Eyeo: INST-INT 2014

INST-INT INST-INT 2014: Exploring the Intersection of Art, Technology, and Interaction

September 25-27 in Minneapolis, INSTINT presents three days of lectures and workshops with renowned creators of interactive art and media-rich experiences. Continue reading…


TV Takeover

Northern Lights.mn is partnering with Twin Cities Public Television to host TV Takeover, an art-filled party, broadcast live on tpt on June 6th. The party will showcase Northern Spark artists and their projects in a showcase of past years’ projects and a sneak peek of what you’ll see at this year’s festival on June 14th. Purchase your tickets here. Continue reading…


Big Watershed Game Feedback Sessions

While snow was falling and the ground was covered in ice last month, we were dreaming of liquid water — lakes, creeks, watersheds. Ken Eklund was in town to workshop our concept for the Big Watershed Game, a project we’re creating in partnership with him and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and with funding from a Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grant.

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Amateur Intelligence Radio is Live

AIR is live!

The beta version of Amateur Intelligence Radio is now live at Union Depot and online at airstories.mn.

Spending some time in the Waiting Room at Union Depot? Plug your headphones into one of the AIR stations to hear the building tell its stories. Contribute your own stories and listen remotely at airstories.mn. Have you found the secret listening station in the Waiting Room?

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Art(ists) On the Verge 6 Fellows


Peter Sowinski, Autonomous, Art(ists) On the Verge 5 Fellowship

Northern Lights.mn announces the recipients of the 6th round of Art(ists) On the Verge commissions (AOV6). AOV6 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 5 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory.

Artists: Ryan Aasen, Molly Balcom Raleigh, Claire Barber, Daniel Dean, Meredith Lynn

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ArtPlace America Finalist

Northern Lights.mn is pleased to announce that we have been chosen as a finalist for an ArtPlace America Community Placemaking grant. Creative CityLab, the proposed project, will build on existing creative placemaking efforts to introduce experimental artist projects and prototypes into the long-range planning process of the City of Minneapolis. NL was chosen from a pool of 1270 proposals, and is a finalist along side 7 other Minnesota organizations. ArtPlace grantees will be announced in June 2014.


Chris Larson Limited Edition Artwork

Northern Lights.mn congratulates Minnesota artist Chris Larson on his inclusion in the 2014 Whitney Biennial!

Larson’s multimedia-based practice incorporates film, photography, drawing, painting, video and performance, often in installed environments. If these elements sound familiar, it’s likely you saw his project Celebration/Love/Loss during Northern Spark 2013. For this temporary architectural installation, Larson recreated a full-scale version of a 1962 Marcel Breuer home in Saint Paul which was lit afire. This project garnered national press coverage including an article in the New York Times.

We’re excited to offer the opportunity to purchase a limited-edition artwork by Chris Larson – a tabletop sculptural commemoration of Celebration/Love/Loss. Each piece in the edition is a unique sculpture that has been individually hand-poured, sculpted, and finished. Chris has created an edition of 25 and gifted a portion of them to Northern Lights.mn to help raise support for Northern Spark.

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Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grant

Northern Lights.mn is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grant for Neighbors By Way of Water: A Big Watershed Game. For this project, we are partnering with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and game designer Ken Ecklund to develop a large-scale, location-based game that uses the watershed landscape and cultural features as a game board.

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Open Call for Projects: Northern Spark 2014

Northern Lights.mn has two separate open calls for projects for Northern Spark, June 14, 2014:

Application deadline

The applications for both calls are due 9:00pm, CST, January 13, 2014.

More Information

For more information, visit the open call for projection projects and the open call for projects of any medium.


Creative City Challenge: Proposals Due November 18

Photo credit: Kristin Maywire

The second annual Creative City Challenge is a competition for a $75,000 commission to create a summer-long installation that transforms the Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza in 2014. The winning installation will be unveiled at Northern Spark on June 14, 2014.

Proposals for the Creative City Challenge are due at 4:30 pm CST on Monday, November 18, 2013. Submission guidelines and the submission form can be found here.

Information Session: We will be hosting an info session on Tuesday, November 12, at 12:00 pm. The session will be held in room 204AB on the second floor of the Minneapolis Convention Center. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to ady@northern.lights.mn or on our Facebook page.