The Walker Art Center. Have You Been Recently?

New residents of the Twin Cities: Put the Walker Art Center on your list of must-do places. The Stunning building, interesting artworks, special events, and the wonderful Minneapolis Sculpture Garden make it one of the best places to visit in Minneapolis.

Long-time residents: I expect you've visited before. But the Walker Art Center is a place that really benefits from being seen more than once. The average person does tend to say "what?" to many of the objects on display the first time. It's somewhere you need to see a couple of times before it starts making sense. A book or two from the excellent Walker Shop will usually help in appreciating the art.

And befitting a modern art gallery, there's always something new to see. Several special exhibitions, plus events, classes, and exciting performance make a return trip (or several) most worthwhile. Here's a small selection of what's on at the Walker.

Currently, Richard Prince's Spiritual America, a retrospective of his work organized by New York's Guggenheim Museum, is on display until September 14.

Choreographer Tricia Brown's 1968 dance Planes will be performed on Thursdays and Saturdays through July 17, as part of the exhibition Trisha Brown: So That the Audience Does Not Know Whether I Have Stopped Dancing, which combines performing and visual arts.

Opening May 15 and running until July 12, Statements: Beuys, Flavin, Judd celebrates the three post-war modern artists, pioneers of modern sculpture.

And outdoors in the Sculpture Garden, perhaps the most thought-provoking exhibit, Design for the Other 90% displays innovative devices and technology solutions for use in the third world, where the vast majority of the people don't have access to even the most basic technologies. This exhibit opens May 24, until September 7.

There is an charge to visit the Walker Art Center, but admission is free every Thursday evening from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., and all day on the first Saturday of the month. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is always free to visit.

• The Walker Art Center

_{Photo © Clara James}