Don't like avant performance? Hate installations? Distaste sound? Have an aversion to film? Can't stand mayhem?? Loathe ecstasy?? Wish radical culture never existed??? Boy do I have a fest that'll get your goat, upset your apple-cart, ruffle your feathers, foam, mouth, bee, bonnet, etc.! It's called Transmodern Festival (Live.Art.Action), and it's running April 3-6 in Baltimore.
Tagged as "Baltimore's Best Art Event" by City Paper, the four-day fest features everything you hate ("avant performance, installation, sound, film, mayhem, ecstasy, and radical culture"), with over 50 artists crammed in the Load of Fun studios. Tell Dina Kelberman how much her cute art stinks! (Ooooh!) Throw water balloons at Anna Oxygen and tell her she needs more hydrogen! (Hah, youch!) Let Blevin Blectum (pictured) know her electronic music sounds organic! (Nice one!) Refuse to buy Thach Thao Nguyen's's Vietnamese-style spring rolls, no matter how Vietnamese-styled they are! (Preach on, P!)
In a time when artists have broken from mainstream aesthetics and are making hopeful attempts at unification through localized art fests, we need hate now more than ever. Cost to spread hate at the fifth annual Transmodern Festival: $10 each day; $25 for all four days. Time to show these knuckleheads how we show our deep-rooted horror and sense of repugnance in 2008!