Arts in a state of …

FLUX

Tomorrow, 7 p.m. to midnight.

$7, $5 with a nonfiction book to be donated to… FLUX

Tomorrow, 7 p.m. to midnight.

$7, $5 with a nonfiction book to be donated to Book ‘Em

FLUX has come a long way since its 2000 debut in the future home of the Pittsburgh Glassworks – about 40 performers and artists, and roughly 450 people attended. Three years and seven events later, the average FLUX boasts about 70 to 80 performers, and the largest attendance yet has been 1,400 people at 2001’s Brew House event at the South Side.

Tomorrow, FLUX 9 will find its home in Oakland in not one, but three different locations: the Kiva Han at Meyran and Forbes avenues, Euler Way and the Kings Court Building, which has been vacant since the Beehive closed its doors two years ago.

“All of our spaces fit this definition of being in transition. Right now Euler Way is just a Dumpster area. The Beehive used to be this great movie theater, then it was a bar, now it’s nothing. What’s it going to be in the future? We don’t know,” says FLUX event coordinator Ryan Walsh.

Normally Euler Way, the alley that connects Atwood Street and Meyran Avenue parallel to Forbes and Fifth avenues, is a seedy alley home to Dumpsters. Tomorrow it will transform into an art gallery of sorts. Murals, buskers (street performers) and live music are just some of the attractions invading the space.

The main FLUX area will be the former Beehive, housing the majority of the visual artwork and two stages for bands.

The first step in deciding who will participate in a FLUX event – be it spoken word, paintings, photography or live bands – is to get people from the current FLUX neighborhood.

“We try to get as many people directly from the community we are in as possible. And then once we see what we have from the people in the community, we have another database of artists, people who are interested in performing from all over Pittsburgh,” Walsh said. “So we kind of plug in as we can so that we have an equal mix of emerging and established artists while also having an equal mix of artists in the community and generally from around Pittsburgh.”

FLUX 9 will feature performances by local musicians Brad Yoder, Chalk Outline Party, A.T.S., Strict Flow, Master Mechanic and more. Pitt student Patrice Lehocky has art in FLUX 9 and Carnegie Mellon University students Sarah Hatton and Ben Buchwald collaborated on an interactive project that connects art and computer science students at CMU.

Another CMU student, William Kofmehl III – the man who shacked up on CMU’s campus last spring dressed as a lobster – will have the aid of his father, William Kofmehl Jr., in his FLUX performance.

Oakland’s history will come to life with spoken word artist b-tree.

Navigating your way between the three locations with numerous artists and performers won’t be difficult, as buskers will be along the pathways between the venues. And if you get lost on your way from the Beehive to Euler Way, don’t worry.

“When it gets dark out, it’s going to be hard not to notice that there’s something going on there, especially if it’s a clear night,” Walsh said.

Upon exiting Euler Way, attention will be directed to the changed appearance of Kiva Han – its colors will be pink and orange, meshing with those of FLUX 9.

When everything is said and done, hopefully people will see Oakland in a new light. “We hope to show that there actually are long term plans for this area that are focused around the residents, not just around the kids that are going to be here for four years in college,” Walsh said.