August 8, 2012, Wednesday - The Soap Factory Common Room Tour

Time:  Tour will depart from the Common Room sign at The Soap Factory’s front dock at precisely 6:30pm.

Location: Soap Factory, 514 Second Street SE

For the fourth year, Sergio Vucci and Andy Sturdevant will be leading Common Room, a series of artist-led tours originating at The Soap Factory and heading by foot, bicycle and mass transit into Minneapolis, seeking to activate public spaces and redefining our relationship with our surroundings.

Common Room began as a month-long series of interactive art events, out of a refurbished art deco office at The Soap Factory. Since 2011, Vucci and Sturdevant have taken the Common Room concept outside the four walls of the Soap Factory and into the city.

August 8th: Skyway Tour
Go into the skyway system, and ask a passerby, “Why does Minneapolis have skyways?” Odds are they would say something about the weather. Popular narratives of the skyway system today begin with the premise that they were built to shelter residents from the city’s notoriously long and cold winters. Yet when the downtown skyway system was originally conceived, concerns about the cold weather climate were nowhere to be found. This after-hours tour of Minneapolis’ skyway system, with historical facts, highlights and a roving Q&A, will be led by geographer and “sidewalk philosopher” Bill Lindeke.