Spraypainted murals lined the entryway of a former storehouse at the Charleston Navy Yard as thousands of attendees poured into the Kulture Klash festival held in November.
The refurbished 38,000-square-foot warehouse is now called Building 64, North Charleston’s newest arts and entertainment venue that opened to the public in October.
Kulture Klash featured a plethora of visual artists and musical acts from the Charleston area.
More than 100 visual artists and 20 musical acts coalesced on Nov. 16 at Kulture Klash, a six-hour charity event that harnessed the instantaneous spirit of performance art to generate long-term community interconnectedness.
Kulture Klash featured a plethora of visual artists and musical acts from the Charleston area.
Light shows and scenic projections traveled across the expansive warehouse walls as simulated spiders and snakes scuttled and slithered along the floors. Exhibition panels were set up throughout the space displaying a spectrum of portraiture, abstract works and three-dimensional mixed media.
Kulture Klash featured a plethora of visual artists and musical acts from the Charleston area. Life-size blow-up elephants were among the mix.
A 14-foot-tall robot was standing near life-size blow-up elephants while steps away stood a scrap metal bust with hair made of nails. Everywhere eyes scanned there were multimedia configurations, light installations, fashion statements and walls splashed with color.
Kulture Klash featured a plethora of visual artists and musical acts from the Charleston area, including this robot.
Looking back on the artistic antics at Kulture Klash, Habibah “Kalianna” Palmer said the experience was life-changing. The 29-year-old Charleston native painted two murals for the festival and had additional works on display.
Charleston artist Habibah “Kalianna” Palmer poses in front of the mural she painted for Kulture Klash festival.
“The first words that come to mind are opportunity and connection,” Palmer told The Post and Courier. “It was such a wonderful opportunity for artists to connect and express themselves — and turn the building itself into a big piece of art.”
The Kulture Klash festival started in Charleston and ran for several installments between 2007 and 2011. Charleston musician David “Big Hair” Brisacher and festival founders Scott Debus and Gustavo Serrano helped it reemerge from a 13-year moratorium as a community fundraiser for the The Livity Foundation, a nonprofit centered on fundraising initiatives spanning arts, athletics and wellness.
Brisacher’s entertainment and event production company Big Hair Productions will helm Building 64 for the next three years to facilitate events and productions geared toward immersive experiences, cultural events and public art. He’s operating out of the space per an agreement with one of the Charleston Navy Yard development groups, global design-focused real estate investment and management firm Jamestown.
“The idea of the space is that there are no limits — any artist or production company can implement their ideas,” Brisacher told The Post and Courier. Between the massive square footage and the “industrial, gritty yet artistic vibe” of Building 64, it’s exciting to picture the possibilities, he said.
Kulture Klash featured a plethora of visual artists and musical acts from the Charleston area.
Up-and-coming artists from Charleston County School of the Arts and Academic Magnet were on display this year at Kulture Klash. And Charleston’s Unbound Ballet Project partnered with local visual artist Jennifer Padilla for a paint-dance hybrid performance.
“Kulture Klash is the perfect explosion of a visual arts show, concert and dance performance,” Brisacher said. “It’s like if you took the greatest art show and the greatest party and you mix the two together. That’s Kulture Klash.”
The V-Tones were among around 20 bands to perform live music at Kulture Klash.
Rappers Chali 2na and Cut Chemist of legendary Los Angeles hip-hop group Jurassic 5 headlined the Nov. 16 festival, both of whom are also visual artists. Chali 2na created a mural on-site for Kulture Klash.
One of the biggest contributions people can make to the do-it-yourself art scene is showing up, said Charles “Chali 2na” Stewart.
Kulture Klash headliner Chali 2na is both a musician and visual artist. He created the mural pictured above on-site at Building 64 for the festival.
“It’s all about support,” Stewart told The Post and Courier. “These things don’t flourish unless people come and lend a hand, contribute to the art and just participate. And the way this event involves all the communities of artists is amazing in itself. It’s a tool to spread the word outside of Charleston.”
Brisacher will utilize almost 20 years of event experience to build a lasting network of creatives and charities in the tri-county area with Building 64 as the home base. Its operation is just one aspect of a larger effort to reactivate the North Charleston Navy Yard as a mixed-use neighborhood.
Big Hair Dave is behind the art activation Kulture Klash and the new 38,000-suar-foot warehouse called Building 64 at the Charleston Navy Yard.
“Navy Yard Charleston is a development team that’s come together to revitalize this whole area,” Brisacher said. “They’re one of the only groups that can understand a vision of someone like me and say, ‘Hey Big Hair go wild. Create the coolest venue you can.’”
One of the principal developers with Navy Yard Charleston, Jay Weaver, said supporting public art is a fundamental building block for the project.
“We believe that one of the many benefits of supporting art is that it brings all walks of life together,” he said, “which is probably needed more than ever these days.”