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No, it's no joke - John Waters to lord over Walker

Posted at 3:45 PM on April 1, 2011 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Museums, People

Peter Fischli and David Weiss
The Snobs (the fashion show) from Wurst Series, 1979
Part of "Absentee Landlord" at the Walker Art Center

It's a press release that had me calling back the Walker just to make sure it wasn't an April Fools' prank.

John Waters, the man who has raised filth and sleaze to a subject of high art and cultural fascination, will bring his particular eye to the Walker Art Center in an exhibition titled "Absentee Landlord." It's comprised of 60 works, including pieces by Andy Warhol, Yves Klein and Willem de Kooning, among others. It opens on June 11.

Not content with keeping his art within gallery walls, Waters will also provide an audio accompaniment in Pig Latin, and custom designed admission tags. It will be interesting to see how his sound installation (featuring car crashes and squealing tires) will go over with patrons attempting to park in the Walker lot.

A filmmaker, writer and photographer, Waters is best known for his films "Pink Flamingos," "Hairspray" and "A Dirty Shame" but also has an extensive career as an installation artist, and is a performer in his own right.

As part of his visit, Waters will perform "This Filthy World," a sort -of vaudeville monologue lauding the world of filth, on June 10.

And now for this public service message: