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Issue #15.1 |
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In this issue: Photographer's Eye
—Electric Arc Radio writer Brady Bergeson joins photographer Andrew Filer for an afternoon of "dot" hunting and gives us the skinny on why this artist aims to document every last town on the official Minnesota highway map.
The photographer’s aim to preserve a moment in time is a deceptively simple one. Just point and shoot, right? But when you really stop and think about it, “real life” is an awfully elusive target. Those hard, sharp edges of reality look clear-cut from a distance, but the lines get a little murkier when you zoom in on them from unexpected angles. What you see really depends on how you frame the picture and what you think to look for. This month, a+E’s lens is pointed toward those photographers who are uncannily adept at capturing the hidden nooks and crannies behind the things we see everyday. Brady Bergeson introduces us to Andrew Filer’s Everydot Project, which reveals the secrets of small-town infrastructure hidden in plain sight all around us. Zoom In artist Dona Schwartz turns her camera on her own family, and in the process upends our preconceptions about the significance of everyday details. Be sure to check in with the Homepage section for a cheat sheet on the latest improvements to mnartists.org's offerings. And as you’ve come to expect, You Are Here will point you toward a handpicked array of arts events to keep you busy in the coming weeks.
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Zoom In: Photographer Dona Schwartz |
SPEND A FEW MINUTES WITH PHOTOGRAPHER DONA SCHWARTZ AND  YOU’LL START TO SEE SOME GRANDEUR hiding beneath the humble, day-to-day routines of your life. “I want to spend some time, think hard, and see what’s amazing that’s right under my nose,” she explains. “To me, that’s really compelling. But looking at what constitutes daily life sure isn’t easier or less rigorous. To photograph it, you have to first really see it. And not just anyone can do that. You have to be really quick and really observant—thinking, aware, present, and ready. Keep your camera close at hand and the batteries in it always charged.”
Schwartz considers her work to be documentary, but she admits that people often misunderstand what that entails. “I suspect that people have too narrow an idea about the field of documentary work. For example, I find that my students often think that documentary doesn’t have a point of view. It does have a point of view, absolutely. In fact, that point of view is exactly what defines it—you’re documenting the reality you see. It’s as simple as that.”
Schwartz goes on to elaborate how she sees her role behind the lens: “When I came of age professionally, the conversation in my field was driven by the question of the relationship of the storyteller to the story. Everyone was wondering, ‘Who should tell the story? Do you have to be on the inside of something to portray it fairly and accurately?’ I thought, I’m a mother and I know I can speak to the experience of motherhood. I’ll start by covering that.”
And so began In the Kitchen, a series of photographs that documents the comings and goings of her family, her teenage children’s friends, and their changing relationships to one another. Each photo is taken from within the confines of her family’s kitchen, but these aren’t simple “domestic” shots. Schwartz introduces us to a fresh way of looking at these ordinary moments: seen through her lens, these snatches of family life are surreal and evocative of the changeable nature of parent-child relationships; occasionally her shots are funny and, sometimes, they’re even uncomfortably frank… the article continues on mnartists.org.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE about Dona Schwartz’s remarkable photography, including a perceptive series of photos looking beyond easy soccer mom stereotypes and an ongoing project that chronicles the transformative transitions that follow parenthood. You can also browse through a collection of some of Schwartz’s revealing photos on mnartists.org.
 Dona Schwartz earned her PhD at the Annenberg School for Communications and currently teaches at the University of Minnesota. Among her academic publications are two photographic ethnographies, Waucoma Twilight: Generations of the Farm (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992) and Contesting the Super Bowl (Routledge, 1997). Her current series of shots, In the Kitchen, has been exhibited at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon, the Milwaukee Art Museum, The Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, the 7th Internationale Fototage, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, Germany, and in numerous juried exhibitions in the United States. Her work is included in the collections of the George Eastman House, Harry Ransom Center, Portland Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. Her new project, On the Nest, documents the lives of couples preparing for the arrival their first child.
If you’re expecting your first child and would like to participate in Schwartz’s On the Nest project, take a look at this flier for contact info and detailed information about the series.
Photos, from top to bottom:" Cherry Coke" from In the Kitchen; "Spectator" from Soccer Moms; Photo of Dona Schwartz behind the camera appears courtesy the artist. |
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Point of View: Andrew Filer and the Everydot Project |
Leave No Dot Behind 
Profile by Brady Bergeson
WE ARE DRIVING SOUTH OUT OF MOORHEAD ON Highway 75 past the wooden skeletons of new homes going up on the city’s edge. It is early afternoon and a thin layer of clouds has left the day bright, but tinted gray. Our first stop is Comstock (population 125), fifteen miles from here down a two-lane highway that cuts across pristine, snow-covered fields.
Andrew Filer, a photographer and conceptual artist, is sitting in the passenger seat. He is a large man in his mid-twenties, and from his physical presence one gets the impression that he could have played offensive lineman for a small, Midwestern private college. His head is shaved to stubble, as is his face, and thin wire-rimmed glasses hint at the intellectual subtleties of his artistic vision. His voice has the promise of an accent, maybe Canadian or vaguely English, but apparently it is just what someone who was raised outside of Thief River Falls sounds like.
As we turn off the highway into Comstock, I immediately notice a two-story, yellow-brick schoolhouse with boarded up windows; graffiti reads, “God sees you,” and a giant eyeball is painted along the side. It is easily the largest, most historic building in this tiny town and the most likely subject for any visitor armed with a camera. But as I stop the car in front of the schoolhouse, it becomes apparent that Filer is not an ordinary  visitor.
“I wouldn’t necessarily feel compelled to photograph this,” he says. “It’s a distinctive thing, but it’s not the first thing I see.”
Filer has spent a lot of time photographing small towns. A lot. In the past six years he has compiled more than 4,000 photographs of more than 300 towns. He plans to photograph every town in North Dakota and Minnesota, and perhaps beyond. It is a project he calls “Everydot,” as in every dot on the map....the article continues on mnartists.org.
CLICK HERE to read about the Everydot Project and why Filer prefers photographing outdated graphic design and obsolete remnants of infrastructure over quaint small-town fixtures like old grain elevators and historic barns.
 About the artist: Andrew Filer photographs aging urban areas and small towns, with a focus on vernacular signage and design. He spent the first 18 years of his life in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. That region's flat landscape, sparse population, and long summer sunsets can be seen in Everydot, his project to photograph every town listed on the official Minnesota highway map. Andrew doesn't simply photograph, he designs and builds the back-end software necessary to make it available to everyone. His computer science background helped build HoltWeeklyNews.com, a searchable archive of the entire run of a small-town newspaper. He believes that the principles of Open Source can be applied as much to art as to computer science, so his photo projects, books (including Sunsets, a compilation of photos taken facing away from the sun at dusk), and Open Source contributions can be seen at afiler.com. (The photo of Filer, above, is by Matt Westervelt.)
 About the writer: Brady Bergeson is a writer living in Fargo, North Dakota. He’s a member of the Minneapolis-based Lit 6 Project and the popular podcast and stage production Electric Arc Radio show (which you can see at the Ritz Theater in Northeast Minneapolis). Brady also teaches at Minnesota State University Moorhead. If you’re curious, a+E profiled Electric Arc Radio in a recent issue: check it out. (Photo appears courtesy Brady Bergeson.)
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Homepage: Catch up on the latest features from mnartists.org |
MnArts Weekly
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Notice anything different about the mnartists.org homepage? A new haircut maybe? New shoes? No, silly, it’s just mnArts Weekly, the new e-mag format for mnartists.org’s fantastic features, podcasts, reviews, and profiles. As you’re browsing through all the new content, be sure to listen to the new Radio mnartists podcast highlighting Shoebox Gallery founder photographer Sean Smuda. (And keep this on the down low, but Sean’s also going to be a+E’s guest curator for the next issue’s MASHUP collection of cutting edge photography.) |
mnartists.org's New Arts Events Calendar
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We’ve got a fabulous new DIY arts event calendar on mnartists.org! This isn’t like any other events board you’ve seen before. mnartists.org’s new arts calendar offers the possibility for all kinds of rich content. Upload images, film clips, mp3 files, and post ticket info, gallery hours, exhibit details—whatever you want people to know. Then, go one step further and link to your mnartists.org pages to show the audience more examples of your work. Any other mnartists.org artists involved with your event? Now, you can link to their pages too, as well as any relevant websites or mnartists.org articles. And best of all, it’s a community-driven resource that will be as layered and interesting as you make it. It’s easy to get started: click here for a step-by-step guide to getting your event listed in the new calendar listings.
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Call for mnartists.org Forum Moderators
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Are you a registered mnartists.org artist or arts lover dedicated to a free and civil exchange of ideas? Do you want to help shape dynamic conversations around issues central to the arts and culture of our state and beyond? We’re looking for people dedicated to building a strong network of artists and a vibrant arts conversation by taking a leadership role in the mnartists.org forums. If you are interested in helping to make the community forums a welcoming and inclusive place for discourse we would like to hear from you. For more information please follow this link. |
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Dance
Acrobatic Cafe with Wicked Sister Dance Theatre
Photo appears courtesy Acrobatic Cafe and Wicked Sister Dance Theatre |
Watch as performers tumble across the floor, scale furniture, and drop from the sky. Acrobatic Cafe is an eclectic mix of acrobatic dance works on both aerial apparatus and floor-anchored structures—these performers will dance on anything! Under the direction of David DeBlieck and Cathy Stone, Wicked Sister company members (and students) present a range of exhilarating new choreography. Act fast to reserve your tickets: the 2006 Acrobatic Cafe played to sold out crowds and they're looking forward to an even bigger response to this year’s show.
Where: Patrick’s Cabaret, Minneapolis
When: March 23-24, 8-10:30 pm
Tickets: $8 at the door
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The World Premiere of Enticed
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Classical ballet meets jazz in the world premiere of Enticed, an original jazz orchestral composition of six movements commissioned by Saint Paul City Ballet and created by George Maurer with choreography by Christa Hill. The show opens with Stations of the Heart, a new jazz song cycle based on the great American Songbook, with choreography by Phillip Carman, original music by George Maurer, lyrics by Jim Payne, featuring vocalist Carrie Mineck. Afternoon of a Faun closes the evening, with a performance staged by Phillip Carman after the choreography of Nijinski.
Where: The Paramount Theatre, St. Cloud, MN
When: Friday, March 16, 8:00 pm
Tickets: $20 (Seniors $18, Students $15). Call 320-259-LINE to reserve tickets.
Where: The O'Shaughnessy, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul
When: Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24, shows begin at 8:00 pm
Tickets: $25 (Seniors $20, Students $15). Call 651-690-6700 for tickets.
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Galas and Fundraisers
Lunaria: a Fundraiser in Support of Flaneur Productions
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Lunaria, Flaneur Productions' annual fundraising event, will feature a silent auction of merchandise from local businesses and original works of art, performances by Charles Campbell of Skewed Visions, Vanessa Voskuil, and Flaneur’s Don Mabley-Allen, installation art by Elliot Durko Lynch, and live music. Funds raised by Lunaria will support Flaneur’s Productions’ upcoming season, including Dérive (an evening of short, site-specific performance works), Heliotrope (Flaneur’s annual festival of underground and underexposed local music), as well as a full-scale stage production of our Spring 2006 workshop rendition of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, and a new play by Flaneur Co-Artistic Jim Bovino.
Where: The Northwest Casket Company building, Minneapolis
When: March 31, and the festivities start at 8 pm.
Tickets: $5 |
Film
Women With Vision 2007:
Mirror Image
Film still from
Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness, directed by Melody Gilbert
Still from Dreams and Desires: Family Ties, an animated short directed by Joanna Quinn, 2006. |
This weekend, the 14th annual international festival of films by women directors will finish out three weeks of the best in contemporary cinema, offering not only a reflection of our world but also new ways of seeing ourselves. This year, the festival proudly presents two world premieres by local documentary filmmakers: Joanna Kohler’s Boxers screened to a sold-out crowd at the Uppercut Gym in Northeast Minneapolis. Don’t miss local filmmaker Melody Gilbert’s Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness, which allows you a glimpse into the thrilling and dangerous world of urban exploration. and you don’t even have to get dirty or run crosswise to the law yourself to do it.
Where: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
When: Film showings run through Saturday, March 17. Click here for specific showtimes and ticket details.
Tickets: $8 ($6 Walker members) for each program. If you’re seeing a bunch of the shows, pick three films and get into the fourth for free.
P.S. If you're on the fence about whether or not to take in a show this weekend, take a look at this issue’s mnAccess deal: $2 off the full-price ticket to see one of these films before the festival ends on Saturday, March 17. |
Symposium
Art as Knowing: A Public Conversation about Art, Ideas and Practice
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Art as Knowing is a two-day, multidisciplinary symposium on the manifold nature of artistic practice: as a personal creative process, a process for exploration and inquiry into the unknown, and as a starting point for public conversation across many fields of discipline. This public symposium offers opportunities for open topical discussions and presentations by a diverse group of artists and performers both days, including perspectives from choreographer/dancer Ananya Chatterjea, poet Kamau Brathwaite, edgy performance artist Ricardo Dominguez, musician Douglas Ewart, and photographer JoAnn Verburg.
Where: Various locations around the West Bank of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
When: March 23-March 24. Click here for a full pdf schedule of events and lectures .
Tickets: FREE and open to the public. |
Theater
Invigorate the Common Well
Image appears courtesy Heart of the Beast Theatre |
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s production, Invigorate the Common Well, is part science class, part civic lesson and part theatrical experience – inspirational, interactive and information-packed! This unique production promotes a reverence for water while examining the critical issues of water quality, quantity and ownership. March 22 is World Water Day—can you think of a better way to mark the occasion.
Where: In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, Minneapolis
When: Shows run Thursdays-Saturdays through March 25. Performances begin Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 2:30 and 7:30pm; Sundays at 2:30pm.
Tickets: $20 (Thursdays are pay-as-able) |
Don Juan Giovanni
Production photo by Michal Daniel |
Don Juan Giovanni fuses the beauty of Mozart and the brilliance of Moliere in a lovely stage production weaving actors and singers together in a cross-country road trip that brilliantly skewers notions of love, sex, and hypocrisy.
Where: Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Minneapolis
When: Runs through June 2007.
Tickets: $10-$30. Click here for ticket prices and show times.
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Visual Arts
Photocentric 2007
Beach War, photo by Teri Fullerton, 2006. |
Photocentric 2007, the second iteration of the Minnesota Center for Photography’s juried exhibition of work by MCP members who live within 525 mile radius of our northeast Minneapolis location—what amounts to a long day’s drive. The results demonstrate the range and vitality of contemporary photographic art within our region and introduce new artists to the Center's viewing audiences. Photocentric 2007 helps us develop a better picture of the circle we're the center of, a circle that offers a new view of what constitutes the "Midwest."
Where: Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis
When: March 31-May 27. Opening reception Saturday, March 31 from 6-9 pm.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public
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Will Work For Food 2
The WWFF poster is collaborative effort between artists David Peterson and Keegan Wenkman |
Will Work For Food is a loosely knit collective of Minneapolis based artists working with realtors and property owners to temporarily transform vacant storefronts into exciting and inspiring art events. The goal of the collective is to create a self-sustaining creative community by providing exhibition space for artist and musicians, while simultaneously working to develop the larger community as a whole by finding tenants for available buildings. By bringing art out of the traditional art institutions and into the community, the hope is that we can create a new partnership between the host environment and artwork that is mutually beneficial for the viewer, artist, property owners, and community alike. Artists for the upcoming Will Work For Food show include: Eric Inkala, John Grider, Drew Peterson, Isaac Arvold, Ben Olson, Jennifer Davis, Keegan Wenkman, Adam Garcia, Garth Thompson-Viera, Aaron Wojack, Eric Carlson, Keiko Yagishita, Jeff Warner, Andrew MacDonald, David Petersen, Gabriel Combs and Jon Harris.
Where: The old Theater Antiques space in Uptown, Minneapolis
When: March 16-18. Open from Friday from 7-11 pm; Saturday noon-midnight, Sunday 1-9 pm.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Pulling Focus: Ceramics and paintings by Pamela Belder and new paintings by Scott Wenner
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In an unusual multimedia show, artists Pamela Belder and Scott Wenner have teamed up to show new work. Belder’s intriguing, surreal ceramics and Wenner’s moody abstract paintings offer a satisfying mix.
Where: Rosalux Gallery, Minneapolis
When: Exhibit runs from March 13-April 2, opening reception is March 16 from 7 to 11 pm.
Tickets: FREE and open to the public. |
Andrew Moore: The Impact of the Illegitimate System
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Moore’s new sculptural installation, The Impact of the Illegitimate System, is an all-out assault on the geo-political policies that enrage him. A self-described "reality artist," Moore has been constructing and modifying his work for nearly ten years, artistically attacking injustice with alley detritus, textual paintings and magazine collages. The Impact—created with plastic tubing, broken toys and dismembered dolls, oil barrels, abandoned auto parts, and window awnings, as well as his paintings and collages--dramatically displays the various stages of "the system," an omnipresent oppressor that Moore is determined to call out, confront and conquer.
Where: The Art of This Gallery, Minneapolis
When: Exhibit runs through March 25
Tickets: FREE and open to the public |
Browse through more up-to-the-minute events listings or post a show of your own on mnartists.org's spankin' new arts events calendar.
Need another compelling reason to use this great new resource? a+E's You Are Here event listings are drawn almost entirely from the new calendar, so if you want to improve the odds you'll see your event mentioned here, better start posting your events! We've made it super easy to begin: here's a step-by-step guide that'll show you how to promote your own events on the new arts calendar. |
mnAccess |
The Walker Art Center presents:
The 24th annual international festival of films by women directors
Women with Vision 2007: Mirror Image
access+ENGAGE readers: mention this coupon and get a discount of $2 off full-price tickets
This special offer doesn’t apply to tickets purchased online. To receive the special mnartists discount,
call (612) 375-7600 to reserve your tickets.
Where: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
When: March 2-17
Tickets: $8 full price ($6 for a+E readers)
Images: (Top) Still from Dreams and Desires: Family Ties, an animated short directed by Joanna Quinn, 2006. (Bottom) A Few Days Later, directed by Iranian actress turned director, Niki Karimi, 2006.
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One for the Road |
Vantage Point, photo by Cameron Wittig. Wittig credits a chapter in the famous photography book, The Photographer's Eye by John Szarkowski, for inspiring the title. See more of photographer Cameron Wittig's deceptively straightforward, playfully brash work on mnartists.org.
Untitled, photo by Cameron Wittig
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CREDITS
Project Director, mnartists.org: Kathleen Kvern
access+ENGAGE Editor: Susannah Schouweiler
E-journal design: Brand & Butter
Featured Contributors and Artists
Banner image (cropped and reprinted with artist's permission): "Grilled Chicken," from the series In the Kitchen by Dona Schwartz. You can see many more images from this series on Dona's website.
access+ENGAGE is a twice monthly e-journal offering indispensable,
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