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Welcome to Artcetera. Arts-and-entertainment writers and critics post movie news, concert updates, people items, video, photos and more. Share your views. Check it daily. Remain in the know. Contributors: Mary Abbe, Jon Bream, Tim Campbell, Colin Covert, Laurie Hertzel, Tom Horgen, Neal Justin, Claude Peck, Rohan Preston, Chris Riemenschneider, Graydon Royce, Randy Salas and Kristin Tillotson.

Posts about Minnesota artists

Brazilian dancer in solo show at the Cowles

Posted by: Claude Peck Updated: March 1, 2013 - 12:53 PM

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POSTED BY CAROLINE PALMER

For those who missed seeing Marciano Silva dos Santos in the lively performance of his troupe Contempo Physical Dance earlier this month, here’s another chance to witness this entrancing mover who so graciously shares the heat and vitality of dance traditions from his native Brazil with us citizens of more northern climes.

The recent dancer-turned-choreographer plans to present a new solo work “Diálogo de Raízes/Dialogue of Roots" this weekend at the James Sewell Ballet TEK Box in the Cowles Center. Dos Santos will draw upon his Afro-Brazilian dance roots to explore the experience of a man who transforms the limitations of words into seemingly limitless possibilities for physical expression. Local composer Timothy Berry will accompany the work live through an original score built around percussion.

The performance will take place on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m., plus Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. The TEK Box is located at 528 Hennepin Avenue on the second floor of the Cowles Center. Admission is $10 and tickets are available through www.brownpapertickets.com.

Summer art project to be picked for Minneapolis Convention Center

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: February 26, 2013 - 11:17 AM

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Ralph Rapson Hall at the University of Minnesota

Five finalists will show their ideas for an art project to be installed this summer on the plaza of the Minneapolis Convention Center. The winner will be picked Wednesday, Feb. 27 by a professional jury during a public presentation at the University of MInnesota's Rapson Hall.

The winner must demonstrate artistic excellence and be temporary, interactive, site-specific and eco-focused. It will also have to be some sort of "portal," and evidence "creative-placemaking." The Art-in-the-Plaza project is sponsored by the Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association in partnership with the Mayor's office, Minneapolis City Council and the city coordinaro's office.

The five finalists are:

"LakeForms" by Futures North. Described as a "digitally fabricated pavillion that emerges from the Convention Center plaza," LakeForms is a multi-sensory environment that will provide info about the city's lakes using audio and visual information gathered from "smart buoys" in the city's lakes.

"Mimmi," by INVIVIA in collaboration with Urbain_d/rc. Described as a "visiting organism," Mimmi sounds like a city-wide mood ring. According to its prospectus, the "organism" will "collect and reflect the aggregate mood of Minneapolis, changing in color, shape, and climatic behavior depending on residents' emotions."

"MPLS rope densCITY," by JeFe Design Collective. This one is a big swing made of discarded rock climbing rope from which visitors can, well, swing.

"You Are Here," by Krause + Sowinski. Dubbed a "meta-map," this project will "strengthen the downtown pedestrian experience," by using a "giant red arrow," to connect the Convention Center to downtown.

"RIPPLE" by Locus Architecture. Framed by 20 ft. tall steel "fronds" capped by LED lights, this outdoor "room," will somehow be activated by weather. It will be a "venue for serendipitous meetings betweeen residents and artists, vistors and aspiring gymnasts." 

Check out the finalists and watch the judging:

Wednesday, February 27, 5:30 p.m. with reception to follow, free. Ralph Rapson Hall, University of Minnesota, 89 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis. Map: http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/RapsonH/

CBS Films pays $4 million for the Coen brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Posted by: Colin Covert Updated: February 19, 2013 - 2:39 PM

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Oscar Isaac in "Inside Llewyn Davis."

Oscar Isaac in "Inside Llewyn Davis."

 

Distributor CBS films has paid $4 million for the U.S. rights to "Inside Llewyn Davis," the 16th feature by Oscar winners Joel and Ethan Coen.

The independently produced film was financed by Scott Rudin, who worked with the Coens on their 2007 best picture winner "No Country for Old Men" and 2010's "True Grit."

The new film is a comic drama set in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk-music scene. Oscar Isaac plays the title character, a ne'er-do-well singer-songwriter with a troubled career and love life, and a mutinous cat. Also in the cast are Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman and F. Murray Abraham.

The film features half a dozen songs performed live by the cast. Grammy-winner T. Bone Burnett, who produced the hit soundtrack to the Coens'  "O Brother Where Art Thou?" does the same duties here.

While CBS Films' Vice President of Publicity Grey Munford said a release date was not yet determined. It seems likely that "Inside Llewyn Davis" will open next fall for consideration in the 2014 film awards cycle. "You can look at the filmmakers and draw your own conclusions," Munford said.

CBS Films has released nine movies to date, most recently "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," "The Words" and "Seven Psychopaths."

Northern Spark festival heads to St. Paul for 2013

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: February 11, 2013 - 11:36 AM

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Northern Sparkers watch the "SitandSpinShanty" at the 2012 Northern Spark. Star Tribune photo by Megan Tan.

Northern Spark, a one-night festival of avant garde art events, will focus its activities in St. Paul's Lowertown in 2013.This year's  festival will start about 9 p.m. Saturday, June 8 and run til dawn on Sunday morning.

Many of the events will occur in or near Union Depot, a 32 acre site that includes a vast former train station and concourse now being renovated as a transport hub for light rail, bus and Amtrack transportation.

"We are a roving experimental, interactive, media arts organization and we're doing some roving and some experimentation," said Steve Dietz, president and artistic director of Northern Lights.MN, the non-profit sponsor of Northern Spark.

The city of St. Paul did not chip in any special funding to lure the event there, Dietz said. His organization has been developing a $500,000 public art commission for Union Depot for the past 18 months, however, and exposure to the depot's space and its potential inspired him to move the Spark there for one season.

 "Working with Union Depot is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we're going to focus a lot of energy on it and Lowertown this summer," Dietz said. "It's a place really no one has seen much of since 1971and, while it's now reopened, it hasn't reached maximum use. We're going to take over all 32 acres and have indoor and outdoor projects and stages."

Spark events will spill out into Lowertown including Mears Park and the riverfront. Nevertheless, it will be "more compact than either of the first two years," said Dietz.

Since it was first launched in 2011, Northern Spark has been staged throughout the Twin Cities but tended to concentrate in Minneapolis. Many events clustered near the Stone Arch bridge spanning the Mississippi River and at key venues including Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Soap Factory.

The 2013 festival will have about the same number of participants as in the past, Dietz said, that is 45 partner organizations and about 75 artist-projects involving about 100 artists.Highlights are expected to include a house that artist Chris Larson plans to build  -- an exact copy of a Marcel Breuer house that overlooks the Mississippi River -- plus several new public art commissions.

Dietz acknowledged that attendance could fall because of the move, but insisted the risk was worthwhile. "When you change location, there's always that chance, but I think we'll gain some new audiences, and it's all part of trying to remain true to our mission of being experimental," he said.

Besides, in 2014, "We'll be back in Minneapolis for sure, and looking forward to it," he said.

 

Sewell Ballet at Tek Box

Posted by: Claude Peck Updated: February 6, 2013 - 6:00 PM

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Posted by CAROLINE PALMER--Special to the Star Tribune 

 

Nic Lincoln and Erin Thompson in "Lounge Twins Die and Go To Heaven" Photo courtesy of James Sewell Ballet.

 

Each year, James Sewell Ballet reaches out to choreographic talent in the local dance community and beyond through its Ballet Works Project. This year’s program is full of fresh talent, with new works by Karen L. Charles of Threads Dance Project (“Call”) as well as independent dance makers Chris Schlichting (“Intervals”) and Judith Howard (whose “Lounge Twins Die and Go to Heaven” created for Nic Lincoln and guest artist Erin Thompson sounds particularly promising). The line-up also includes “Sail” by young choreographer Erin Arntson of the Reif Dance Program in Grand Rapids plus “Liberate” from Sewell company member Cory Goei.

(8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 24. $16-20. TEK BOX, 528 Hennepin Ave., 2nd Fl., Mpls., 612-206-3600. www.jsballet.org.)

Review here of recent Chris Schlichting show at Red Eye in Minneapolis.

Video here with Ballet Works rehearsal footage and interviews..

inside the StarTribune