State of the Arts: July 24, 2009 Archive

Minnesota wedding party raises the bar

Posted at 9:10 AM on July 24, 2009 by Euan Kerr (3 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, Events, People

Update: All Things Considered is going to do an interview with the mother of the bride and the pastor involved in the big dance number. They are as shocked as anyone about the popularity of the video, and have some theories to share. If all goes to plan it will air sometime after 6pm Central time.

It's always fun to see what becomes a viral success. This one is popping up repeatedly in my e-mail, and if you read the comments on YouTube and other sites it's doing the same for a lot of people.

Now, several people we know in the vicinity of State of the Arts are planning nuptials right now, and it's hard to avoid the thought that J and K have thrown down a gauntlet...

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A State of the Arts Mystery: can anyone explain?

Posted at 3:50 PM on July 24, 2009 by Euan Kerr (16 Comments)
Filed under: Sculpture

Some one must know what this means, and so it's time to turn to State of the Arts readers for suggestions.

First here's the set-up.

The other morning I walked down Lyndale Avenue from where I had parked my car to do an interview a few blocks away at the Jungle Theater.

Just after crossing the bridge over the Greenway, I passed a young man who seemed engrossed in the wonders of a chain link fence surrounding a recently cleared site on the west side of the street.

I noticed he was carefully counting the links on the fence with one hand, while carefully holding a length of yellow yarn in the other.

He didn't pay any attention to me. I walked past him in a matter of seconds, regarding him as one of the many people you see in the great gentle circus we call south Minneapolis.

Fast forward an hour and as I was returning to my car, I saw the young man was gone. He had however left a certain amount of yarn.

It was clear there was a pattern to the work, but because of the way the yarn blended in with the fence against the sky and the rough terrain behind, it was really hard to see what it was.

For a few moments I moved back and forth trying to find the right place from which to look.

It was a little tough because there was no sidewalk, and to get some distance from the fence it was necessary to step back into the street, which is always an adventure in the Mill City, even on side roads.

The artist clearly had some objective in mind, but he didn't make it easy. Sometimes you have to struggle a little for art.

Finally, after much wandering to and fro, and a certain amount of crouching, I found the perfect viewing spot.

This is what I saw.

So the question is: what is it? Clearly there is a message here, but what does it mean?

And this is where you come in. If you have any thoughts about what this signifies, or, even better, some deep inside knowledge of the young man and his yarn, (in both senses of the word,) please feel free to share them below.

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