Quodlibetica originated from the desire to write about art and visual culture in ways not confined by academic conventions or journalistic hype. Part journal, part blog, Quodlibetica fosters critical conversations about visual arts in a forum that is accessible, engaging, and committed to quality writing. Based on the Latin quodlibet, which has entered the English language as (1) a statement proposed for disputation, (2) the actual discussion, and (3) the whimsical combination of familiar elements, Quodlibetica is a space to argue eloquently and whimsically about art, find out what’s happening in the Twin Cities art scene, and engage with writers, artists, and critics, who like to think. Contact us if you want to get involved.
In “To the Galleries!” you will find essays and exchanges on exhibitions, lectures, and gallery talks that our contributors wrote in response to this fall’s rich array of art activities. Click here for our editorial.
By Lightsey Darst
1.
On a Saturday afternoon at the Walker, in Dance Works I: Merce Cunningham/Robert Rauschenberg, people wander about. Lurking in the little study area under the guise of perusing books on Cunningham and listening to various people talk on headphones, I watch my fellow gallery-goers, who mostly give this gallery a hasty glance. They [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Jen Caruso
Introduction:
Semblance [Schein] that must be explained (for example, error):
that must be eschewed (for example, Sirens); that should be ignored (for example, will-o’-the-wisps).
Another classification of semblance:
Semblance behind which something is concealed [….].
Semblance behind which nothing lies concealed […].
– Walter Benjamin, “On Semblance.”
The first time I see the Semblances show, it is in [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Jonathan Kaiser
What can be accomplished when many individuals answer to a single name – or namelessly act together? Group entities are powerful and charismatic forces regardless of how they choose to structure themselves: global corporations and off-the-grid communes, digital networks and hip hop crews, flash mobs and street [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Rene Meyer-Grimberg and Thomas Haakenson
We authors decided to “go Facebook” for our post-interview discussion of the new St. Paul gallery space, Air Sweet Air. What follows is our Facebook exchange, with very minor editing.
Facebook post from Rene Meyer-Grimberg (RMG): I wanted to send you some [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Stephanie Xenos
Imagine a young man is stabbed just outside your door over a pair of athletic shoes that happen to be the wrong color. A makeshift shrine sprouts up practically overnight, an expression of profound communal grief. Fights erupt on the sidewalk between young men paying their respects at the [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Christina Schmid
On my kitchen counter, looking out into the yard, sits a mason jar that holds about two large handfuls of beans. They are a curious shade of purple, with markings in even darker purple centered around what I think of as their navels—although I’m sure a botanist would be [...]
Published 12.1.2011
By Tom Westbrook
In 1989, while struggling to keep a small gallery and studio open, I began working at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis as a temporary worker on the exhibitions crew. When the Walker was organizing large exhibitions, they would hire a number of temps to frame art, prepare [...]
Published 12.1.2011