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Public Address is a platform for wide-ranging discussion of innovative projects, and practices. Read here for news, announcements, and postings and sign up for our e-newsletter here.

Contemporary art is increasingly “untethered” and moves from the white cube of the gallery to any site – including the virtual – to engage the public in its own realm. Public art is an ever-expanding field of inquiry, with artists of all stripes exploring the public realm. Beyond murals, monuments, memorials (and the occasional mime) public art has become a vibrant and engaging practice. From the spectacular to the quotidian, permanent to ephemeral, sited to virtual, material to performative, conceptual to cinematic, we believe there are unprecedented opportunities for new art practices in our shared environment. This is the critical focus of Public Address.

Northern Spark: 175 Days
Author
Steve Dietz
Post
12.21.2013

Over the next 175 days, I want to give an insider perspective on putting together Northern Spark. Not just the daily what-I-had-for-breakfast minutia or the here-comes-the-next-appeal appeal, although I’m sure some of that will be mixed in. It’s part of our friending, tweeting, rough and tumblring micro-cultures that sustain the new environment of Sustainability, Resiliency, and Innovation we all find ourselves in.

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Chris Larson Limited Edition Artwork
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
12.5.2013

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 […]

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Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grant
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
12.4.2013

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 […]

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Open Call for Projects: Northern Spark 2014
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
11.18.2013

Northern Lights.mn has two separate open calls for projects for Northern Spark, June 14, 2014: Open call for proposals for up to 10 projection projects Open call for proposals for up to 10 projects of any medium Application deadline The applications for both calls are due 9:00pm, CST, January 13, 2014. More Information For more […]

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Creative City Challenge: Proposals Due November 18
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
11.6.2013

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 […]

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Creative City Challenge: Artist Info Sessions
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
10.14.2013

Interested in submitting a proposal for the Creative City Challenge? Attend one of three info sessions on October 15, October 22, or November 12, to find out about the submissions process.

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Creative City Challenge Call for Entries
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
10.14.2013

The second annual Creative City Challenge is calling for proposals for a $75,000 commission to produce a summer-long installation on the Minneapolis Convention Center Plaza. The winning project will be unveiled at Northern Spark on June 14, 2014. Entries are due by 4:30 pm CDT on Monday, November 18, 2013. Read more about the Creative […]

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Artist Info Session: Northern Spark 2014
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
10.14.2013

Are you an artist interested in presenting a project at Northern Spark? Come learn about about the application process and get your questions answered at our artist info session. Northern Spark 2014 Artist Info Session Wednesday, October 30, 2013 5:00pm

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Art(ists) On the Verge 5
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
10.14.2013

Save the date: The fifth edition of Art(ists) On the Verge opens at The Soap Factory on March 8, 2014. AOV5 fellows: Katie Hargrave, Alison Hiltner, Aaron Marx, Peter Sowinski, Emily Stover. Stay tuned for a new round of Art(ists) On the Verge fellowship opportunities coming soon!

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Northern Spark 2013 Lights Up the Night!
Author
Northern Lights.mn
Post
10.14.2013

This year’s Northern Spark was a shining success. Lowertown was alight with art and friendly faces from dusk to dawn. The city shone in a whole new (moon)light and offered spectacular wonders around every corner. Thank you to all of Northern Spark’s artists for sharing your engaging talents and ideas. And thank you to everyone […]

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Join a kazoo band
Author
mediachef
Post
05.3.2013
Tags
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Perform with us at Northern Spark 2013! From sundown on June 8th to late into the night, our intrepid Kazoo Band will parade through Lowertown, waving artist-made banners and entertaining the public, all while encouraging them to support Northern Spark with donations. We’ll learn a few pop songs that relate to money and giving, and you do not need to be able to read music to participate.

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Art(ists) On the Verge 5 Fellows
Author
mediachef
Post
03.30.2013

Northern Lights.mn announces the recipients of the 5th round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV5). AOV5 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: Katie […]

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Northern Spark Preview
Author
mediachef
Post
03.12.2013
Tags
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Art All Night. Community All Year.


Saint Paul, Minn. – March 12, 2013 – Northern Spark announced today the partners that will be participating in the free, dusk-to-dawn, nuit blanche, which will ignite Saint Paul’s Lowertown in an explosion of urban art. The festival will be held on Saturday (into Sunday morning), June 8, 2013 from 9:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. with the main hub at Union Depot, hosting nearly 25 projects. Performances, visual arts, projected images, interactive media, and participatory events will bring together a multitude of artists who create art projects in partnership with numerous arts organizations at multiple venues. The public is invited to join this all-night adventure to see the city in a new light.

“With the reopening of the historic Union Depot, the continuing expansion and development of Lowertown businesses and the ballpark construction underway, the Lowertown district, known for its vibrant arts culture, is only becoming more lively. This unique festival is a wonderful way to showcase our arts community in a distinctive way,” stated Mayor Chris Coleman.

This year the festival expects nearly 72 projects in collaboration with 47 cultural organizations and sponsors.

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