Photography by Thang Ho, courtesy of Artica
Weird costumes. Light-up stilts. Circus performers. Magic. Kitemaking. Puppets. Giant Legos. A giant soccer ball. And really, who knows what else?
Artica is an annual celebration of the best and wildest of the city’s creativity, with music, performances, and art, as well as an open invitation to contribute. The festival comes to life this Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10, beginning at noon at 1322 Lewis Street, near Rootwad Park.
Photography by Thang Ho, courtesy of Artica
“We have a really good group of artists this year,” says Audrey Crabtree, the festival's program director. “We have about 69 different groups, and each might be a band of, like, 10 people.” A jury chose the scheduled acts, but there’s also an open stage, Soap Box Theatre, where any attendee can sign up for a 15-minute slot to sing, dance, tell a story, crack a joke, do a trick... The only limit is your imagination.
“Whatever I think is going to be there, there’s always so much more,” says Crabtree.
Painter Jeremy Rabus will be working on a 27-by-9-foot canvas. Blaque Berry Puppets ask “Where Does It Come From.” Nicolette Emanuelle’s “Cello-Matic” is sure to intrigue, as is Sky’s “Stuck in Sweet: A Dance in Honey.” Crabtree’s own company, Ten Directions, performs “Public Humiliation” both days. “It’s a short piece about cancel culture,” Crabtree explains. “Some people will be put in the stocks; there will be some water balloons that people can throw at them.” While their crimes will not be made explicit (it’s a family-friendly festival after all), they will be making “some insincere apologies that are based on some actual insincere apologies that have taken place within the past few years.”
Bring an open mind, and maybe a super weird outfit. But one thing you can leave at home is money. “The whole event is commerce-free—there’s nothing for sale onsite,” Crabtree says. “People bring picnics and coolers and chairs and blankets. There are so many places you can hang out; there’s a lot of room to social distance.”
Photography by Thang Ho, courtesy of Artica
The event took place last year but with limited attendance allowed and temperature checks. This year, while the staff and performers will be monitoring their temperatures, attendees won’t have to be checked, and there’s no limit on attendance numbers.
The event’s climax is “The Burn,” in which a sculpture of Lady Artica, assembled over the course of the weekend, is torched on Sunday night. (The fire department is onsite, as are plenty of trained experts.) Fire spinners will dance around before the sculpture is set alight, and the band Raw Earth will play onstage. Says Crabtree, “It’s a beautiful burn.”
Photography by Thang Ho, courtesy of Artica
