Nothing at The End of The Lane

July 19 – August 31
Opening Reception: July 19, 7 – 11 pm
Curated by Ben Heywood

Artists: Neil Beloufa, Jennifer Danos, Lisa Fraker, Elaine Gan, Timothy Hutchings, Jonathan Laustsen, Jacque Lui, David Packer, Amy Toscani, Jeff Williams

CLOSR AND PRETTIER THAN EVER August 22nd at 8pm
TalkingImageConnection reading and dance performance where Paul Dickinson, Melanie Hoffert, Haley Lasché and Three Dances, Beth Mayer, and Jeff Smieding respond to "“Nothing at the End of the Lane."


Unique among many art galleries, The Soap Factory curates its shows almost completely from work submitted to us by artists. Forming exhibitions from artists’ submissions is a distinct, but largely unrecognized curatorial skill that favors organizing principles over any sort of pre-conceived curatorial thesis. The selection process therefore becomes an exercise in detecting hidden patterns within these random, self-selected items of visual culture.

For Nothing at The End of The Lane the organizing principle is that of fantasy. The artists in this show explore the gallery as a laboratory, a vehicle for fantastic environments, where the imaginings of artist and audience can be played out in full. Nothing at The End of The Lane suggests that the gallery is a place in which the conceivable, is the creatable; where idealized worlds, falsified through their creation, can be critiqued by their very existence. Fittingly, the title itself, Nothing at the End of The Lane is a found phrase, evoking nothing more than ‘title-ness,’ as well as a disarming sense of childlike dislocation. It poses the question: how do we react to a fairytale that does not conclude with a happy ending, or does not conclude at all, but merely continues with the mild sense of disappointment with which we all live our lives?

At the same time, Nothing at The End of The Lane reveals The Soap Factory as an architectural fantasy that is itself mutable, flexible, and malleable. While The Soap Factory has always been a factory space, its adaptability and capacity to respond directly to artists’ needs is part of the essential character of the building. Hence, as an industrial space designed for the fabrication of material culture, it is also a space that responds, over time, to the needs of its successive functions. As a gallery we call for it to be the playground of our childish actions, and the repository of our dreams; a life-lived model of the subconscious.



ONGOING in Project Room 2:

History Room: 20 Years of No Name and The Soap Factory
April 19-October 26, 2008
Opening reception: 7 – 11pm, April 19, 2008 / Closing reception: October 4, 2008

In October of 1988, a new art space calling itself No Name Gallery opened its doors in the Warehouse District of downtown Minneapolis. That gallery would eventually become the Soap Factory, one of the longest-lived contemporary art spaces in the Twin Cities. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Soap Factory, curator Andy Sturdevant has created The History Room, a gallery dedicated to telling the saga of Soap from the depths of 20 years of archives. Including photographs, artwork, promotional posters, historic documents, personal recollections and video, the History Room gives visitors an opportunity to learn more about the gallery famed for its raw space, its brutal lack of heat, and its remarkable following of artists who have tirelessly transformed it over the years. The Soap Factory is one of the largest spaces for contemporary art in the Twin Cities, and the exhibition History Room charts not only the story of No Name and The Soap Factory, but also the story of the thriving, exciting, and ever-evolving art scene for which Minneapolis is so renowned.
In addition to a thoughtful sampling of Soap's 20 year paper trail, History Room also features over a dozen artists who have been invited back to show new work and share their experiences at No Name and the Soap. Beginning April 19 with work from Mark Nielsen and Ilene Krug Mojsilov, the first two artists shown at No Name, the History Room will rotate new work on a monthly basis. Some artists featured on the roster include Modern Man, Mark Wojahn, David Wyrick, Jen Bervin, David Lowe, David Lefkowitz, Emily Lutzker, Tamara Albaitas and many others.