The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Weekend Arts Roundup: Visual and Verbal Communication

  Play Now [4:41]

by Marianne Combs

May 21, 2015

'The Language Archive' at Park Square Theatre
'The Language Archive' at Park Square Theatre
Courtesy Park Square Theatre

MPR News Arts Reporter Marianne Combs joins Jill Riley and Sean McPherson to talk about two photo exhibitions and a theater show. "There's an interesting enery around photography right now," Marianne says.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts Third Thursday — The Third Thursday party at the MIA tonight has a theme of "#nofilter." One of the shows on display in honor of the MIA's 100th birthday is "100+: A Photograph for Every Year of the MIA" — curator David Little went through the archives and picked one photo for every year the museum has been open. In addition, the MIA offers the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP); one of the featured artists is Pao Her, whose exhibit, "Attention," focuses on the importance of military service to Hmong-American identity. There will be an artist talk from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the galleries.

Edward Burtynsky: Water — Over at the Weinstein Gallery in Minneapolis, international photographer Edward Burtynsky is being featured in this show that depicts how human industry affects the natural world — in particular for this show, water. Burtynsky's larger-than-life photographs are on display in the Weinstein Gallery's intimate space until the end of June.

The Language Archive — Onstage at the Park Square Theatre in downtown St. Paul, this show has been getting rave reviews. Thematically, the play is about dispappearing languages and how we communicate with one another. The story centers on a brilliant linguist who is attempting to record disappearing languages; as he tries to record an elderly couple who speak one of the endangered languages, they're in the middle of an argument. At the same time, the linguist has his own relationship troubles, and he's searching for the right words to tell his wife to stay and to tell her how much he loves her. The Language Archive runs until May 31 at the Park Square Theatre in St. Paul.

Marianne Combs joins The Current's Morning Show for the Weekend Arts Roundup every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Read all the latest arts news from MPR News.