An exercise in 'naturalization' at Minneapolis' SooVAC gallery

The artist Prerna questions the documents that legally define what it means to be American in an ongoing, performative installation. She etched text from the 1980 version of the Basic Guide to Naturalization and a speech by the Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization onto a white gallery wall at SooVAC, and will gradually fill in the words with spackle during the course of the show. For example, the term "American citizenship" is erased from the sentence "American citizenship is the greatest responsibility." Eventually the wall will return to a supposedly "neutral" shade of white — another slyly inserted institutional critique. Prerna, who was born in Mumbai and is an MFA student at the University of Minnesota, also references her own experience as a nonresident alien. (11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.; 11-7 Thu.-Fri.; 11-4 Sat.-Sun. Ends Nov. 17. Soo Visual Arts Center, 2909 Bryant Av. S., Mpls. Free. 612-871-2263 or soovac.org)

Alicia Eler