For Immediate Use
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For Immediate Release, April 29, 2014:

Contact: Alyson Sinclair, Publicity & Marketing Director

aly@alysonsinclairpr.com or 612.201.3867

On the evening of June 14, 2014, Northern Spark expects 50,000 people will gather in Minneapolis to explore giant video projections, amazing temporary sculptures, and astonishing performances. Friendly crowds, food trucks, surprises, and late night adventures make Northern Spark the one-night event that people talk about for the rest of the year. With 125+ projects by 250+ emerging and renowned artists from Minnesota and far beyond, 50+ presenting cultural partners, and our sponsor Metro Transit opening the Green Line on June 14^th and offering free rides all weekend, we’re planning for the most lively and engaging Northern Spark to date!

We are pleased to preview the full lineup of 2014 artists and presenting partners. Some of this year’s HIGHLIGHTS include . . .

Chicago-based video artist Jefferson Pinder is filming and presenting a new piece about strength and endurance. Relay is inspired by the tradition of Somali long-distance runners and includes Somali-Americans who live in the Twin Cities using the action of running as a metaphor for labor in a transformative journey.

A giant light sculpture, an interactive media piece, and a multilayered architectural projection montage all in one, Luke Savisky’s E/x MN puts you into the artwork on a monumental scale. Within pulsing layers of color and motion imagery, audience members participate in a live projection event as their projected faces and bodies move through and interact with the shapes of the enormous silos of the Gold Medal flour mill. Accompanied by a soundscape composed by Savisky’s long-time collaborators ambient masters Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride of Stars of the Lid, the resulting experience will create a haunting, otherworldly scene against the Minneapolis skyline.

At Northern Lights.mn we’ve followed HOTTEA’s work from street to gallery and back. This year we invited the artist known as HOTTEA to create monumental art for the festival. His piece, La Maroma, is his most ambitious public sculpture to date—a 100-foot span of yarn hanging underneath the Third Avenue bridge. La Maroma was inspired by a childhood story his mother told him about the Ayutla River in Mexico.

In Balancing Ground (winner of this year’s Creative City Challenge), artists Amanda Lovelee, Christopher Field, Kyle Waites, and Sarah West arranged teeter-totters and benches under a canopy of shadow patterns and prismatic colors to create an interactive space for play and reflection. Listen: community voices will speak to you. Balancing Ground is presented by the Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC), The Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Program of the City of Minneapolis and Meet Minneapolis, Convention & Visitors Association, in collaboration with Northern Lights.mn.

The artists’ collective MakeSh!t gets together to make art inspired by their common interests in graphic design, architecture, printmaking, drawing, and the social act of collaborative creation. Public Acts of Drawing brings their practice of gathering around members’ dinner tables and basement workshops to make art out into the world for all of us to experience.

2014 Northern Spark ARTISTS also include:

Eric F. Avery * Christine Baeumler * Kelley Bell * Kate Casanova, Daniel Dean, & Ben Moren * Anthony Chapin & Erin Lavelle * Ananya Chatterjea * Adam Conrad, Benjamin Kelly, & Jamie Johnson * Bill Cottman, Kenna Cottman, Lewis Hill, Kevin Obsatz, & Junauda Petrus * Alex DeArmond & Peter Haakon Thompson * Andy DuCett * Benjamin Entner * The Flightless Bird Brothers & The Shiny Naughty Collective * Andrew Foreman & Christopher Williams * Jess Hirsch & Ginny Sims * Soozin Hirschmugl * Sam Hoolihan & John Marks * Emily Johnson * Meena Mangalvedhekar and Janaki Ranpura * Christian Marclay * Abinadi Meza * MINN_LAB * Monkey with a Mustache * Wil Natzel * Nik Nerburn * Roger Nieboer and lesser mortals * Areca Roe * Moheb Soliman * Piotr Szyhalski  * Asia Ward

SEE all artist project descriptions here: http://2014.northernspark.org/art-and-events/art-and-events

2014 Northern Spark Presenting PARTNERS include:

American Composers Forum * American Craft Council * American Swedish Institute * Ananya Dance Theater * The Art Institutes International MN * Art Shanty Projects * Artspace * The Bachelor Farmer x Al’s Breakfast * The Bell Museum of Natural History * Brave New Workshop * City of Minneapolis Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy Program * The Eyeo Festival * Gamut Gallery * Gorilla Yogis * HECUA * Hennepin Theater Trust / Made Here * HiFi Hair and Records * Institute for Advanced Study * Juxtaposition Arts * Leav * Le Méridien Chambers * The Loft Literary Center * Lunalux * MacPhail Center for Performing Arts * Midtown Greenway Coalition * Mill City Museum * Minneapolis College of Art and Design * Minneapolis Institute of Arts * Minnesota Center for Book Arts * Minneapolis Convention Center * Minnesota Orchestra * Minnesota Sacred Harp Singing Convention * Mizna * Mu Performing Arts * The Museum of Russian Art * Musicant Group * Katherine E. Nash Gallery * The Nicollet * Northern Clay Center * On Being / Krista Tippet Public Productions * Revolver * Saint Paul City Ballet * St. Cloud State University * The Soap Factory * Soo Visual Arts Center * Twin Cities Maker / The Hack Factory * Upstream Arts * Vine Arts Center * vidtiger * Walker Art Center * Weisman Art Museum * Zeitgeist

2014 Northern Spark LOCATIONS (35+ venues, all in Minneapolis):

Zone A: Minneapolis Convention Center * Zone B: West River Parkway (from the Guthrie Theatre to the Hennepin Avenue Bridge) * Zone C: Downtown / Hennepin Cultural District  * Zone D: Walker Art Center – Loring Corners * Zone E: Minneapolis College of Art and Design – Minneapolis Institute of Arts – Midtown Greenway * Zone F: University of Minnesota (Weisman Art Museum, The Bell Museum of Natural History, Northrop Auditorium, and the Katherine E. Nash Gallery)

Northern Spark is presented by Northern Lights.mn, a nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to transform our sense of what’s possible in public space. Northern Spark is one night, but Northern Lights.mn shines throughout the year with projects such as Creative City Challenge at the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Giant Sing-A-Long at the Minnesota State Fair, and Saint Paul Union Depot’s public art program. For additional information, visit northern.lights.mn/

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