When Mexican musician Luis Garzón left Mexico City in 1886 to tour the United States with his orchestra, Aires Nacionales de México, he fell in love with a Minnesota woman, settled in Minneapolis and became the state’s first permanent Latino resident. 

Through the 20th century and into the 2000s, Latino artists continued to bring music, performance and visual art to the Twin Cities — a legacy carried forward by Grupo Soap del Corazón, a collective celebrating its 25th anniversary with a new exhibit at the Northeast Sculpture Gallery Factory. 

That milestone is just one highlight in a packed arts weekend. On Friday, East African rapper Fanaka Nation and Chicana poet-activist Isavela Lopez will join DJs and rappers for a night of music, while Pillsbury House and Theatre stages the opening night of its Black romantic comedy. At Public Functionary, an experimental installation guides visitors through a Black trans digital world and the MinnesoThai Festival fills St. Louis Park with street food, music and dance. 

Latino art collective celebrates 25 years

Since the late 1960s, murals on St. Paul’s West Side and Minneapolis’ Lake Street have celebrated the stories of Latino immigrant communities. Yet inside galleries and museums, there remained a “major void in representation,” said Mexican photographer Xavier Tavera. 

In response, Tavera co-founded the Latinx art collective Grupo Soap del Corazón (Group Soap of the Heart) in 2000 with Chicano poet and artist Dougie Padilla. The first exhibit on Lake Street asked a small group of artists one question: What cleans the heart?

Over the past 25 years, Grupo Soap del Corazón has produced more than 145 exhibits with more than 100 artists working in murals, prints, photography, sculpture, video and performance. 

Many projects reflected the social and political realities of their time. In 2002, a Day of the Dead celebration on Lake Street brought together murals, Aztec dance and altars to honor the dead. 

The following year, “Ni Una Mas” (Not One More) focused on the disappeared women of Juárez, Mexico. In 2004, “Gráfica Politica” displayed political posters carrying urgent calls such as “No one can kill you today,” “Fight for change. Vote!” and “Defend your freedom.”

“Unfortunately, we’re still tapping into the same conversations from 25 years ago,” Tavera said, referring to harsher immigration policies under President Donald Trump’s second administration. “I wish we could shift focus on something else but right now, we are the enemy. We are targeted by this administration and we see how some of our members are worried about even going to work.”

“It touches at the core of the community — how we are seen as second-class citizens and how we are not completely free. I mean, some people are not taking their children to school because they’re afraid they’ll be picked up, and they’re waiting for something to change.”

Amid these challenges, Grupo Soap del Corazón is celebrating their 25th anniversary at Minneapolis’ Northeast Sculpture Gallery Factory with “Los Pasos Prohibidos” (“The Forbidden Steps”), an exhibit showcasing new work from local and international Latinx artists. Some artists confront the “forbidden steps” of immigration and documentation, while others explore identity, gender and sexuality.  

“We see other people in galleries, in museums, and sometimes we don’t feel that we belong there,” Tavera said. “Grupo Soap del Corazón has shown that it can be done. Our trajectory is giving hope and opportunity to people to represent themselves however they want.”

Live music at the Red Sea

The Red Sea Ethiopian Restaurant in Minneapolis will transform into a cosmic dance floor this Friday for “Space Cadets,” a show featuring Twin Cities DJs, rappers and spoken-word artists for audiences 21 and older. The lineup includes East African rapper Fanaka Nation, Chilean DJ Talia Knight, rapper Jada Brown, Chicana poet and activist Isavela Lopez, DJ Chico Chi, and Dakota singer-songwriter Tufawon. 

Black rom-com at Pillsbury House

The Pillsbury House and Theatre is staging “A Lesson in Love,” a new romantic comedy by playwright Nubia Monks about two former partners who reunite unexpectedly in the backseat of a Lyft ride in Los Angeles. The play follows Monique, played by Dana Lee Thompson in her Pillsbury House debut, and David, portrayed by returning actor Darrick Mosley. After more than two years apart, the characters are confronted with the unresolved feelings from their past while stuck in traffic.

Thai street food and fire dancing

The fourth annual MinnesoThai Festival returns this weekend in St. Louis Park, featuring Thai street food and desserts from 15 vendors, including Ran Nong Ice Mango Salad, Sweet Crunch Tanghulu, Yang Yumm, and Teera Thai Street Snacks. Attendees can also watch pad Thai cooking demonstrations and join an eating relay contest.

The Moradokmai Theatre Community & Homeschool, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving Thai heritage through theater, music and dance, will present a show inspired by Thai literature, blending traditional Thai and Western music. The Minnesota-based Lakeside Boogie Band will also take the stage, alongside Thai folk and fire dance performers. 

Game explores Black trans experience

In Public Functionary’s “I Promise to Burn Forever” exhibit, an interactive video game installation invites players to step into a virtual world that explores the history of Black trans lives. 

Created by Berlin-based artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, the game asks players to identify as “Black and trans,” “trans,” or “cisgender.” That choice shapes the story they experience, allowing them to explore lives often erased from history while reflecting on how identity and privilege influence the way we see the world.

This game is part of a larger exhibit that includes “Barakah Library,” an archival installation of Black and Indigenous liberation texts by emerging Minnesota-based Oromo artist Agartuu Inor. 

Drawing inspiration from East African mosque architecture and Oromo beadwork, the installation features a sculptural “Barakah Garden” and an interactive library system where borrowing a book requires contacting the previous reader to foster a network of communal engagement.

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