportunity to meet Dan Perjovschi, a Romanian artist and illustrator included in the Brave New Worlds exhibition. Check out the video (thanks for the edit Bre!).

If you are interested in hearing more about Dan’s work, check out the interviews from his massive MOMA installation (video 1 and video 2) …or shut off your computer, get out of the house, and see the installation with your own eyes at the Walker (it’s up through February 17)!

Last month we hosted our Annual Student Open House featuring Friends With You. Check out the artist talk video here.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the FWY installation at Soo VAC, get over there! It closes next Thursday, October 25.

There are a ton of art related projects/protests scheduled for the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul on September 1st through the 4th. A bunch of activities are being planned at theunconvention.com

One project is being organized by artist Sharon Hayes. Hayes is asking for 100 volunteer performers to recite (as a chorus) a 10-15 minute text about love, politics, gay power, and gay liberation (written by Hayes) over a period of approximately two hours. The performance will take place in a public space in proximity to the Convention.

If you are interested, submit the following information by email to rnc@creativetime.org:
1. Contact information: Phone (home/cell) & e-mail address
2. Do you have any additional resources that you would like to bring to the project?
3. Are you affiliated with any organizations that would be interested in spreading the
word?
4. Do you have any technical or stage management skills?

For more information about the project, click here.

We are looking for 8 new WACTAC members for the 2008-2009 school year. Print out the application below, answer the questions, and send it to Walker Art Center, c/o Teen Programs, 1750 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55403. Deadline for submissions is Monday, June 30.

A direct link to the WACTAC application can be found at http://teens.walkerart.org/wactacapp

DEADLINE HAS PASSED!

CALL FOR ARTISTS (19 AND UNDER)!

Are you sick of the only bonuses of your teenage years being driving, R-Rated admissions and legalized lung-cancer? Well, we have the solution. '20 Under 20' is a competition for artists, filmmakers, dancers, graffiti writers, spoken word poets, musicians etc. Over 100 selected artists representing a variety of media will compete in two showcases at the Northern Warehouse in Lowertown Saint Paul on Saturday, May 10 and the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art in on Saturday, May 17.

At these two showcases, a panel of celebrity judges and the audience will select the top 20 artists to be featured in a final showcase at the Walker Art Center on Thursday, June 12 at 7 PM.

So if you are into it, submit your work. Think of it as a chance to show the world you're more than a shopping demographic. Think of it as a party. Think of it as a great 'extra curricular' application filler. 20 under 20 is brought to you be the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council, creators of Hot Art Injection and Below the Belt: Battle of the Underage. So you know it won't be too corny.

Submit your artwork by sending your name, phone number, email address, and a link to your Myspace page, Youtube, JPEG file, etc. to teenprograms@walkerart.org by Monday April 14th. Participants must be 19 years or younger on Monday, April 14.

Check out teens.walkerart.org for updated information about 20 under 20. If you have any questions or want further information please email teenprograms@walkerart.org or call 612-375-7683.

Yes! At least thats what writer and director Gus Van Sant says in his Paranoid Park, his adaptation of Blake Nelson’s novel.

This movie is the next in a series of movies that Gus Van Sant has made since he supposedly “broke out of Hollywood.” It follows the story of Alex, a teenager (more like tween); who is supposedly disconnected, like you know most teens are nowadays, and I guess for that reason can’t seem to formulate a sentence that includes more than a subject and a verb.

If you want to know more, then keep reading!
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Bre did a post about the Girls in the Director’s Chair already, but here’s the info with a nice little flyer to boot.

Saturday, March 1
11 am and 1:30 pm: Program One
3 pm: Program Two

Part of the Women with Vision film festival, this annual showcase highlights films created by Minnesota girls ages 18 and under. After the screening, join us for a day-long celebration of women and filmmaking. Click the image below for the flyer.

I came across this video while I was poking around trying find some info about Miguel Gutierrez’s Everyone (he will be performing at the Walker Thursday through Sunday). I love the simple use of loops.

WACTACers will remember Tino Sehgal as the man who imitated a zombie in the office. People who don’t remember, or know, Tino can get a very good briefing by clicking here.

There are two very good parts of this New York Times article. First, the title “You Can’t Hold It, but You Can Own It”, explaining the dichotomy that is Sehgal’s work. Second, the quote near the end by Yasmil Raymond, the curator of Sehgal’s Walker show, about her experience with stripping security guards.

The guards were, of course, part of Sehgal’s work. He sees himself as a creator of experiences. Simply put, his art is making someone do something weird and people reacting to it.

But, according to Sehgal its much more complicated, and intellectual and conceptual, etc. than just that. Last year WACTACers got to meet him and hear about his work.

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I had the opportunity to see Bela Tarr’s Prefab People at the Walker last month. The film is a retrospective on Hungarian culture during the 1970’s and 1980’s, Bela Tarr wanted to capture the melancholy state of relationships . He accomplished this through intense closes up throughout the film, the use of the close ups of his characters (husband and wife) helped portray an intense uncomfortable intimacy and highlight the couples disconnect. Almost always examining his characters and never really informing the viewers exactly of the characters surroundings. Ultimately we are constantly forced to examine the whirlwind, unbalanced relationship between the two characters, and act as observers.

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If you make films and you’re 18 and under, you should submit your films to these upcoming film festivals at the Walker! Click here for submission form for the 3rd Annual All City Youth Film Festival. Email girldirector@walkerart.org for a Girls in the Director’s Chair Film Festival application. If you couldn’t tell by the title, the festival is open only to young women 18 and under.

This is the time of the year when WACTAC sorts through the a huge number of applications. This year’s batch of apps was quite impressive…so impressive that it made me dig through the archives. Here are some of my all time favorites.

Eric Luken, WACTAC 1999-2000

Shannon Joyce, 2005-2006 WACTAC member.

Blue Delliquanti, WACTAC 2006-2007 (you can see Blue’s full application here)

Laura Gantebein, WACTAC 2005-2006

…and the Top 3 20 Under 20 Artists are

1st Place: Jess Nelson

2nd Place: The Velveteens

3rd Place: Sarah Beth Ryther

Thanks to all of the 20 Under 20 Artists! Check out more photos at the Walker’s flickr site.

WACTAC is looking forward to our 3 day Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson love fest in May:

Aside from their artist talk at the Walker on May 1st, Chris and Jo will be presenting CONCLUSIONS ON BOUNDARIES, an art exhibition featuring their painting, sculpture, found materials and video at ART OF THIS gallery in Minneapolis. The exhibition opens MAY thizz-erd at 7pm and runs until June 1st!

To hype up the exhibition the WALKER ART ROBOT will be screening the documentary “BEAUTIFUL LOSERS” on May 2nd - two showings: 7pm and 9pm. Since we’re real cool here on WACTAC we spent a whole meeting sticking it to the man and reserving tickets for high school students, so make sure to bring your student I.D. since the rest of the tickets might be sold out AND you get a discount! Purchase advance tickets here.

Here’s a trailer that I guarantee will make you go bananas:

If you don’t know about BEAUTIFUL LOSERS, look no further than first flute at the next school assembly…

But honestly, lifted straight from my paps Big Walker:

Beautiful Losers is a documentary film celebrating a loose-knit group of American artists--Shepard Fairey, Ed Templeton, Margaret Kilgallen, Barry McGee, Mike Mills, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Thomas Campbell, Harmony Korine, Stephen Powers, and Geoff McFetridge--who emerged from the 1990s underground youth subcultures of skateboarding, graffiti, punk rock, and hip-hop. The film tells the story of these independent-minded individuals, each with a passion for making and a DIY sensibility, and the incredible impact they had on the worlds of art, design, fashion, music, film, and pop culture. 2008, U.S., 35mm, 91 minutes

SO to recap the 3 day Chris and Jo Love Fest:

Thursday, May 1st, 7 PM: Chris Johanson & Jo Jackson Artist Talk at the Walker

Friday, May 2nd, 7 & 9 PM: Beautiful Losers Film Screening at the Walker

Saturday, May 3rd: Chris Johanson & Jo Jackson Exhibition at Art of This

During the run of WACTAC’s Hot Art Injection IV at the Soap Factory, several WACTAC members got the opportunity to meet artist Alexa Horochowski and her pimped out low rider bed.

This April, Alexa will be teaching a workshop here at the Walker for high school students (ages 15-19), based on sampling from popular 70’s and 80’s album covers. Check out the flyer for more info and then sign up (space is limited to 15 participants) by emailing teenprogams@walkerart.org.

If you are a fan of Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy, Gerry and Elephant) you should check out this FREE SCREENING (Wednesday, March 29, 7:30 PM) of Parnoid Park. Check out the trailer.

If you plan on attending, make sure to show up early.

This upcoming weekend at the Walker, Esther Robinson’s documentary A Walk into the Sea is playing. The documentary is a..”personal inquiry into the truth behind her Uncle Danny Williams’ mysterious 1966 disappearance. Virtually unknown today, Danny was Andy Warhol’s lover, and a promising young filmmaker. The discovery of 20 never-before-seen films Williams made during his time at the Factory– and whose many subjects include Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, Paul Morrissey, Brigid Berlin, Billy Name and what may be the earliest known footage of the Velvet Underground-- reveals a luminous talent and a stark gap in the historical record. Combined with Robinson’s intimate interviews of surviving Factory members, the film gets beyond the icons and quietly dismantles the Warhol myth-making machine, allowing a deeper examination of the human fragility on which Andy Warhol’s empire was built.”

In addition to being able to see Esther’s new documentary (click here for the screening times and dates) - Sunday the Walker is playing all of Danny Williams’ films with live music by the Quavers.

Anyway, its $5 dollars for students something cool and cheap to do on a Sunday night.

I am totally excited to see Danny Hoch’s new work in progress at the Playwrights’ Center and you should be too. Click here for more info. If you need a sales pitch, here’s what a youtube viewer said after watching this clip from Jails, Hospitals & Hip Hop, “I am Cuban and the White Jewish guy who was acting like a Cuban had me confused because I thought that he was Cuban!”

I went with a group of people to see The Violin last night, directed by Francisco Vargas.

The Violin:

“In the 1970s, a seemingly harmless violin player named Don Plutarco (Don Ángel Tavira, winner of the Un Certain Regard best actor award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival) supports the peasant movement's armed revolt along with his son and grandson. After their village is attacked by the military in the harrowing first minutes of the film, Plutarco wins over the army captain with his music, which gets him closer to information and supplies that can help the guerrillas counterattack.”

The Violin is the best film I have seen all year, for three reasons:

1. It is apart of a new and exciting film movement. Personally I am very excited for the Nuevo Cine Mexicano movement that is going on in Mexico and other Latin Countries, I am excited that it is beginning to receive some of the attention that it deserves. The film The Violin is a strong example of the anthem of emerging filmmakers from Mexico, the anthem is reflecting on misguided policy structure, economic crisis, rejection of institutions and rights for the people (not only in Mexico). In a time were consumerism and weakened policy structure is common among many countries the artist response to the abuse of power and the corruptions that come along with is a direct response to oppression all over the world.
2. The filmmaking and use of close ups is stunning. Francisco Vargas ability to capture human emotion through high contrast close ups is stunning. The main character Plutarco is the hero of The Violin, throughout the film we are stunned by his wisdom and courage, often we see him reflecting on life, playing music with his grandson and passing on crucial information to the revolutionaries, we see him in high contrast at night in front of a fire the glow of the embers on his face are stunning.
3. The director has positive things to say to youth filmmakers. Francisco Vargas was at the screening of the film, after the film was shown I was able to ask him if he has any words of wisdom for young filmmakers, he described the process of creating The Violin, he discussed how many people did not want him to make the film, people believed that the issues that are discussed, the political edge of it was unimportant,and that no one would care . He searched for 6 months to find the character Plutarco numerous times people told him that the character they wanted did not exist. It took them five years to make this film, and they only had 4 weeks to shot it on a very modest budget. The film has since become a blockbuster and the lead actor Plutarco, who had never acted before, won the Best Actor Award from the Cannes Film Festival. Overall he said that if you have passion no matter what people say to follow your dreams!!!

If you ever have the opportunity to see The Violin or future Francisco Vargas films make a point of doing so you will not be disappointed.

I am Youtube-ing a trailer of the film, there are not English Subtitles, however this can serve as an example of the filmmaking and to get you excited for the Nuevo Cine Mexicano.

Enjoy..

Rejoice people, come one, come all, critical mass is taking place this Friday! I’m sure you’d all heard of the terrible incidents with the MPD during the August Critical Mass Bike Ride. The political attack on bikers by the cops was the first incident Critical Mass had encountered since the 80’s.

The September ride, however, was beautiful and flawless. I anticipate this Friday’s Critical Mass to be one for the ages. Meet at Loring Park (across from the Walker) and depart around 5:30 PM. After the Ride,
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