The Walker-organized exhibition How Latitudes Become Forms: Art in a Global Age opened in February, featuring artists from countries represented in the Bush Global Initiative who work in a wide variety of media, including sculpture, installation, performance, photography, drawing, video, sound, digital technology, and architecture. The exhibition was made possible by the Bush Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, American Express Philanthropic Program, the Rockefeller Foundation, Peggy and Ralph Burnet, Matthew O. Fitzmaurice, the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology, La Colección Jumex, the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, Peter C. and Annie Remes, and Shiseido. Promotional assistance was provided by MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine. In March, the Walker-organized Elemental: Selections from the Permanent Collection opened, tracing Minimalist art from its genesis in New York and Los Angeles in the 1960s to its transformation in the 1980s. This exhibition was made possible by generous support from Joanne and Philip Von Blon. The Walker-organized Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, the artist’s first solo show in a U.S. museum, opened in April and featured nine newly commissioned, large-scale paintings. The exhibition was funded by the Voyageur Foundation Fund of the Minneapolis Foundation. A special thank-you is extended to Walker Board member John Taft for securing this gift and for hosting the opening dinner.

The final major exhibition of this fiscal year was the Walker-organized Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life—an international, multidisciplinary show examining contemporary developments in the fields of architectural, product, furniture, fashion, and graphic design. The North American tour was supported by Target Stores. We are especially grateful to Board member Michael Francis for his assistance with this extremely generous gift. Additional funding for the exhibition was provided by the Mondriaan Foundation, with support from the Netherlands Culture Fund of the Dutch Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Education, Culture, and Science; and the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation. In-kind assistance was provided by Bouwbedrijf De Nijs, Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd., and Schroeder Company. Promotional assistance was provided by MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine and opening events were made possible by Lowry Hill Private Wealth Management.

In addition to these special exhibitions, Walk Around Time: Selections from the Permanent Collection remained on view all year, offering an impressive array of works created from the years 1950 through 2001. This major installation of the Walker’s collection was made possible by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Best Buy Co., Inc. In the Andersen Window Gallery, Things Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art (from the Permanent Collection) showcased a select grouping of drawings and scale models from the Walker’s collection, library, and archives. The exhibition was funded by the Andersen Corporation.

With support from the Bush Foundation, the Walker’s Performing Arts Department presented a season of globally oriented and innovative dance, theater, performance art, and music from around the world. Highlights included performances by South African–born dancer/choreographer Vincent Mantsoe; the three-week series Tropicália Now: New Dance and Music from Brazil; a penetrating new work combining butoh, ballet, and theater by Kim Itoh + The Glorious Future; vocalists from across the globe in the World Voices series; and performances by China’s first independent dance-theater company, Living Dance Studio. The Bush Foundation also supported Alladeen, a new commission from New York–based experimental theater company the Builders Association and London-based media/design/performance collective moti roti, copresented with the Guthrie Theater. The Walker’s co-commissioning partners for Alladeen were the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Kitchen, New York; and the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio.