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.
Suspect Alternatives
Blame it on summer’s unexpected turbulences, but we are back with our most journalistic efforts yet. Rather than criticism, we indulged our curiousities in search of the mysterious motivations that prompt people to found, run and maintain alternative art spaces. More…
“When I got out of graduate school, I didn’t want to talk to collectors and gallerists; I wanted to work with artists,” says David Petersen, the Artistic Director of Art Of This (AOT). It comes as no surprise, then, that AOT was conceived as a space run by artists for artists. [...]
Published 7.31.2010
“I don’t want people to think of SooVAC as Suzy’s gallery—it’s really about the community, about all of us,” says Suzy Greenberg, Executive Director of Soo Visual Art Center. SooVAC’s long-standing commitment to serve as a hub for local and emerging artists and to engage art lovers and the community [...]
Published 7.31.2010
“From the very beginning, we wanted to make a statement that this was not going to be another standard artist-run gallery,” says Howard Oransky, one of Form + Content’s twelve founding members, when Camille Gage, he, and I sit down to talk about the past, present, and future of the [...]
Published 7.31.2010
While some art enthusiasts appear bundles of energy, gushing forth ideas and artists and concepts without rest, the art enthusiasts at Midway Contemporary Art appear a different breed: Reflective, deliberate, contemplative.
In contrast to some of the Twin Cities other “alternative” art scenes—the word “alternative” seems inappropriate and pejorative, [...]
Published 7.31.2010
The Soap Factory’s building—a formidable if weathered 48,000 square foot wood-and-brick cut of a structure—appears out of place amid the renovated warehouses and splashy redesigned grain mills that line the north side of the Mississippi in downtown Minneapolis. The views: Spectacular. The foot and bike traffic: Heavy. The area: Increasingly [...]
Published 7.31.2010
Umber Studios is a space whose simplicity belies an intensity of purpose, and the clarity of co-director Jessica Umber’s vision comes through in the absence, in the silence that surrounds the work.
Like the gallery itself, Umber is bright but modest, and her quiet demeanor partly masks a great intelligence. [...]
Published 7.31.2010
They seem, frankly, a little bemused – a little surprised that we have chosen them, as wary of us as we are wary of misrepresenting their space, their mission, their marginality and their youth.
They are Emily Atchison, Jennifer Hedrich, Kelsey Olson, Lauren Allshouse [...]
Published 7.31.2010