There are some things that make me pine away for being in close proximity to Minneapolis. One is some really good friends that I went to school with that reside there. The other is the Walker Art Center, which seems to address landscape much more often than is done here in Portland. Maybe they have more to turn a critical eye towards?
Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes opens tommorrow (text and images from the Walker website):
“Because suburbia occupies a dominant presence in so many lives—a place of not only residence but also of work, commerce, worship, education, and leisure—it has become a focal point for competing interests and viewpoints. The suburbs have always been a fertile space for imagining both the best and the worst of modern social life.
:: Greg Stimac, Mowing the Lawn (Chandler, AZ), 2005/2006
“On the one hand, the suburbs are portrayed as a middle-class domestic utopia and on the other as a dystopic world of homogeneity and conformity. Both of these stereotypes belie a more realistic understanding of contemporary suburbia and its dynamic transformations, and how these representations and realities shape our society, influence our culture, and impact our lives.
:: Benjamin Edwards, Immersion, 2004
“The intention of Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes is to demonstrate how the American suburb has played a catalytic role in the creation of new art. Challenging preconceived ideas and expectations about suburbia (either pro or con), the exhibition hopes to impart a better understanding of how those ideas were formed and how they are challenged by contemporary realities.
:: Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects, New Suburbanism, 2000/2004
“The exhibition features artwork by Gregory Crewdson, Dan Graham, Catherine Opie, and Edward Ruscha, among others, and architectural projects by firms such as Fashion.Architecture.Taste, The Center for Land Use Interpretation, MVRDV, and Estudio Teddy Cruz. Worlds Away will be accompanied by a 320-page, fully illustrated catalogue featuring essays and interviews which provide a revisionist and even contrarian take on the conventional wisdom surrounding American suburban life.”
:: Matthew Moore, Rotations: Single Family Residence #5, 2003–2004
Oh, Twin Cities. Perhaps a visit is in order, as the exhibit runs through August. Never thought I’d wanna fly across the country to visit the suburbs.