Image via Flickr
Even though the holiday weekend is on its way, there's still plenty of art to see, experience, and consume. From immersive dance experiences at White Page to the launch of a fashion magazine, a queer improv jam, the controversial Jimmie Durham exhibition at the Walker, and an exhibition focusing on the Black barbershop experience, the Twin Cities are alive with art this weekend.
FELT ROOM
White Page Gallery (3400 Cedar Ave South, Minneapolis, MN)
June 29 6-9pm sold out
June 30 2-5pm
June 30 7-10pm sold out
Tickets: $10-$20
https://www.facebook.com/events/1531261183564172/
Get your tickets now for the only remaining "Felt Room" performance on Friday, June 30 from 2-5 p.m.Billed as an immersive installation, in the space dancers move in and out, and somatic landscapes appear before visitors' eyes. The performance also offers a break from our much mediated reality, which happens in front of screens. Still unsure of what it is? Watch this video.

YOKO IN MOM JEANS
Saturday, July 1 from 12-4 p.m.
Seen The Future (2223 E. 35th St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55407)
https://www.facebook.com/events/1330067137078187/
The fashion magazine Yoko in Mom Jeans hosts a launch party to celebrate their first-ever issue. What's more is that the event includes vintage shopping from Double Peace Studio, and portraits shot by magazine contributor Lisa Luck. Yoko in Mom Jeans is named after freelance fashion writer Holly Hilgenberg's blog of the same name<http://yokoinmomjeans.blogspot.com/>. They're also on IG as @yokoinmomjeans.


THE SHOP
Saturday, July 1 from 7-11pm
Public Functionary (1400 12th Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413)
https://www.facebook.com/events/294312667645238
Curated by CRICE Kahlil, the exhibition "The Shop" explores "the culture and associated iconography of the Black barbershop, according to exhibition text. The history of Black barbershops has been complicated by the fact that they were once places where only white men were served. Historically, Black hair has been politicized, with actresses like entertainer Josephine Baker using straightening products, to the natural afro as emerging during 1960s civil rights movement. The Black barbershop has played significant roles in political and social movements, and continue to be an important spaces for community. "The Shop" features artists Noah Lawrence-Holder, CRICE Kahlil, Seitu Jones, Candice Davis, Ta–coumba T. Aiken, Emma Eubanks, Bobby Rogers, Keith Williams and Malakai Davis-Greiner. For more on the history of black barbershops, check out this interview on the Kojo Nnamdi Show with Quincy Mills, history professor at Vassar College and author of the book 'Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America.


QUEER IMPROV JAM
Sunday, July 2 from 5-7 p.m.
HUGE Theater (3037 Lyndale Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408)
https://www.facebook.com/events/110769922865169/
Minneapolis' HUGE Theater is hosting an improv jam specifically for queer folks, people who are 18+ and identify as queer, trans, gay, lesbian, bisexual, genderqueer, or any other variation of gender non-conforming. Regardless of whether you're an old hat at improv comedy or have never played before, this is an opportunity to let jokes happen organically amongst other queers. That means that you won't end up with the usual heterosexual circumstances of scenes (hooray!). Improv is not and never will be scripted! And yes, there will be snacks and a mysterious special guest from the Twin Cities theater community.


Jimmie Durham, "Head" (2006), Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, Italy; Image courtesy kurimanzutto, Mexico City. Image via WalkerArt.org.
JIMMIE DURHAM
"At the Center of the World"
Walker Art Center
https://walkerart.org/calendar/2017/jimmie-durham-center-world
This giant retrospective by American artist and activist Jimmie Durham has been the subject of much controversy because of his questionably Cherokee identity. Durham frequently uses found objects and assemblage techniques, piecing them together to form nonlinear narratives through sculpture, and playfully juxtaposing charged materials. In a 1985 work, "I Want 2 Bee Mice Elf," he positions an animal skull, a tree branch painted yellow, and the side mirror from a vehicle on a totem-like structure. The sprawling exhibition spans nearly four decades. Much of the work references America's history of colonialism, reflecting Durham's leadership in establishing international treaty rights for indigenous peoples. Later pieces deal with headier art-world questions, like divorcing a focus on monumentality from sculpture as a medium, playing with duality in identity, and the complexities of language. But the question of Durham's identity as potentially not-Native at all -- Cherokee artists and scholars have called that into question, and he is not registered with any of the three Cherokee tribes -- will change how viewers see it. As the Walker writes on the exhibition text: "Note: While Durham self-identifies as Cherokee, he is not recognized by any of the three Cherokee Nations, which as sovereign nations determine their own citizenship. We recognize that there are Cherokee artists and scholars who reject Durham's claims of Cherokee ancestry." The exhibition runs through October 8.