8/6/2019 The Post and Courier Preview-- "Kulture Klash 5"

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8/6/2019 The Post and Courier Preview-- "Kulture Klash 5"

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BY LISA RYAN

Special to The Post and Courier 

Back and bigger than ever, thebiannual visual, performanceand musical arts festival Kul-

ture Klash returns to the Navy Yard atNoisette for its fifth installment Friday and Saturday, adding an additionalevening to its formerly one-day roster.

Event co-organizers Gustavo Ser-rano, Scott Debus and AmbergreSloan added an artist reception Friday in order to accommodate the festival’sfull schedule of events, including thisyear’s spoken word room, starving art-ist exhibit and bicycle-centric happen-ings, while ensuring that people haveenough time to appreciate the festival’s

 visual artworks.

This weekend will be the fifth localart celebration since it was organizedin November 2007, when it first wasmodeled after the Museum of ModernArt’s P.S. 1 installation in New York.

Debus said that the local festival’sorganizers also wanted to expandCharleston’s cultural horizon throughthe event.

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

‘Not about having a ragingparty’

According to Debus, who acts as artcurator for the event, an 18-foot, two-story reproduction of a Charlestonhouse that he helped craft out of block paper and wood was virtually over-looked in a past installment despite theinstallation’s booming size.

Debus said the installation servedas a wake-up call to the team. They realized that, with only one night jam-packed with countless events, theresimply was too much going on. Peoplewere on sensory overload and the vi-sual art was almost an afterthought, sothe organizers added the extra night.

“Friday is all about the artwork, notabout having a raging party with thou-sands of people going nuts,” said Ser-rano, the event’s music manager. “It isdedicated to peace, tranquillity, goodart viewing, talking with the artistsand hopefully buying some art.”

Starving artistsFriday’s reception will place the spot-

light on works from the more than50 visual artists participating in theevent, in addition to highlighting the

starving artist exhibit.The exhibit will includ

eight artists from FR3SHstarved themselves for fto the event in an attemthe stereotype of the staThe artists will be survia diet of water and herbeach will create one piec

Though they operate uent mediums — some psculptors — each of theists will be challenged t

of the same size, mediummatter and difficulty eawill be able to view the ative works and determinthe starvation had on ththe pieces.

Bicycle chicMany of the works on

will highlight the festivacycle theme. The festivadecide on a different theinstallment, including pof skateboarding, Putt-break dancing.

Sloan said that the orgcided to place an emphaculture in order to bringto Charleston’s scene.

“There is a bike commhere, but I don’t think C

A lot of it, for me, is to change that Southern conservative perspectiveof the world. Charleston sells itself as a historical, old-timey place. You

can have that, yet you can have modern culture in there, too.”

– Scott Debus, co-organizer of Kulture Klash

PHOTOGRAPHSBYBADJON PHOTOGRAPHY

Scenes from last year’s Kulture Klash, which was also at the Navy Yard at Noisette. The event combineslocal art, music, poetry performances, video and large installations.

 16 F .ursday , November 5 , 2009__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________POSTANDCOURIER.COM _________________________________________________________