On Saturday, April 23rd at the Minnesota State Capitol, Midway Contemporary Art will present IN THE RIVER, a new public performance by artist Karthik Pandian, commissioned as part of Midway’s Off-Site program. Produced in collaboration with Mike Forcia and an ensemble of Twin Cities-based musicians, dancers, media workers, and activists, IN THE RIVER braids Indigenous prophecy, Black music, and stories of survival to challenge the colonial monument’s claim on space and time.The performance will commence at 4pm CDT at the Capitol in St. Paul on the site where the Christopher Columbus monument once stood. From there, the audience will proceed along with the performers down Cedar Street to an ADA accessible space in Lowertown. ASL interpretation will be provided throughout. Visitors are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and to bring a face mask for the inside portion of the event. We encourage visitors of all backgrounds to attend; for directions and more information, see https://www.midwayart.org/event/in-the-river/A booklet featuring a new essay by Yasmina Price & Timmy Châu and additional digital collages by George Liu will be distributed at the performance for free and is available for download as a pdf.IN THE RIVER is conceived and directed by Karthik Pandian, who previously presented Before the Sun, a film installation at Midway Contemporary Art, in 2010. For the past year, Pandian has worked closely with local Indigenous activist Mike Forcia (Bad River Anishinaabe), who orchestrated the takedown of the Columbus monument at the Capitol in June 2020. Together, they have assembled an ensemble of performers, activists, artists, and media workers to revive and redirect the energy of that day into theater, dance, music and sculpture:
Sam Aros Mitchell (Texas Band of Yaqui Indians)Leila AwadallahLakota "Hokie" Clairmont (Hochunk / Lakota)Thomas Draskovic-Chetan Ohitika (Standing Rock Lakota)Cameron DowneyDouglas R. EwartLela PierceJonathon RosemondAkičita Šuŋka-Wakaŋ Ska (Standing Rock Lakota)Darren Thompson (Ojibwe / Tohono O’odham)Ta Pejuta Wicahpi Win (Hunkpati Dakota Oyate)
Support for IN THE RIVER generously provided by Creative Capital, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Now + There, In Progress, The Film Study Center at Harvard University, and is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.