 In the 2004-2005 fiscal year, the Walker Art Center continued its exploration of art without bound-aries while the new facility was under construction, thanks to a major sponsorship by Target Corporation. Walker without Walls was at its peak during the summer months. More than 150 programs and activities took place throughout the community and in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the most visible of which was Walker in the Rough, a hugely popular 10-hole miniature golf course that drew nearly 28,000 people to experience the Garden in a new way. We are truly grateful for Target's generous support during this critical year of transition for the Walker. This year's Summer Music & Movies series featuring local and national bands and Steve McQueen films attracted more than 8,000 people to Loring Park, with Har Mar Superstar's opening- night concert entertaining nearly 3,000. The Women with Vision film festival was shortened this year from one month to five days and drew 2,000 film fans to 25 features, documentaries, shorts, and the Girls in the Director's Chair screenings. The outdoor dance spectacle Sethu (Bridge), a global performance collaboration featuring 50 artists from India, Indonesia, and Minnesota, brought 5,000 people to the Garden. While the Walker galleries were closed, passersby on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis were treated to artist-designed billboards by Laylah Ali, Matthew Barney, Frank Gaard, Takashi Murakami, and Yoko Ono. Additionally, some 100 artists' books from the Walker's collection, on view outside the museum for the first time, were exhibited at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. When the Walker reopened its doors in April, seven inaugural exhibitions showed off its remarkable collection: The Shape of Time, a chronological perspective on the artistic developments of the past 60 years; Quartet: Johns, Kelly, Mitchell, Motherwell and Quartet: Barney, Gober, Levine, Walker, highlighting eight artists with whom the Walker has developed long-term relationships; Shadowland: An Exhibition as a Film, presenting moving-image works by an international roster of artists; Elemental, showcasing Minimalist works; Mythologies, featuring keynote paintings, sculptures, photographs, and drawings; and Urban Cocktail, an examination of the urban experience. All of the inaugural installations were generously supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, with additional support for individual exhibitions provided by Atari, Best Buy, Judy Dayton, the Dedalus Foundation, John Taft and Martha McPhee, and Joanne and Philip Von Blon. Along with these exhibitions, the Walker published its new collection catalogue, Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole: Walker Art Center Collections. Made possible with major support from the Getty Foundation, the 616-page volume includes some 350 artist entries coauthored by Walker curators and alumni with contributions from novelists, poets, and critics. |
 top: Visitors make their way to the new William and Nadine McGuire Theater Photography: Peter Tolkin |
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