shadows traces undercurrents: Mapping Spectral Traces VI

2012 is the 150th anniversary of the US-Dakota War and the largest mass execution in US history when 38 Dakota were hanged in Mankato. A Dakota Place is an innovative event honoring Dakota homeland. It will convene the MST network, along with invited artists, scholars, students, activists, and members of public organizations (Minnesota Historical Society, National Park Service, public arts groups and city designers/planners) to listen to Dakota voices express relationship to homeland. A Dakota Place will be held at Minneapolis’ Mill City Museum’s Ruins Courtyard, home to "Cloudy Waters" - an audio installation by Mona Smith - that reveals new layers of experience for audiences about the Dakota and the Mississippi River. Dakota elders and Dakota artists will then reflect on issues of Dakota past and present, and why place matters. A field trip to Bdote/Fort Snelling is scheduled for the next day. Here hundreds of Dakota died in an internment camp set up by the US government. Presentations and performances on related ideas from a variety of perspectives are also part of MST VI. 

Between Fences (video still) ©Mona Smith, 2012

After six weeks and six months local MST members will get back together with our workshop participants, Dakota and others, to continue to listen and exchange thoughts on issues and ideas raised at A Dakota Place. International co-conveners will be present via Skype. The A Dakota Place event has been specifically designed to have a direct impact in how Dakota homeland is thought about and interpreted. Through the special event and associated workshops, we in MST will be able to both introduce ourselves and learn from Dakota and others. Through an interactive dialogue, we can begin to discuss creative ways to increase the capacity of the community to address the challenges of contested history and place. MST members and others will have the opportunity to take questions raised/approaches discussed into our teaching, practice, and scholarship.

MST VI: Public Events

MST VI: Full Schedule

See MST 6 Listing in the citypages.com Fall Guide 2012