Kulture Klash 5: Biannual festival gets even larger and puts more emphasis on art

Back and bigger than ever, the biannual visual, performance and musical arts festival Kulture Klash returns to the Navy Yard at Noisette for its fifth installment Friday and Saturday, adding an additional evening to its formerly one-day roster.

Event co-organizers Gustavo Serrano, Scott Debus and Ambergre Sloan added an artist reception Friday in order to accommodate the festival's full schedule of events, including this year's spoken word room, starving artist exhibit and bicycle-centric happenings, while ensuring that people have enough time to appreciate the festival's visual artworks.

This weekend will be the fifth local art celebration since it was organized in November 2007, when it first was modeled after the Museum of Modern Art's P.S. 1 installation in New York.

Debus said that the local festival's organizers also wanted to expand Charleston's cultural horizon through the event.

"A lot of it, for me, is to change that Southern conservative perspective of the world," Debus said. "Charleston sells itself as a historical, old-timey place. You can have that, yet you can have modern culture in there, too."

'Not about having a raging party'

According to Debus, who acts as art curator for the event, an 18-foot, two-story reproduction of a Charleston house that he helped craft out of block paper and wood was virtually overlooked in a past installment despite the installation's booming size.

Debus said the installation served as a wake-up call to the team. They realized that, with only one night jampacked with countless events, there simply was too much going on. People were on sensory overload and the visual art was almost an afterthought, so the organizers added the extra night.

"Friday is all about the artwork, not about having a raging party with thousands of people going nuts," said Serrano, the event's music manager. "It is dedicated to peace, tranquillity, good art viewing, talking with the artists and hopefully buying some art."

Starving artists

Friday's reception will place the spotlight on works from the more than 50 visual artists participating in the event, in addition to highlighting the starving artist exhibit.

The exhibit will include works by eight artists from FR3SH art who have starved themselves for five days prior to the event in an attempt to challenge the stereotype of the starving artist. The artists will be surviving solely on a diet of water and herbal teas, and each will create one piece of art daily.

Though they operate under different mediums -- some painters, some sculptors -- each of the starving artists will be challenged to create works of the same size, medium, subject matter and difficulty each day. People will be able to view the artists' respective works and determine what effects the starvation had on the evolution of the pieces.

Bicycle chic

Many of the works on display also will highlight the festival's new bicycle theme. The festival's organizers decide on a different theme for each installment, including past themes of skateboarding, Putt-Putt golf and break dancing.

Sloan said that the organizers decided to place an emphasis on bicycle culture in order to bring an awareness to Charleston's scene.

"There is a bike community down here, but I don't think Charleston is a very bike- and pedestrian-friendly city, with the bridges and the lack of bike lanes," Sloan said. "People are getting hit by cars left and right."

Sloan said that she is excited to bring the bike community together to promote bicycle safety. The festival is working closely with the Holy City Bicycle Co-Operative, a local nonprofit that promotes bicycle awareness, repair and safety, in order to host an array of bicycle-themed events.

In addition to featuring bicycle-centric artworks, the festival will host the Chain Ring Circus, an arena they crafted that will house bicycle polo matches, bicycle dancing, slow bicycle races, bicycle art and bicycle movies. People are encouraged to bike to the event in North Charleston and use a free bicycle valet hosted by the co-op.

Eco-friendly

Also expect a collection of recycled cardboard pieces to decorate the venue, a project that will be executed by visual artists not participating in the two-wheel festivities. "We're taking recycled boxes and painting them, and we're stacking them all over the place," Debus said.

The recycled cardboard and bicycle themes are in step with Kulture Klash's promotion of ecological sustainability.

"We try to incorporate something recycled every time. Scott likes to reuse materials that he finds around town to turn into something visual. We not only recycle the bikes, but the bike parts that can't be incorporated into a new bike are going to be part of the sculptures," Sloan said.

But wait, there's more

Festival organizers also have constructed a side room with couches and a small stage for spoken word performances, another addition to the event. Hosted by local poet and Preview Editor Marcus Amaker, the spoken word event hopes to draw audience participation, asking people to contribute improvisational poems and participate in friendly poetry battles. The poetry room also will feature Preview writer and artist Vikki Matsis, as well as local poet George BJ Mullen IV.

Entertainment for the evening includes performances from local metal act Dante's Camaro, techno dance group Short Shorts and unusual jazz band The V-Tones, as well as sets by DJ Stella, Righchus, DJ Jeff ET, Danny Seltzer and DJ Belk.

Local DJs The Bubble Gut Brothers will be on the scene spinning an array of hip-hop tunes on vinyl records, and The Power Company, a modern dance troupe, will perform two dance pieces choreographed by Marcy Jo Yonkey-Clayton.

Saturday, expect a live painting collaboration by 15 visual artists who will create a 4-by-30-foot wall, individual slices of which will be available for sale upon its completion.

Event Information

FRIDAY

What: Artist Reception

When: 8-11 p.m. (21 and up only)

Where: 1635 Cosgrove Ave. in the Navy Yard at Noisette

How Much: free

SATURDAY

What: Kulture Klash 5 main event

When: 8 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Where: 1635 Cosgrove Ave. in the Navy Yard at Noisette

How Much: $15 in advance and $20 the day of

Shuttle info: www.kultureklashartsfestival.com and select "bus"

Tickets and more info: www.kultureklashartsfestival.com