The columns rise from a green stage. They recall the approach to the Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, but the arch itself is absent. That gap is a way into *Variations on a Garden*, Abbas Akhavan’s survey, which opened November 12 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
The Walker’s exhibition announcement identifies the installation as *curtain call, variations on a folly*, a work first presented in 2021. The original commission announcement describes a green stage of the kind used to swap out backgrounds on film and sculptures made with cob, a building material made from subsoil, water, and straw. The green is part of what visitors see: the columns stand against the color normally meant to disappear from the finished image.
There are three structures to keep straight. The ancient arch stood at the Great Colonnade; an assessment published by UNESCO records its destruction by the Islamic State in 2015. A modern replica of the arch went on display in London’s Trafalgar Square, as the Institute for Digital Archaeology records. Akhavan’s installation draws on the colonnade rather than reproducing the arch. Look for the space around the columns: where the replica offers an image of what was lost, the installation leaves the approach without its gateway.
The show runs through April 18, 2027, in Galleries A and B. The Walker’s visitor guide lists standard adult admission at $18 and says one ticket covers all exhibitions. Gallery admission is free on Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. and on the first Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Check the visitor guide before setting out; the museum closes on certain holidays.