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Artica 2002. Photo by Thomas Crone, for thecommonspace.org.
If you’ve got a Maalox stomach from watching the stock market bounce up and down the last few weeks, my first directive to you: check out the photoblog “Sad Guys on Trading Floors.” (Thanks for encouraging me to subscribe to Boing Boing, Bry!) Perhaps another stimulus check would make me feel best of all, but I'll take any opportunity for a good, cathartic laugh.
Next, I’ll remind you that St. Louis is as lucky as hell when it comes to free and cheap everything. There’s a downside to that, of course—I’ve heard many a musician/producer/director grouse about the $5 ceiling on ticket prices in relation to attendance at arts events—but in a tarred ‘n’ feathered economy, I’ll take the free shows, and I suspect many other people will too.
So here’s two excellent and free cultural events going on this month:
October 11 & 12: Artica
I was lucky enough to see this “urban wilderness art festival” during its first run in 2002. Hap Phillips and Nita Turnage, the artists who started Artica, used to live down near the riverfront on the near North Side, and wanted to do something to recognize the value of the area at the end of Lenor K. Sullivan drive, near the power plant. This part of the city is generally given over to warehouses, pollution, and piles of weird industrial trash—even though it’s a historic site connected to the Underground Railroad, and of course is one point in the city where you can really connect with the Mississippi River. One of their recurring events is the “Boat of Dreams” parade, a regatta of miniature biodegradable boats, made by artists as well as the public, wished on and released into the river.
This year’s festival’s been titled “The New World, Come Hell or High Water,” and the festival is moving out of the patch of urban wilderness behind the power plant to a more accessible spot right under the Arch. Things kick of at noon on Saturday, run till midnight, then pick back up the next day from noon to dusk. They’re doing the “Boat of Dreams” parade again down to the edge of the river (Sunday at 2pm); there’s also something on the schedule called “the World’s Biggest Belly Laugh.” Your guess is as good as mine: the only info I have is that it takes place Saturday at 5:55pm. There’s also an overlapping schedule of film and video, performance art, installations, live music, theater and poetry. And I believe the public is welcome to bring their own biodegradable boat, instilled with a dream or a wish, to launch into the river on Sunday. Though much of the magic of Artica stems from its guerrilla nature, I think moving it and making it easier and more accessible is a good move; the organizers have always intended it to be for the whole community.
October 16, 7pm: Grand Center Shorts
With the renovation of the Woolworth Building (now the Big Brothers Big Sisters Building) Grand Center’s becoming more and more a fully functional arts district. Though I’d seen some PR on this event, filmmaker Zlatko Cosic (who we wrote up last summer in the print mag) sent me a reminder this morning about Grand Center Shorts, a free program of local films screening at the new Kranzberg Arts Center at Grand and Olive, inside the BB/BS building. I’m familiar with Zlatko’s work, (you can see more here) as well as Carson Minnow’s. She’s got a beautiful flexibility as a filmmaker—the two pieces I’ve seen, a zombie short for the 48 Hour Film Festival, and a documentary on Ethiopia, which showed in the Crown Room during last year’s Art Outside, were completely different, other than the fact that both were superlative. You can also see her work on Mayor Slay's blog, including this short on New Roots Urban Farm. I'd love to go see these next week, but that's also the night I have tickets to New Line's production of Hair. So I will probably catch these when they re-screen at the St. Louis International Film Festival next month (just a heads up to other folks with scheduling conflicts).
Here’s the program:
“The Renaissance of the River City,” by Carson Minow: A short documentary on the cultural and social restoration of St. Louis City.
“The Watcher,” by Richard Taylor: A chronicle of the comings and goings of everyday people through the eyes of a Gargoyle that sits high above on the cornice of one of the Grand Center buildings.
“Wings,” by Zlatko Cosic: An experimental movie taking the audience through an abstract journey using dance and the architecture of Grand Center to tell the story.
“Coda,” by Kenny Kinds: A story of the things that drive us; how memories actively shape us every day as experienced through the eyes of character, Wes Journey.
“Rumor Central” (working title), by Joe Millitzer and Katie Johannes Millitzer: An animated film noir that combines hand drawn illustration and computer animation. Two short musical numbers and a vivid cast of characters add to the humorous tale of mystery and misunderstanding.
Note that—ah, there’s always a catch, isn’t there? That while the shorts are free, you do need a reservation, which you can make by calling Rachel Beatty at 314-289-1517 or sending an email to rbeatty@grandcenter.org. —Stefene Russell
