Written by Melanie Bethke
The Arts District Welcome Center’s exhibit team has recently been working on a series of oral histories with individuals who were key players in the 1980s Downtown arts scene. This is the first of a series of oral history projects planned for the Minneapolis History Project.
These interviews have made the uniqueness of the period clear. Downtown Minneapolis was a true art scene. The formerly empty buildings of the Warehouse District were full of artists drawn in by low rents and large studio spaces (sometimes doubling as illegal living spaces). Though working and living in 19th century warehouses had its challenges, affordability gave artists the freedom to devote themselves to making art without the necessity of a full-time day job or the pressure to depend on income from their art. Art collecting was chic and over twenty commercial galleries and artist collectives huddled together within a few blocks of downtown. Corporate collectors supported the art scene on an unprecedented level, buying art from all levels of the downtown scene, from the high end white-walled galleries to the punk-music-filled alternative spaces.
Recently, exhibit Content Co-leader Katherine Goertz sat down with Ruthann Godollei, Chris Strouth, Venus de Mars, and Lynette Reini-Grandell to learn more about their involvement with the Rifle Sport Alternative Art Gallery, once located on Hennepin Ave.’s Block-E. The interview offered a glimpse into how this alternative space was able to produce groundbreaking exhibitions from 1985-1988 and how this period still influences the work of its artists today.
Rifle Sport founders Colleen Barnett and Bill Taylor opened the gallery to provide an experimental space for artists. Their approach allowed the Rifle Sport artists to move forward with wild, unconventional ideas. Driven by curiosity, they followed an idea wherever it might lead, simply to see what would happen. A determination to get their ideas and work out into the public pushed them to develop unconventional ways to be seen. Rifle Sport exhibitions pushed boundaries, intriguing some viewers, repulsing others, and inspiring a new generation of artists to think differently about where and how art could be experienced. As Venus stated “I think that’s the bottom line…it was not a profit driven establishment. It was to just get art out and be part of the scene which we were creating.”
Ruthann commented on the ethos of their work, noting, “I think Neo Dada is a good kind of, you know, it’s not perfect analogy, but it was – It had the same spirit, like anarchy because we’re in horrible times. You know, there was a recession, there was Reagan Reaganomics. There was, you know, nuclear proliferation. There were so many things we were objecting to.And it’s like, okay, we object. We’re going to contribute to the chaos of the world.”
Their recollections raise questions about what can happen when artists have the space, time, and financial freedom to experiment and bring their visions to life—and what we might lose when those opportunities become harder to find.
During the interview, the artists related that it would be impossible to recreate Rifle Sport today. Downtown’s empty warehouses have become luxury apartments and condos. There are fewer spaces to show art. Affordable studio spaces are increasingly difficult find. As Chris stated, the cost of leasing a studio today is more like a mortgage. Rifle Sport’s chaotic performances and guerilla exhibitions would be viewed as “a stunt” by 21st century audiences.
Ruthann, Chris, Venus, and Lynette are still creating and performing. You can check out Ruthann Godollei’s recent exhibit “Hindsight” at the NE Sculpture | Gallery Factory at 1720 Madison Street NE, Minneapolis on view between September 18 and October 17.