Visual Arts

On Saturday, the Kitty Cat Klub will be the site of the inaugural Project, Project, an immersive, multi-sensory aesthetic experience featuring work from nearly every part of the artistic spectrum. MORE »

This week’s picks

Thursday, November 27
If the blindly patriotic, crassly commercial nature of Thanksgiving is just too much for you, head to First Ave, where you can really stick it to ‘em by enjoying free turkey and music by a Soviet panda.

Friday, November 28
After battling the Black Friday crowds to score that discount Oreck, take Sanctuary with a delicious and—most importantly—leftover-free meal downtown. MORE »

Sense of humor in tow, Celeste Nelms highlights human interactions with nature in her artwork. Using donated goods or materials found in vintage stores and dumpsters, Nelms’s artwork is based on the idea of the discarded. “Something you don’t want anymore, it becomes something that has a soul,” she said. Soul or no, Nelms said, “we all should keep that funny part in life.” MORE »

I asked four experts to nominate examples of great architecture that have gone up in St. Paul in the last 30 years. Daily Planet readers had their own nominations.

“Interesting that no one mentioned Minnesota Public Radio’s newish building. I worked for them for a decade before being laid off, so I’m not a huge fan of the organization—but the building is GREAT.”

“Flannery Construction building at St. Anthony just west of Hamline is a fun and functional building with green credentials.”

“I don’t mind that St. Paul isn’t a showplace of architecture from the past 30 years. I greatly appreciate that the city has preserved so much from its past 150 years—more so, I’d say without any expertise, than Minneapolis has.” MORE »

I was having coffee with friends last weekend, and the conversation turned to which city was more livable: Minneapolis or St. Paul. One guy argued that St. Paul is a more pleasant city to walk around in because the architecture is more cohesive. “Sure,” replied another, “but name one building that’s gone up in St. Paul in the last 20 years that you’d look at and say, ‘Now that’s great architecture.’ Or 30 years—I’ll even give you 30 years!” MORE »

by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet • 11/22/08 • Studying in Australia for a few months in the mid-90s, I was party to any number of earnest conversations about “the true spirit of Australia” and the frustrations of being reduced, in the global imagination, to a kangaroo, a boomerang, and Paul Hogan.

India is an enigma of a country. It calls to mind swirls of hot pink silk, extravagant Bollywood musicals and frenetic music set to the pace of its crowded streets but it’s also a hotbed of political unrest and extreme poverty. Its clash of the beautiful and the developing make it as compelling as its history would suggest. MORE »

This week’s picks

Thursday, November 20
Does Joe Dowling have the Guthrie logo tattooed on his arm? I haven’t checked, but I suspect not. Jeremey Catterton, artistic director of Lamb Lays With Lion, now literally wears his heart on his sleeve—specifically, on his inner forearm. The LLWL troupe will be at the Hexagon tonight performing The Little Skeleton That Could Not, a work of “info-tainment” about alcoholism, AIDS, and anorexia. Stick around afterwards for music by Fort Wilson Riot, Plastic Chord, and Speed’s The Name.

Friday, November 21
Last Christmas you gave your godparents a terra cotta garlic cooker…how are you ever going to top that?! Try a work of original art from a student at MCAD; the school’s annual art sale opens tonight. MORE »