Who are we? How did we get here? Where are we going?
The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District is opening up a welcome center to answer these questions and preserve the legacy of our arts community. It will be located in the corner of the Timber & Tie building, at 900 14th Avenue, NE, Minneapolis, 55413, across from the Northrup King building.
The goal of the welcome center is to bring together the visual arts community by being their voice, listening to their stories, and putting them in context. These stories will be made available in a variety of publishing formats. The program includes three components:
- From Whence We Came – a Timeline
The Whence project will trace the history of our visual arts community, beginning in the mid-seventies. Physically it will fill the back wall of the welcome center in the form of a three-row timeline.
Render by Remo Campopiano
Imagine this scenario… With their smartphone, a visitor scans a headline/QR code. The article downloads to their phone and immediately starts reading the story aloud, or they can choose to listen later and continue scanning other headlines. In addition, all the articles will be on our website to read or listen to at any time. - Public Art Map
On the adjacent wall will be a map of the District using similar materials and design style to the Whence project. It will identify each public artwork on the map when you pass your hand over a sensor, which will start a video about the artist and the work. The video plays on one of several TV monitors that occupy the top of the two inside walls. When not performing a specific task, they will be displaying slideshows of local artwork. - Roundtable Discussions
In the center of the room will be a roundtable that can seat twelve people. According to project coordinator, Remo Campopiano, “There is nothing better than a circular table to level the playing field and promote equality and collaborative thinking. It’s how we started Artpaper back in the eighties.” Around this table we envision monthly gatherings of diverse groups that have stories to tell. We will invite people from different time periods and aesthetic backgrounds, in other words, all the people that have made our visual arts community what it is now. Our intent is to ensure that they are equitably represented in the timeline and to preserve the legacy of our artists.
With the help from volunteers, we intend to open to the public in the Spring. We need your help to make this project possible. We are planning to set up an artists’ advisory panel consisting of people from a full range of ages. If you want to help, please contact Remo Campopiano via remocampopiano@gmail.com We are looking for advisory panel members, writers, historians, researchers, videographers, and welcomers to keep the doors open.