Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes

		Program Information Date: February 16 - August 17, 2008 Place: Target Gallery Date: October 4, 2008 - January 18, 2009 Place: Carnegie Museum of Art Address: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Date: March 2 - May 10, 2009 Place: Yale School of Architecture Address: New Haven, Connecticut View all associated images View this program in the Walker Calendar
		Image: Angela Strassheim, Untitled (Elsa) , 2003 30” x 40”, C-print Edition of 8 Courtesy Marvelli Gallery, New York

Because suburbia occupies a dominant presence in so many lives—a place of not only residence but also of work, commerce, worship, education, and leisure—it has become a focal point for competing interests and viewpoints. The suburbs have always been a fertile space for imagining both the best and the worst of modern social life. On the one hand, the suburbs are portrayed as a middle-class domestic utopia and on the other as a dystopic world of homogeneity and conformity. Both of these stereotypes belie a more realistic understanding of contemporary suburbia and its dynamic transformations, and how these representations and realities shape our society, influence our culture, and impact our lives.

The intention of Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes is to demonstrate how the American suburb has played a catalytic role in the creation of new art. Challenging preconceived ideas and expectations about suburbia (either pro or con), the exhibition hopes to impart a better understanding of how those ideas were formed and how they are challenged by contemporary realities. The exhibition features artwork by Gregory Crewdson, Dan Graham, Catherine Opie, and Edward Ruscha, among others, and architectural projects by firms such as Fashion.Architecture.Taste, The Center for Land Use Interpretation, MVRDV, and Estudio Teddy Cruz.

Worlds Away will be accompanied by a 320-page, fully illustrated catalogue featuring essays and interviews which provide a revisionist and even contrarian take on the conventional wisdom surrounding American suburban life.

Curator: Andrew Blauvelt, Design Director and Curator, with Tracy Myers, Curator, Heinz Architectural Center

Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapses is organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in association with the Heinz Architectural Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.

The exhibition is made possible by generous support from John Taft.

Media partner Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.

Related Events

	Panel Discussion Next Exit: The Shifting Landscape of Suburbia Target Free Thursday Nights Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:00 pm

	Family Program Escape to the Suburbs! Free First Saturday Saturday, April 5, 2008 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

	Lecture Drawn Here: Sean Griffiths of FAT Target Free Thursday Nights Thursday, March 6, 2008 7:00 pm

	Lecture Drawn Here: Teddy Cruz, Estudio Teddy Cruz Target Free Thursday Nights Thursday, February 28, 2008 7:00 pm

	Tour Curator-led Tour: Worlds Away Target Free Thursday Nights Thursday, February 21, 2008 7:00 pm

	Film Schindler’s Houses: Photography and Beyond Part 12 (Schindler’s Hauser: Photographie und Jenseits Teil 12) Saturday, February 16, 2008, 7:30 pm, Sunday, February 17, 2008, 2:00 pm

	Exhibition Preview Party Walker After Hours/Preview Party Friday, February 15, 2008 9:00 pm to 12:00 am

	Film Photography and Beyond 1 (Photographie and Jenseits I) Directed by by Heinz Emigholz Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:30 pm

Related Links

Drawn Here: Sean Griffiths of FAT http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/03/04/drawn-sean-griffiths-fat/ Walker blogs, Design: Bulletin Board

Consuming Imagery: An audio slideshow with Brian Ulrich http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2008/03/13/consuming-imagery-audio-slideshow/ Walker blogs, Off Center: Audio Blog

The Parade of Homes: A journey to Wright County http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/03/21/parade-homes-journey-wright-county/ Walker blogs, Education and Community Programs: General

Tyvek jackets and bags in the Walker Shop http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2008/04/01/tyvek-jackets-bags/ Walker blogs, Off Center: Walker Shop

Thursday Panel at the Walker Addresses Suburban Subprime Woes. http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/04/22/thursday-panel-walker-addresses/ Walker blogs, Education and Community Programs: General

Summer Design Institute - Day 3 http://blogs.walkerart.org/ecp/2008/07/30/summer-design-institute-day-3/ Walker blogs, Education and Community Programs: General

Museum Exhibition Title Graphics http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2009/07/30/museum-exhibition-title-graphics/ Walker blogs, Design: Flat Files

Your 10-minute guide to Dan Graham at the Walker http://blogs.walkerart.org/visualarts/2009/10/13/your-10-minute-guide-to-dan-graham-at-the-walker/ Walker blogs, Visual Arts: General

Exhibition Web site http://design.walkerart.org/worldsaway/ Learn more about suburbia as explored in the exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes. The Web site includes selected essays from the exhibition catalogue, biographies of the artists and architects featured in the show, a community understanding of suburbia as seen in YouTube videos, and a lexicon of terms related to suburbia. The lexicon is a wiki seeded with terms about suburbia and open to editing by its users, including adding new terms, uploading images, and identifying locations using Google Maps.

Exhibition Catalogue http://shop.walkerart.org/?ck=PAYWKGHUVD&pk=5ACB1F23AD§ion=Product&CatalogID=229&Details=6294452 This 336-page Walker-designed catalogue includes nearly 300 photographs, along with new essays, interviews, and seminal writings by John Archer, Andrew Blauvelt, Robert Bruegmann, David Brooks, Beatriz Colomina, Malcolm Gladwell, and others, as well as a lexicon of suburban neologisms. Softcover: $34.95 ($31.45 Walker members).

Artists and Architects Think Inside the Big Box http://design.walkerart.org/detail.wac?id=4340&title=Articles What happens when good malls go bad? You don't have to look far for answers. Hundreds of so-called "dead malls"--shuttered strip malls, derelict shopping centers, and abandoned big boxes litter our landscape. Among those leading the efforts to reimagine, resuscitate, and reincarnate these husks are artists and architects in the Walker exhibition Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes.

Tell us a story about your suburb http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2007/11/14/story-suburb/ Walker blogs, Design: Bulletin Board

For those who think the suburbs are scary http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2007/12/07/suburbs-scary/ Walker blogs, Off Center: General

Worlds Away, press checking in Belgium http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/01/16/worlds-press-checking-belgium/ Walker blogs, Design: Junk Drawer

Worlds Away YouTube submissions are in, and theyre great http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2008/01/24/worlds-youtube-submissions-great/ Walker blogs, Off Center: Exhibitions

Eavesdrop 02.07.08 http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2008/02/07/eavesdrop-020708/ Walker blogs, Off Center: Staff

Exhibition wiki for Worlds Away http://blogs.walkerart.org/newmedia/2008/02/07/exhibition-wiki-worlds/ Walker blogs, New Media Initiatives Blog: Announcements

Worlds Away YouTube selections http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/02/07/worlds-youtube-selections/ Walker blogs, Design: Bulletin Board

Browse the burbs http://blogs.walkerart.org/offcenter/2008/02/15/browse-burbs/ Walker blogs, Off Center: General

Todays McMansions Tomorrows Tenements? http://blogs.walkerart.org/design/2008/02/20/slumming-suburbs/ Walker blogs, Design: in the news