Walker Art Center

For decades, political campaign art had more in common with Menard’s than Milton Glaser: the graphic designer — whose job was to sell candidates through an expected visual language of flag-toned stars and/or bars — took the back seat, while the well-funded media buyer got the front. Then came Barack Obama. His campaign, lead by design director Scott Thomas, enlisted designer Sol Sender to both create a memorable identity and advance the lessons of Howard Dean’s surprise “netroots” surge of 2004. On May 12, Thomas and Sender will discuss the development of the Obama campaign in a panel called, “Designing Obama” — and Minnesota Independent editor Paul Schmelzer will be moderating the evening.

Anyone relying exclusively on MnIndy for nightlife recommendations hasn’t been out on the town since the Plastic People of the Universe performed here a month ago. In the interim the economic sky has fallen, so what could be better than a free movie? Tonight, it’s British director Mike Leigh’s 1991 film ”Life Is Sweet” at the Walker [...]

Documentarian Errol Morris calls his new film a “nonfiction horror movie.” And from the sound of it, Standard Operating Procedure doesn’t fail to deliver on gore: A chronicle of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, it focuses on the 270 photos turned over to Army investigators and tells the story behind those images as only Morris [...]