MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Two artworks that were located beyond the galleries during the Walker Art Center exhibition The Quick and the Dead have been acquired for the museum’s collection—Pierre Huyghe’s enchanting Wind Chime (after “Dream”) (1997/2009) and Susan Philipsz’ ethereal We’ll All Go Together (2009). In addition, Mark Manders’ Life-size Scene with Revealed Figure (2009), commissioned for the exhibition, has entered the collection.

Pierre Huyghe’s Wind Chime (after “Dream”)
Huyghe’s Wind Chime (after “Dream”), installed amidst a grove of trees in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden during the run of The Quick and the Dead (April 25–September 27, 2009), incorporates a set of 47 wind chimes containing every note in the score of John Cage’s Dream (1948), which employed the rhythmic structure of a dance choreographed by Merce Cunningham. Relying on the unpredictable nature of the wind—a random, natural force that Cage himself would have celebrated as a compositional tool—each ring of the chimes decomposes and recomposes the temporal and narrative aspects of the original melody in an endless performance.

Wind Chime (after “Dream”) represents an important addition to the Walker’s collection of works by Huyghe. Together with video installations I Jedi from Point of View: An Anthology of the Moving Image (2003/2004), Two Minutes out of Time (2000), and A Journey That Wasn’t (2005), this first site-specific sound installation to enter the collection furthers the Walker’s commitment to represent the artist in depth. In the interest of preserving the piece and protecting it from the elements, the wind chimes will be on view seasonally from approximately May through September.

Susan Philipsz’ We’ll All Go Together
Playing during The Quick and the Dead as a constant loop in the Walker’s underground parking ramp, Philipsz’ site-specific sound installation We’ll All Go Together features multiple voice recordings of the traditional American folk song “Am I Born to Die.” Using sound and song, Philipsz transforms the acoustic ecology of architecture with the introspection of private experience by broadcasting a cappella versions of this Appalachian folk ballad sung in her own unpolished, soft, and wavering voice. The lyrics tell of a character who faces death and has doubts about what might follow. As the artist explains, the underground parking ramp is “an in-between space, between coming and going, between inside and outside, between light and darkness.” The song describes a state between life and death, but its form, sung in a round with one voice following the other, suggests a self-renewing cycle of life.

Mark Manders’ Life-size Scene with Revealed Figure
Manders’ iconographically enigmatic work suggests an alterpiece, obsolete projector, and stationary puppet. Apparently made of biodegradable materials such as dust, human hair, and dirt, the piece resonates as a familiar but unrecognizable symbol, at once evoking “ancient” Christian and Egyptian forms while remaining resolutely defined by the artist’s own visual language. This highly imaginative and materially complex work is the first by Manders to enter the Walker’s collection.

“The Walker makes it a practice to collect key works from the exhibitions we organize, whenever possible,” said Elizabeth Carpenter, curator, Visual Arts/Permanent Collection. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have had the opportunity to acquire these important works from The Quick and the Dead. The two sound pieces by Pierre Huyghe and Susan Philipsz transformed the spaces in which they were installed, and ultimately raised the consciousness of this type of auratic encounter for our visitors. As for Mark Manders, his material dexterity and theoretically complex approach to object-making position him perfectly within the Walker’s sculpture holdings, which include works by Robert Gober, Gedi Sibony, and Manfred Pernice, to name a few.”