The Museum of Non Participation: The New Deal
Opened Thursday: Stand by for a heady experience as London-based artists Karen Mirza and Brad Butler launch their fictional Museum of Non Participation in the Twin Cities at the Walker. A sociopolitical exercise, the "museum" promises to combine videos, performances and audience-participation chats in an ever-changing "multilayered installation." Potential topics include United Nations resolutions on Iraq; the notion of a covert "state within the state"; the use of violence and pressure "to manipulate political and economic elites"; the collision of oil economies, and post-colonial cultures struggling for democratic autonomy. Plus conceptual art and "the legacy of the dematerialized art object." Think Vietnam War "teach-ins" retooled for the Twitterati generation. Events include a "Blackboard Conversation" between the artists, New York artist pal Sharon Hayes and U.C. Santa Barbara's Prof. Avery Gordon, 2 p.m. Sat., free. (Through July 14. Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. $8-$12 for 18 and older. 612-375-7600 or www.walkerart.org)
