Box fresh: Walker Art Center presents a series of artworks that think inside the box

Minneapolis' Walker Art Center is staging an intimate showcase of artworks that are explore the box as artistic medium.
‘Everything important that I have done can be put into a little suitcase,’ Marcel Duchamp declared in 1952. He was speaking of his Boîte en valise ('Box in a Valise'), a suitcase he had assembled and reproduced between 1935 and 1941 to house the body of work he had created up to that point; a mini retrospective exhibition that could be carried anywhere. This work, and that of four other artists, is currently on view at the Walker Arts Center as part of 'Unpacking the Box', an exhibition that explores the artistic potential of thinking inside the box.
The intimate showcase contains a range of playful objects, from the 1960s Fluxus movement to more contemporary interpretations of the box motif. Whether they are a portfolio of a single artist’s work, like the Duchamp valise, or a standalone work of art, each creation invites an active viewer to participate with the container directly, by unpacking, perusing and even shuffling around the contents inside.
Ay-O’s Finger Box Set (No. 26), for example, is a standard black suitcase filled with 15 wooden blocks arranged in a grid, each with a small, slightly-larger-than-finger-sized hole in the centre that contains a different object. The viewer’s tactile sense is heightened during their experience of the work, as they must figure out what the boxes contain only by poking around.
Other pieces include George Brecht’s Valoche / A Flux Travel Aid, a box containing an assortment of quirky artisanal children’s toys, including a jump rope, a chess piece and plastic eggs, and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s Without Title (Rucksack Installation), a kit of camping essentials.
The exhibition inaugurates the Walker’s new Best Buy Aperture display case, a space that will be dedicated to highlighting materials from the museum’s extensive archives and library. Drawing especially on resources and ephemera that are not commonly available to the public, the exhibitions held in the Best Buy Aperture will pull thematic strands from the Walker’s exhibition history, and integrate the often fragile archival materials with media displays that foster a new way of experiencing the Center’s rich collections.
Pictured: Instruction No. 2, by Benjamin Patterson, 1964/65
Whether a portfolio of a single artist’s work or a standalone work of art, each creation invites the viewer to participate with the container directly by unpacking, perusing and even shuffling around the contents inside.
A kit of camping essentials forms Without Title (Rucksack Installation), by Rirkrit Tiravanija, 1993
De ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Sélavy (La boîte en valise), 1941/1966 (pictured)
‘Everything important that I have done can be put into a little suitcase,’ Marcel Duchamp declared in 1952 of his work
Ay-O's Finger Box Set (No. 26), 1964 (pictured), is a standard black suitcase filled with 15 wooden blocks arranged in a grid, each with a small hole in the centre that contains a different object
The exhibition inaugurates the Walker’s new Best Buy Aperture display case (pictured), a space that will be dedicated to highlighting materials from the museum’s extensive archives and library
INFORMATION
’Unpacking the Box’ is on view until 19 February 2017. For more information, visit the Walker Art Center’s website
ADDRESS
Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
-
A Trellick tower apartment’s contemporary makeover
A Trellick tower apartment gets a contemporary makeover by architecture studio Buchholzberlin and art consultant Peter Heimer
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Last chance to see: Sharjah Biennial 15, ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’
Built on the vision of late curator Okwui Enwezor, the Sharjah Biennial 15: ‘Thinking Historically in the Present’ offers a critical reframing of postcolonial narratives through major new commissions
By Amah-Rose Abrams • Published
-
For London Gallery Weekend 2023, the mood is hardcore
With London Gallery Weekend 2023 almost upon us (2 – 4 June), here’s our list of must-see art exhibitions
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for this weekend
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions this weekend, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Remote Antarctica research base now houses a striking new art installation
In Antarctica, Kyiv-based architecture studio Balbek Bureau has unveiled ‘Home. Memories’, a poignant art installation at the remote, penguin-inhabited Vernadsky Research Base
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen saturate Berlin gallery in sound, vision and visceral sensation
At Esther Schipper gallery Berlin, artists Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen draw on the elemental forces of sound and light in a meditative and disorienting joint exhibition
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cecilia Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest Quipu’ wins Best Art Installation in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
Brain Forest Quipu, Cecilia Vicuña's Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, has been crowned 'Best Art Installation' in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Michael Heizer’s Nevada ‘City’: the land art masterpiece that took 50 years to conceive
Michael Heizer’s City in the Nevada Desert (1972-2022) has been awarded ‘Best eighth wonder’ in the 2023 Wallpaper* design awards. We explore how this staggering example of land art came to be
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cerith Wyn Evans: ‘I love nothing more than neon in direct sunlight. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful’
Cerith Wyn Evans reflects on his largest show in the UK to date, at Mostyn, Wales – a multisensory, neon-charged fantasia of mind, body and language
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The best 7 Christmas installations in London for art lovers
As London decks its halls for the festive season, explore our pick of the best Christmas installations for the art-, design- and fashion-minded
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology in Miami is powered by heartbeats
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer brings heart and human connection to Miami Art Week 2022 with Pulse Topology, an interactive light installation at Superblue Miami in collaboration with BMW i
By Fiona Mahon • Last updated