In addition to speaking at Insights 2013 and creating a hand-painted mural in the Bazinet lobby (seen here in time-lapse), here’s what Dutch artist Job Wouters did in the Twin Cities this week:

Attended a reception with local designers at the home of Brent Stickels and Jane Johnson
Visited the Mall of America (not pictured: lunch at the Rainforest Cafe) to buy a gift for son Midas
Rode the Spongebob Squarepants roller coaster at Nickelodeon Universe
Ate dinner at Barbette
Enjoyed beers with fellow designers at the CC Club and The Local
Tried out Famous Dave’s barbecue
Gave a lettering demonstration for visiting MCAD students

Andy Messerschmidt. All photos by Olga A Ivanova

Andy Messerschmidt has been at the Walker all week installing Friend Me/Follow Me: Graze Anatomy (2012), a mixed-media installation inside the main entrance. The work uses the Ely, Minn.–based artist’s trademark layering technique in which imagery from various religious traditions, pop cultural references, and ornamentation styles are overlaid in often symmetrical patterns. The piece is the second–following Elizabeth Simonson’s bead-based Instar, installed in late 2011–commissioned for “the oculus,” the notch in the ceiling between the Walker Shop and Gather, the Walker’s second-floor restaurant. Overseen by curator Elizabeth Carpenter and commissioned with support from the McKnight Foundation, the installation took four days, during which Messerschmidt wrangled 63 plastic Nativity scene sheep lamps, a projected animation, Christmas wrapping paper, plastic shepherd’s crooks, and an audio piece (featuring equally layered samples, with sources ranging from Indonesian bird calls and audio of an exorcism to music from the 11th Century). Look for more on the project in coming weeks on the Walker homepage, or view the just-completed project during regular Walker hours.

Dianna Molzan passes Zak Prekop’s Untitled Transparency (2012)

In advance of Saturday’s opening of Painter Painter, many of the 15 participating artists have been at the Walker helping install the show. Staff photographer Gene Pittman has been in the galleries with them all week, documenting their progress. (more…)

Performing Arts curator Philip Bither, David Breskin, Nels Cline, associate curator Doug Benidt, and Ed Ruscha pose in front of Ruscha’s Heaven and Hell (both 1988). Photo: Gene Pittman

Last week’s performance of DIRTY BABY–the second and possibly last time the work will be performed–was so momentous, artist Ed Ruscha flew out from Los Angeles to be part of it. Dubbed a “synaesthetic fantasia” by its mastermind, poet David Breskin, the work combined 66 of Ruscha’s censor-strip paintings, music by a nine-member ensemble led by guitarist Nels Cline (Wilco, Quartet Music), and 66 ghazals written and read by Breskin.

The performance–hailed as “a monumental, unique creative endeavor“–was capped off with a Q&A with the artists and a reception in the Skyline Room with contributing members.

In front of one of Ruscha’s censor-strip paintings, a large ensemble led by Cline performed DIRTY BABY. Photo: Gene Pittman

Ten years after her lauded 1988 film Chocolat debuted, French director Claire Denis’ films were showcased in a 1998 Regis Retrospective at the Walker. But it wasn’t until this month that Denis visited the Walker to introduce her films. The nine-film retrospective concluded last weekend with a Regis Dialogue with critic Eric Hynes on Saturday and a Sunday screening of Nénette et Boni (1996), which she introduced. Afterwards, film curator Sheryl Mousley grabbed a camera to chronicle the occasion, capturing Denis petting the digital version of the bunny from Nénette on the Cinema’s new digital signage. (more…)

David Byrne and Laurie Anderson in the McGuire Theater. Photo: Philip Bither

It was a Walker reunion 32 years in the making: After both gracing the Walker stage for 1980′s New Music America Fest, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne were together again Sunday in the McGuire Theater. Byrne, who was in the audience for Anderson’s “startingly hypnotic” performance of Dirtday!, is in town to present his gigantic sound installation Playing the Building at Aria (formerly Theater de la Jeune Lune) in the Warehouse District. Featuring an organ wired to various architectural elements of the space, PTB’s Minneapolis run starts tonight and runs through December 4. Both artists have long histories with the Walker: Byrne’s engagements include the premier of The Knee Plays in 1984 and  Rock the Garden in 2004, while Anderson–who recently shared her thoughts with us on war, politics, and the Occupy movement–performed her work Happiness here in 2002. (more…)