Is The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Burning? No, The Dakota Nation is Just Removing a Work of “Art” (And Burning it)

There’s art. There’s exhibition space. Then there’s the appropriate exhibition space for the appropriate art.

So, ideally, providing the most suitable setting for displaying art should always enhance our understanding and appreciation of it. That’s just a fundamental guiding principle from Art Curator 101. That also explains why preparing the public to view the art is absolutely essential for any exhibition.

Think about that for a moment.

In order for viewers to be aware of the quality, value, significance of any artwork, they must be guided in their understanding of it. They have to be able to see it in a way — and in a place — that enables them to appreciate it. In other words, they must be ready and willing to first see it before they view it as art.

Without this predisposition from artists and curators, there can be no real appreciation of art.

That’s why hospitals rarely if ever display artwork of Francis Bacon. When you’ve coming out of surgery and trying to heal, the last thing you want to see is one of his paintings. Ugly, contorted, often semi-bloodied faces and bodies would probably prove too disturbing for any recovery. Way too raw for post-op. Way too upsetting for friends and loved ones visiting patients, too. Wrong venue.

That’s also why the lustrous reclining nudes of Peter Paul Rubens would never be exhibited at your local pre-school, either. In contrast to Bacon’s gore, his beautifully rendered human figures simply wouldn’t be appreciated in the way they were intended to be. Most young children under the age of 6 would be emotionally unprepared for the nudity. Not that nudity in itself is wrong or objectionable, mind you. It’s just that most youngsters wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend the beauty of the naked feminine yet. Again, wrong venue.

And forget about ever seeing “Piss Christ” on the walls of any church vestibule. Robert Mapplethorpe might be making valid points in his photograph about our emotional reaction to things when we see them as symbols and not things. But it’s also a point most churchgoers either already know or don’t want to discuss. Definitely, another wrong venue.

Isn’t this relationship between the appropriate art space and the appropriate art an obvious one? At least, I thought everyone who owned or managed art museums, galleries, and spaces already knew about it. Unfortunately, the braintrust at the Walker Art Center didn’t get the memo. And now administrative members have had to pay dearly for their insensitivity and ineptitude. Now they’ve had to issue profuse apologies, postpone the re-opening of The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and allow a controversial sculpture to be destroyed!

Once again, white people in charge have made important decisions about Native Americans without first consulting with Native Americans.

Once again, another familiar story about art and misunderstanding emerges. Only this time, it’s not the fault of the viewing public. The blame for this insensitivity-turned- brouhaha rests entirely with the artist and the administration of the Walker Art Center…and the way they both crapped on that ecological crown jewel known as The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

A few weeks ago, TPT aired a special about Walker’s splendid outdoor sculpture gallery disguised as public garden. Everyone raved about this inviting organic retreat nestled within our urban landscape. For them, The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden was a safe and welcoming haven in the inner city. For them, Art + Nature came together in this all-our-welcome-here sanctuary. Everyone had positive things to say about it.

Creative souls praised its zen-like ambiance as perfect for sketching and reflecting. Harried office workers appreciated its accessibility and atmosphere as much-needed respite. Even families felt safe enough to bring in their babies and toddlers for fresh air. People of all ages from all walks of life came to this happy collision of art + nature and connected to it — and also to one another.

That’s what makes The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden so unexpectedly great: it’s a creatively airy way to unify everyone. You might go there as a visitor, but you leave as a lifetime member of the aesthetic collective.

So what did the Walker Art Center do to this public garden? What did they do after that feel-good TV promo? Amid the harmony and unity and goodwill, they installed the most incredibly divisive sculpture imaginable.

They actually allowed the erection of a wooden scaffold in their Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. That’s right: a two-story wooden platform specifically designed to “commemorate” the mass hangings of Native Americans. This work — appropriately entitled “Scaffold” — is supposed to remind us of something we either don’t know about or DON’T EVER WANT TO THINK ABOUT.

Multi-media artist Sam Durant designed this piece with intentions to both educate and illuminate. He says he wanted to make us aware of an important yet (usually) forgotten event in American and Minnesota history. Durant wanted to remind us that, in 1862, 38 members of the Dakota Tribe were hanged in Mankato.

Right away, I can see several problems with his lofty aspirations. No matter how honorable and sincere his intentions seem, they’re still pretty unrealistic. It’s incredibly presumptuous — even arrogant — to think you can “teach” Native Americans something they already know too well. The mass genocide of these indigenous people has already been burned into their collective consciousness. They already get it. So what more could they learn from this white artist and his two-story scaffold?

The ones who really need instruction on injustice, intolerance, and racism against Native Americans are white people. Teaching this group certainly sounds like a worthy goal. But both the artist and the Walker Art Center chose the wrong space to exhibit such a controversial, politically-charged sculpture. Again, it’s another case of the wrong venue.

Showing such a work of art in The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden defeats the purpose of creating such a restful, welcoming garden in the first place. Visitors don’t come there to be shocked or saddened or emotionally overwrought. They come for beauty. They seek inspiration. They want spiritual nourishment. They want to play miniature golf. They don’t want to be unduly shattered by something that resembles playground equipment but supposedly evokes the largest mass execution in American history.

What’s so ironic here is that this wooden sculpture doesn’t really evoke or commemorate what the artist intended. It doesn’t even look like “art.” It looks like some guys had a few beers, turned on the DIY network, then tried to make a jungle gym without slides or monkey bars. Imagine how confusing THAT misrepresentation was for the children. What appeared to be a new playground was really the place where members of the Dakota Nation came to die?

For more historical information on this mass execution, go online to https://www.thenation.com. Reporter Jon Weiner of The Nation has written an informative article about what actually happened. He also includes info on President Lincoln’s role in the execution, along with other ironies in this true story. Or, you could always visit a library or the Minnesota History Center. Learning about this event would certainly help you understand why the Dakota Community opposed the sculpture and how the Walker Administration failed the viewing public.

A far better exhibition space for “Scaffold” probably would have been the Minnesota History Center or a university gallery or another place affiliated with a learning center…somewhere that would have embraced education and history so that viewers could be more receptive to learning, anyway. Certainly, any other art venue could have helped viewers to better understand Durant’s sculpture and purpose than the Walker Art Center did. In this case, necessary prep for appreciating “Scaffold” was conspicuously missing.

Here’s something else that was (and still is) conspicuously missing from The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: Minnesota’s Native American Artists. Come on, at least TRY to include the artwork of a few Native Americans in the garden.

The wooden collages of the late, great George Morrison could be used as inspiration pieces for other artists who could create outdoor sculptures in his honor. There really are enough talented artists in the Twin Cities area who could use designs from his finished pieces to recreate outdoor sculptures.

Then there’s Jim Denomie, the sui genius of local painters. He has that rare ability to get his viewpoints across with humor — without smacking viewers on the head with political platitudes. For years I’ve been waiting for him to create some sculptural reimaginings of Nokomis, Hiawatha, and Minnehaha, complete with thought balloons. Why not give him a chance now?

With all the creative talent in this state — hey, just in the Twin Cities alone — I’ll never understand why the Walker doesn’t champion the work of more local artists. Going local would have made more sense than what the Walker ended up doing. They championed the work of Los Angeles-based artist Sam Durant, and let his artwork forever scar their Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Bye, Bye, whimsical and all-inclusive ambiance.

Not only did “Scaffold” offend the Dakota People, it stuck out like an infected wound on a ballerina’s leg. Talk about bad feng shui!

Things got so bad that the artist, the Walker Executive Director Olga Viso, reps from city government and the Minneapolis Park and Rec Board, and tribal elders met for 3 hours on Wednesday, May 31st. And what did they all decide to do with “Scaffold?”

They agreed it had to be torn down and burned — ceremonially engulfed in flames, then reduced to ashes. Then on Friday, June 2nd, the dismantling began.

Now if that isn’t the ultimate lesson to go local and go Native American, then what is?

By the way, how much money did the artist get to exhibit his sculpture in the garden? And how much will he eventually get from reimbursement or compensation for the destruction of “Scaffold?”