Walker Art Center announces formation of new Indigenous public art selection committee

Above: Walker Art Center/ Rock the Garden. Photo credit: COURTNEY PEDROZA ¥ courtney.pedroza@startribune.com.

Come spring 2020, Minneapolis will be home to a new sculpture created by a Native artist.

The Walker announced today that an Indigenous Public Art Selection Committee has been formed. Working together, the internationally renowned museum and the committee, which includes Native curators, artists, and individuals of Dakota descent and enrollment, will select a Native artist who will be commissioned to create new sculptural work for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden or elsewhere on the Walker's campus.

The news comes in light of the healing process following the June 2017 takedown and destruction of LA-based artist Sam Durant's sculpture "Scaffold," a gallows-like structure that included the design of the 1862 scaffold where 38 Dakota men were hanged. Minnesota is historically Dakota land, and the hangings took place in nearby Mankato. The sculpture itself was a painful reminder of this traumatizing history for Native communities and relatives of the Dakota 38.

At this time, the names and tribal affiliations of committee members will remain private until the commissioned artist is selected. There will be an open call for artists forthcoming this summer.