Twin Cities' 5 must-see art shows this weekend

PERFORMANCE

Mississippi River Iron Pour with Tamsie Ringer

Capitol Region Watershed District

Fri., Sept 21 from 5-9 p.m.

5:30 p.m. early guests design their own molds; 6-6:30 p.m. anniversary program with guest speakers; 7:30 p.m. Ringer's iron pour

1736 Thomas Ave. (future CRWD headquarters)

Free, but RSVP required (CLICK HERE)

PERFORMANCE

Illuminate the Lock: Returning the River

Fri., Sept. 21 & Sat., Sept. 22

Doors at 8 p.m., performance at 8:30 p.m., projects and music from the water from 9:15-10 p.m.)

Upper Saint Anthony Falls Lock & Dam (http://northern.lights.mn/projects/illuminate-the-lock-returning-the-river/)

The 49-foot-tall chamber of the Upper Saint Anthony Falls Lock & Dam plays host to various artistic projects. This year, it's about returning to the river. Artist Mike Hoyt uses visual projections on the water to tell the story of a daughter whose life is intertwined with a paddlefish. Dameun Strange made the soundscape, and the story itself was written by Molly Van Avery. She narrates it from a boat in the Lock chamber while Ritika Ganguly sings from above. The Lock is 56 feet wide and 400 feet long; it is closed to all traffic, so do not worry about any boats crashing the party!

Above: Sara Cwynar. Tracy (Gold Circle), 2017. Dye sublimation print on aluminum, 30 x 38 inches. Courtesy the artist; Cooper Cole, Toronto; Foxy Production, New York. ONGOING

"Image Model Muse" by Sara Cwynar

Minneapolis Institute of Art (2400 Third Avenue S)

Exhibition opens Sept. 14

Admission: Free.

Brooklyn-based, Canadian-born artist Sara Cwynar investigates the ways that color makes people want to buy things, how women have been depicted in images, and the ways that kitsch idealizes an often-times bleak world. Working primarily in photography and film, Cwynar's conceptual photographs ask questions about how "reality" is filtered through media, thus manipulating perceptions and emotions. This exhibition presents 11 photographs along with three of her most recent films, "Soft Film" (2016), "Rose Gold" (2017) and "Cover Girl" (2018). Read full article here: http://www.startribune.com/in-minneapolis-show-a-new-york-artist-finds-the-meaning-of-kitsch/493859941/

Above: Siah Armajani, Seven Rooms of Hospitality: Room for Deportees, 2017 (Courtesy the artist and Rossi & Rossi)

ONGOING

Siah Armajani: Follow this Line

Walker Art Center (725 Vineland Pl, Mpls.)

Hours: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tues., Wed., Sun.; 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thurs.; 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Fri., Sat.; closed Mondays

Cost: $15 adults; $13 seniors (62+); $7.50 active military; $10

The iconic Minneapolis bridge was touched up recently in preparation for the Walker Art Center's gigantic "Siah Armajani: Follow this Line" retrospective, opening Sunday. With 35 works spanning six decades, the Walker has the world's largest institutional collection of Armajani's work. The loosely arranged exhibition features more than 100 works including some of the artist's earliest pieces, created when he was a young dissident living in Tehran. It surveys the architectural focus of Armajani's work in the 1970s, '80s and '90s to his overtly political sculptures of the 2000s onward. The show will travel to New York's Met Breuer museum in February. Exhibition ends Dec 30. Full article here: http://www.startribune.com/walker-art-center-surveys-60-year-career-of-artist-behind-iconic-minneapolis-pedestrian-bridge/492613451/

ONGOING

Sky Hopinka

Bockley Gallery (2123 W. 21st St., Mpls.)

Hours: Noon-5 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Gallery closed Sept. 24-30.

Free. 612-377-4669 or bockleygallery.com