Public Functionary peers into the dance studio at two Minneapolis institutions, documenting ways dance and arts pedagogy act in conversation with community this week. Over in St. Paul, the streets become the canvas for local and national mural artists at the Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival. The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra begins its 2022-2023 season with Baroque surround sound, and Highpoint Center for Printmaking highlights the liminal spaces of Fidencio Fifield-Perez. At Crooners, settle into fall with stories by Kevin Kling and Victor Supanc, and early next week, find your dark mood when the Swans play at the Fine Line.
Exhibits on community-centered dance history at Public Functionary
The art of dance flourishing within communities are at the heart of two exhibitions opening at Public Functionary this weekend. In “Dhaanto,” presented at PF’s Upstairs Gallery #247 in the Northrup King Building, filmmaker Yasmin Yassin documents the dance troupe based at the Somali Museum of Minnesota through film, photography and text. Downstairs in PF’s main gallery, Za’Nia Coleman, currently a fellow with the Emerging Curator Institute, presents “Saturday Mornings and The Faces We Remember,” drawing on personal experiences at the Hollywood Studio of Dance, located at Broadway & Penn in north Minneapolis. Coleman will show photographs, footage and other ephemera from 1991 to 2001 for the exhibition to explore its legacy and impact. “Dhaanto” opens with a reception and screening Thursday, Sept. 14 from 6 to 9 p.m., and “Saturday Mornings and The Faces We Remember” opens Saturday, Sept. 16, from 5 to 9 p.m. A joint artist talk with the two artists takes place Friday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m., with the exhibitions running through Sept. 30 (free). More information here.
[image_credit]Field Guide Inc[/image_credit][image_caption]Leslie Barlow shown with her mural of bell hooks.[/image_caption]The Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival
Wander the Creative Enterprise Zone around University Avenue and check out a new crop of murals, like Leslie Barlow’s depiction of bell hooks, or Hend Al-Mansour’s illustration of migration and identity. Philipo Dyauli wraps a mural around two sides of the Clothier Design Source building on Territorial Road, while the Detroit-based Sydney James references the late Ojibwe artist George Morrison’s “Lake Superior Landscape” (1981). You can find a full list of the new murals on the Chroma Zone website as well as a list of events, like an outdoor pop-up exhibition at NewStudio Gallery featuring Chroma Zone muralists past and present, an artist talk, bus tours and more. Besides the pop-up exhibition, NewStudio also hosts an exhibition in their space called “Other Significance,” featuring Rock CIFI Martinez— known for his Megan Rapinoe mural in the Twin Cities and his Prince mural at the MSP airport, and his wife, fiber artist Brandi Kole. Both of the NewStudio openings take place Thursday, Sept. 14, from 5 to 8 p.m. The larger Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival takes place from Thursday, Sept. 14, to Saturday, Sept. 16 (free). More information here.
SPCO’s opening weekend: Beethoven’s Second Symphony with Richard Egarr
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra splashes into its 65th season with the return of SPCO Artistic Partner Richard Egarr, who will conduct and share his arrangement of the Venetian early Baroque piece, Magnificat in 12 Parts, by Andrea Gabrieli. For the performance, the orchestra creates a surround sound effect, where different musicians will be placed around the hall for a 360 experience. Egarr will also conduct Fantasia concertante on a Theme of Corelli for Strings, a work British composer Michael Tippett composed in 1953 for the Edinburgh Festival, celebrating Corelli’s 300th birthday. A Vivaldi concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 are also on the program. Friday, Sept. 15, and Saturday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 17, at 2 p.m., Ordway Concert Hall ($12-55). More information here.
[image_credit]Highpoint Center for Printmaking[/image_credit][image_caption]Cutting & Pruning, Fidencio Fifield-Perez, Linocut Reduction, 18 x 23.5 in.[/image_caption]Fidencio Fifield-Perez: ‘On Looking’
Minneapolis-based artist Fidencio Fifield-Perez, currently an artist in residence at the University of Minnesota, relishes in ambiguity, mutable boundaries and obscured information in a new exhibition opening at Highpoint Center for Printmaking. Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Fifield-Perez spent most of his life in the United States. In some pieces, he masks immigration documents by painting plants on them. Other works hide text within dizzying patterns, while still others interrogate the notion of borders through map-inspired pieces. The opening reception takes place Friday, Sept. 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. The artwork will be on display through Nov. 18 at Highpoint Center for the Arts (free). More information here.
Kevin Kling and Victor Zupanc: Your Ultimate Troubadours
Two veterans of the Minnesota theater scene — composer/musician Victor Zupnac and storyteller Kevin Kling — converge for a night of stories timed around the “sleeping weather” time of fall. With songs and stories, let these two “troubadours” take you away with the changing season. Saturday, Sept. 16, 8 p.m. at Crooners Supper Club ($20-30). More information here.
[image_credit]Photo by Nicole Oike[/image_credit][image_caption]Michael Gira of the Swans[/image_caption]The Swans
Emerging out of the avant-garde New York scene of the early ’80s, the Swans have a style that has shifted in tenor over its history, from heavy noise to acoustic, most recently striking a hypnotic, if a tad apocalyptic, note. Centered around the prophetic lyrics of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band’s 16th studio album, “The Beggar,” permeates dark futures with fury, doom and an enveloping sound. They perform with Norman Westberg opening at the Fine Line on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m. ($35 in advance, $40 day of the show general admission, $50/$55 balcony). More information here.
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