Join me for the Goethe in the Skyway Symposium on Saturday

So, it's a little known fact that for the past calendar year, a group of artists sponsored by the German government have been ensconced in the Minneapolis skyway system creating critical reactions to the space of the Minneapolis second-floor downtown.

Yes, it's true: it's Goethe in the Skyways, the least likely Minnesota cultural mashup since it was revealed that Sisqo lives in Maple Grove.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be participating in this effort. I'm contributing an essay on the Minneapolis skyway system as part of a publication that the Goethe team is putting out, and I'm also going to be part of a symposium this Saturday, September 28th.

It's titled Passages. Here's the didactics:

Passages: a symposium including film screenings, performances, panel discussions, and many thought-bending lectures in the iconic Minneapolis Skyway System  

–with Jennifer Newsom/Dream the Combine, Elsa Dorlin, Interesting Tactics, Cameron Gainer, Brandon Hundt, Bill Lindeke, Alexandra Midal, Andy Delany/OOIEE, Sarah Petersen, Emilie Pitoiset, Daniel Shinbaum, Emily Stover, Sandra Teitge, Susana Vargas Cervantes, and Ramaya Tegegne. 

Europe-based feminist art and culture magazine Petunia is organizing Passages, a weekend symposium of performances, screenings, readings, and discussions at co. (company projects)/The Third Rail and at the Goethe Pop Up Minneapolis Goethe in the Skyways in the city’s iconic skyway system. 

Passages, of course, refers to the skyways as physical passageways. It also, in this case, refers to passing the baton in a relay race. This handoff, or passage, is an apt metaphor for several of the contributing spaces, organizers, and magazines who are participating in the symposium and are themselves transitioning to new manifestations, handing over their own legacy. Finally, Passages refers to a book written by Walter Benjamin dedicated to the famous 19th-century urban Parisian arcades, one of the direct forerunners of Minneapolis’s skyways. Benjamin used those urban features as a pretext to discuss other subjects, just as this symposium will use the skyways to think about legacy, traces, private and public spaces, and more. 

Coinciding with the conclusion of both Goethe Pop Up Minneapolis Goethe in the Skyways and the relocation of co. (company projects), the aim of the two-day symposium is to invite critical feedback while reflecting on the notions of transition, transmission, commitment to the local, as well as reflecting on this peculiar urban space/architectural environment: the Minneapolis Skyway System. 

It's open to anyone. I'll be speaking at 2:30!

@ GOETHE IN THE SKYWAYSCity Center, Skyway Level40 South 7th Street, Suite 208Minneapolis, MN 55402 

2 pm Introduction to the day  

2.15 pm Experiences from Goethe in the Skyways. Shifting perspectives with Sarah Petersen, Sandra Teitge, Daniel Shinbaum. 

2.30 pm Lecture by Bill Lindeke. Skyways, an history. 

3 pm Podium discussion Perspective on the Skyways with Andy Delany /OOIEE, Jennifer Newsom/Dream the combine, Lisa Middag, Brandon Hundt, Mod. Valerie Chartrain  

4.30 pm Lecture by Emily Stover. Tender City: feminist spatial practices in urban commons. 

5.00 pm Guided tour by Interesting Tactics. Who are the future Skyways for? 

5.30 pm Performance by Emilie Pitoiset. It took the night to believe 

7 pm Farewell and conclusion by Valerie Chartrain at Goethe in the Skyways

I hope to see you there. This is the most interesting thing to happen in the Minneapolis skyway system since they shut them down to create a mini golf course.