Back to the '80s in new Walker exhibit

by William Moore, Minnesota Public Radio

MINNEAPOLIS -- A new exhibit at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis will focus on works from the 1980s.

The show, which opens this weekend and runs through late September, focuses on several themes, such as democracy and gender roles.

Bart Ryan, a visual arts curator at the Walker, says the AIDS crisis is one of the most prominent issues explored in the exhibit.

"A good number of artists in this exhibition actually died of AIDS," Ryan says, "and there are artists who are considered really important now whose, you know, legacy in a sense, has been lost, so there is that sense with part of the exhibition while you're traversing it."

The show features more than 100 pieces from over 90 artists and is accompanied by an illustrated catalog. The show includes painting, photography, sculpture, audio and video pieces.

Ryan says the social issues of the 1980s gave artists a strong sense of commitment.

"There was this real sense of stakes within the art world and elsewhere in society where people really felt they were fighting for their place at the table," he says, "or they were fighting an old guard that had to be overthrown. There was this real sense of ideology and motivation that artists all sort of bought into."

The show will feature a free event, "80s Night in the Field," on Aug. 9.