Saint Louis is a melting pot with creatives on every spectrum. In every corner of the city you can find amazing people working together to bring their creative dreams to life. Whatever it takes to find the funds, the talent, the space, they have an unrelenting hustle to put on shows, entertain and create. They are out there seeking an experience fueled with passion.
In the heart of Cortex in the @4240 building, a technology based area teaming with up and coming businesses as well as established ones, you can find Tyler Mathews manning the helm of the Venture Café inside. While taking care of and managing the café, Tyler has been regularly scheduling these Art and Tech meet ups there alongside Jon Phillips of Oui Gallery. Together they are curating informational and networking technology events for anyone interested. And now they have teamed up again to turn a large section of the 4240 building into the Breakerspace, while simultaneously establishing the Fabricatorz Foundation. Their efforts go to reaching out to creatives in the tech world to come together to explore new avenues in their interests of technology infused methods of exploration and creativity.
Exist was a part of the first Art and Tech Meet-up and that’s where I made the connection with Tyler and Jon. The first meetup was amazing and we recorded a podcast episode and interviewed a few creatives from the gaming world (the episode will be posted soon). As they moved forward in their efforts the space became available and the idea for Breakerspace was born and the first show was announced.
Titled ONG (Only New Generation), the foundation stacked the line up with local artists and an out of town act from Mexico City NAAFI, and prepared for one of the coolest events to happen in St. Louis this year.
Entering the Breakerspace artists Hayden Molinarolo, Matt Amato, and Maxwell Foley lined the plastic screen walls of the spaces homemade interior with video projected digital animations cast onto the cable hung screens. Saylor Surkamp, a local St. Louis audio/visual artist, was also transforming the space collaborating with Hayden (Deth_bb) to create an altar of visuals, church pews included, to bask in the dark glow of Hayden’s creation. Hayden’s visuals played on a large screen T.V. on the altar, and a mirrored version of the video projected behind it creating a mind fuck of 3D modeled designs and other stimulations. Saylor also started the night off foreshadowing the soundtrack of the evening playing her method of sound that was uploaded directly into everyone’s ears.
Next to perform was Deth_bb Hayden’s alter ego, who gracefully entertained the crowed with his unique ritual of sound and dance. Running around in a Teddy Bear suit was Eric Donte, local hip-hop artist who performed alongside DJ Hood bunny. Eric and HB energized the crowed with an electric performance. As smoke moved like the ocean tide throughout Breakerspace my time at ONG had come to an end. I couldn’t stay for the full duration of the event, but I heard it was just as intense as the first half. “O.N.G. was a success.” Says Tyler Mathews. “The future sounds of St. Louis and Mexico City collided for a party that explored new visual art, installation and music. True to our mission, Fabricatorz Foundation facilitated new relationships and collaborations including the creation of ONG Records.
I talked to Saylor the next day and she had this to say about the event, “Overall I think the event was a success. It’s crazy to have watched the whole thing come together – it was magic. We might have something here. This could be the start of something really big for Saint Louis.”
Please go follow these amazingly talented people on their social medias. They are creating some groundbreaking content that can only be found right here in Saint Louis Missouri.
Eric Danté
Deth_bb
NAAFI
Saylor Surkamp
Fabricatorz Foundation
Oui. Gallery
Ann Johnson – (lighting design) @softened_shadows