Sam Gould, "Queer Democracy." All photos by Alicia Eler for the Star Tribune.
The 2018 midterm elections may be over, but the four Twin Cities artists aren't done talking about the importance of voting.
The sculpture and screenprint-focused exhibition "Pre-election Poster Action 'Early & Often'" runs through November 12 in City Center, Skyway Level, 40 S. 7th St., Suite 208, next to Cardigan Donuts.
Featuring the work of Sam Gould, Drew Peterson, Jenny Schmid and the People's Library (MCAD), the sprawling exhibition occupies a previously retain storefront that is being rented out by the Goethe Institute until next Sept. 2019.
Sam Gould's piece "Queer Democracy" is the most physically tangible piece here. He arranges a small pile of bricks from the old Robert Shoes building-turned-artist studio that was destroyed earlier this year in a fire. On each brick, he spraypaints the word VOTE in red. Jenny Schmid, Drew Peterson and the People's Library, an MCAD student group, all contribute politically inclined screenprints.
A post-midterm election conversation in conjunction with this exhibition will happen in the space tonight, Wednesday, November 7, from 6:30-8 p.m.
Installation of "Pre-election Poster Action 'Early & Often'"
The exhibition's location in a commercial setting makes stumbling upon it while wandering for lunch or running errands in the skyways all the more relevant.
"It is such an artificial structure that forms kind of a city within a city," said Sandra Teitge, director of the Goethe in the Skyways. "I also find the corporate environment interesting-slash-challenging for an arts space. I wanted to engage with the public that also passes the space on a regular basis."
Teitge, a Berlin-based curator, lived in the Twin Cities for three years, and also founded the international residency FD13, which is still around.
The Goethe in the Skyways program runs until September 2019. It's a concept engineered by the German government/ministry and the Goethe Institute, which is sponsoring this project within what they are calling a "year of U.S.-German friendship initiative for 2018-2019."
This specific project about voting was inspired by artist Wolfgang Tillman's pro-EU campaign that combined photographs and text-based posters, telling voters to keep the UK in the EU. (The vote went to Brexit, or Britain's exit from the E.U.) These posters are currently on view at the Walker Art Center in the exhibition "I am you, you are too."
The Minneapolis skyways version is just one of the three Goethe Institute pop-ups in the U.S. right now, with additional pop-ups in Seattle, Kansas City, and Houston.
Installation of "Pre-election Poster Action 'Early & Often'"
