Opens June 30 "Viewers of any age must check all the usual expectations for a retrospective exhibition at the door." -Chicago Tribune Throughout the 1980s, a series of ruptures permanently changed the character of the art world. Art veered between radical and conservative, capricious and political, socially engaged and art-historically aware. Even as Reaganomics dramatically expanded art as a luxury commodity, postmodernism further challenged the very status of representation and shifted artists' sense of their role in society. This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s surveys these and other developments with more than 100 works, including paintings, sculpture, photography, video, audio, works on paper, and documentary material by some 90 artists. read more >> Related Events Opening-Day Talk: Helen Molesworth with Artists Lorraine O'Grady and Donald Moffett Saturday, June 30, 2 pm $10 ($8 Walker members) Curator Helen Molesworth discusses the political and aesthetic urgency of the 1980s with participating artists Lorraine O'Grady and Donald Moffett. read more >> Donald Moffett, Call the White House, 1990, Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery '80s Night on Open Field Thursday, August 9, 6-10 pm Wear your neon, shoulder pads, and stirrup pants for an evening that looks back on an oft-maligned decade. Start the night with a special ‘80s-themed edition of Conversationalist’s Café (6–8 pm), a project where strangers, friends, and guest artists share dialogue based on a menu of topics crafted around the era. Then check out the exhibition This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s, during a curator-led tour (7–8 pm), and stick around as Jim Walsh (author of The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting: An Oral History) rounds up fellow musicians and artists who lived through this special time for a round of stories and songs with the Mad Ripple Hootenanny that harks back to a decade when CDs were the next big thing (8–10 pm). read more >> Member Event: A Think & A Drink Friday, August 24, 7 pm Join other Walker members for an interactive tour of the exhibition, followed by a reception with light snacks and a cash bar. Free for Walker members. RSVP: 612.375.7655, membership@walkerart.org, or online. read more >> Dig Deeper When Social Movements and Mass Media Converge By Helen Molesworth & Bartholomew Ryan Guerilla Girls on Art, Love & Politics Video produced by MCA Chicago Donald Moffett Video produced by MCA Chicago Kissing Doesn't Kill Video produced by MCA Chicago From the Walker Shop Exhibition Catalogue Featuring essays by exhibition curator Helen Molesworth and art historians Kobena Mercer, Frazer Ward, and Johanna Burton, and others Complete with critical texts on each work in the exhibition, This Will Have Been brings into focus the full impact of the art, artists, and political and cultural ruptures of this paradigm-shifting decade. More than 200 full-color reproductions of works in a range of media, including drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture, illustrate this ambitious guide to a period of artistic transformation. Paperback, 448 pages, $50 ($45 Walker members) purchase >> Remember the 1980s when you wear this Walker-designed t-shirt in conjunction with the exhibition This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s. $24 ($21.60) purchase >> This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Lead support is provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris: Caryn and King Harris, Katherine Harris, Toni and Ron Paul, Pam and Joe Szokol, Linda and Bill Friend, and Stephanie and John Harris. Major support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Helen and Sam Zell. Additional support is provided by Neil G. Bluhm; Andrea and Jim Gordon, The Edgewater Funds; Dakis and Lietta Joannou; Susan and Lew Manilow; the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation; Agnes Gund; David C. & Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation; Marilyn and Larry Fields; The Broad Art Foundation; Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin; Glenstone; Luhring Augustine Gallery; and Per Skarstedt. The Walker Art Center's presentation is made possible by generous support from Lisa and Pat Denzer and Frances and Frank Wilkinson. Media partner Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. Hotel partners Walker Art Center 1750 Hennepin, Minneapolis MN 55403 Share with a friend |