“…to alter one’s perceptions of the mundane aspects of almost any space [and] release the collective imagination of what an activated space might be for residents, workers, and even the surrounding community.”

Alma Lights

Alma Lights is a collaboration between Northern Lights.mn and Restaurant Alma to create a temporary arts hub experiment that supports a range of artist interventions at 528-530 University Ave prior to Restaurant Alma’s renovation of the building in the fall. There are many precedents for such artist interventions from Gordon Matta-Clark’s radical “anarchitecture” in which he sawed and cut out sections of houses to the Heidelberg Project and related house “conversions” in Detroit to the seminal Womanhouse performance and installation space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro to David Byrne’s Playing the Building. As Restaurant Alma plans with James Dayton Design how to reconfigure the space with expanded restaurant facilities, a cafe and boutique hotel, Northern Lights.mn has invited a number artists to create interventions, installations, and activities throughout the building between July 8 and September 15.

The interventions are intended to alter one’s perceptions of the mundane aspects of almost any space – the stairways, the moldings, the doors, the hallways, the storage areas, the flooring, the windows – to release the collective imagination of what an activated space might be for residents, workers, and even the surrounding community. Spectacular and subtle artist interventions in the details of 528-530 University Avenue, reflect Northern Lights.mn’s mission to support artists who help us see the world in a new light and Restaurant Alma’s drive to “to turn the extraordinary into the ordinary every day.”

Events

Grand Opening

Alma Lights opens Wednesday, September 16. From 5 – 7 pm there will be a ticketed reception with specialty food and drinks served by Restaurant Alma. A pass to this reception includes complimentary wine, beer, and exclusive hors d’oeuvres, early entrance to the “galleries”, and 10 complimentary additional tickets for purchasing food and beverages at Alma Lights.The exhibition is open to the general public from 7 pm to 11 pm. Entrance is free, but you can pre-purchase food and beverage tickets in advance for $16! Day of tickets will run $20 for 10 tickets. Food and beverages will run between 3-5 tickets per item.Purchase tickets on Eventbrite.

Hand-in-Glove Reception and Performance

On Friday, September 18, there will be a reception from 9 pm – midnight with a special performance by the Labor Camp Orchestra for Hand-in-Glove, a national convening for the field of alternative art spaces, artist-led projects and artists’ organizations. All are welcome.The performance of “Malignum Aditum Puncti” is an audio elaboration on the structural ideas introduced in the physical installation by Piotr Szyhalski. A sonic intervention in the two adjacent rooms sharing a wall creates a disjointed, yet cohesive musical experience. While the intense, immaterial presence of sound commands attention, and transcends the physical limitations of objects and spaces, the audiences are able to move freely between the two environments, effectively manipulating their own experience of the work.This new, live musical material is constructed and performed by the Labor Camp Orchestra specifically for the “Malignum Aditum Puncti” event using analogue modular synthesis system.
Open House

Join us July 15, from 6-8 pm for our Alma Lights kick-off! Meet the artists, tour the building, and hear about their upcoming projects for Alma Lights.Complementary Restaurant Alma snacks, Fulton beer and wine.

In Process

There will be a work-in-process preview with light refreshments from Alma and Fulton the evening of Wednesday, August 19.

Viewing Hours

Wednesday, September 16 7 pm – 11 pm
Friday, September 18, 9 pm – midnight
Saturday, September 19, noon – 7 pm
Sunday, September 20, noon – 5 pm
by appointment