The U’s Weisman Art Museum was on my walk home, so I popped in to preview new exhibitions that just opened. In the center of this gallery, Vietnamese American artist Tiffany Chung proposes a floating town designed to survive floods. Along the walls, embroidered and drawn maps explore the upheavals of war, displacement, and disaster. I’ll be back for a deeper dive.
Category: Arts
Waiting for Godot
Existential angst on stage at the Guthrie tonight; existential choices at the oncologist’s office this morning, with Dwight steady at my side through both. A drug will let us kick the can down the road to the next decision point, pretty much promising a normal life for a few more months. Meanwhile, Didi and Gogo remain trapped by inaction, going nowhere beneath that scrawny tree.
Joe’s Auto Parts
A friend and I made up a route as we went on a cycle ride through Nordeast Minneapolis. At Casket Arts, a former factory that once mass-produced caskets and other funeralia (a word I made up), we stopped to check out current sculptures by the artists who work there. In one piece, “Joe’s Auto Parts,” salvaged car doors arranged in a grid, capped by three vintage roof ventilators, become a sculpture.
A double-feature Saturday
A day with multiple events that are not medical is an extra good day. This morning we walked over to the Guthrie for a workshop on staging Waiting for Godot (which we’ll see next week), then picked up veggies from the adjacent farmers market. This evening, it’s the Minnesota Orchestra featuring Stravinsky’s The Firebird, paired with projections on Orchestra Hall’s signature acoustical cubes by London-based video designer Tal Rosner.
Hallowed ground
Walked over to the farmers market. In the shade of the Guthrie, a painting class focused on a red food truck, its faint reflection visible in the windows behind them. This space is special to us. During COVID, we held our spontaneous wedding reception here, complete with lawn chairs, alongside the two friends who witnessed our vows in the judge’s chambers.
Lurking
I’m the mysterious gentleman lurking in the grimy Pedicord Apartments, part of the permanent collection at the U’s Weisman Art Museum. If you lean in to any apartment door, you can eavesdrop on what’s going on inside. I’m between appointments. I’ve just had the most thorough eye exam ever, including a 3D digital model of the inside of my eyes ordered by the study, hence the dark glasses.
Outriding the Reaper
Spent much of today at the U, hopefully delaying a visit from the Grim Reaper. On my bike ride home, I spotted this freight car graffiti: the man himself, flipping classical Christian iconography right on its head.
Look, don’t sit!
On our Sunday morning walk, we spotted furniture set up on the substructure of the 10th Avenue Bridge: unexpected, possibly art, and an expense for the city to remove. This afternoon, we relocated a watercolor from another room and adjusted the placement of these Craftsman pieces. Much like the morning’s installation, our arrangement is essentially decorative.
A day on the #2
Built a gentle adventure around the #2 bus route which runs every 10 minutes near our home. The route takes in some wonderful institutions as it travels through the U and across South Minneapolis. Today: Northrop (cuppa in the cafe of this U auditorium), Weisman Art Museum (architect Frank Gehry), eye clinic (used a credit to replace lenses in my sun glasses), Minneapolis Institute of Art (took in an exhibition by Kenji Nakahashi who loved diagramming, categorizing and coding).
A dose of Coward
Tonight at the Guthrie: Noel Coward’s Private Lives. I’m just a wee bit tired these days, but I’m betting the rapid-fire verbal ping-pong will hold my attention, as will Dwight’s elbow, PRN.