BY ARIA SELIGMANN
Film and video artists
Vanessa Renwick and Bill
Daniel will share their work
at the My House celebration
Sunday in Washington-
Jefferson Park.
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22 JULY 24, 2003
M
y House, the basement venue
opened a year and a half ago in a
house on West 5th Avenue to give
performance space to underrepresented art,
is closing down. But not without a bang.
This Sunday, under the Washington
Jefferson Bridge, “ASUPERHAPPYFUN-
DAYINTHEPARK” is planned from 3 to 11
pm to showcase the art, artists, poetry, music
and film — especially film — that has
sprung up outside the Northwest’s main-
stream arts culture.
“Our space is about community,” says My
House co-founder Marc Moscato, who’s just
wrapped up his masters degree in arts admin-
istration, and, like other My House founders,
is moving on.
Although people in the collective have
come and gone, a few artists and events con-
nected with the group are well known. Sean
Mediaclast, curator for the Museum of
Unfine Art, has performed music for some of
the avant-garde film shown at the basement
space, and My House organized the No War
Art Show, which drew more than 600 atten-
dees in March.
“We live in a unique community, and we
wanted to celebrate the creativity of it,” says
Moscato.
When he moved here a few years ago,
Moscato was dismayed at the lack of venues
for self-expressive art. So he turned his base-
ment into one.
My House held self-published zine read-
ings, film screenings, music, scratch anima-
tion workshops, punk rock shows and many
other types of activities. Never once did
neighbors complain of noise or did organiz-
ers have any trouble with police, says
Moscato. The space was about creating art.
Period.
“The unifying characteristic of all the
artists we have worked with is that they are
interested in doing things outside the realm of
capital,” says Moscato. For example, some
musicians would rather perform in the park
for free than support the commercial enter-
prise of a venue. In addition, many clubs are
for ages 21 and over, which imposes limits on
the performers’ audience.
“There aren’t many places people can
congregate free of crass commercialism,”
says Moscato, “not a lot of places where peo-
ple can come together and talk or share. We
do a lot of folk art and sharing stories; it’s a
new form of uncensored self-expression.”
But now that My House is closing,
Moscato hopes that others will pick up the
baton and run with it. He hopes the mission
has encouraged other young people to “take
control over their lives and their art” and to
realize they have the power to achieve what-
ever they want. “It doesn’t have to happen in
an institution,” he insists. “We did this with
no budget, no government grants, and no
memberships, but we supported this vibrant
community of well-recognized artists who
have had shows in big centers.”
Some of those artists include musicians
and poets. Seattle’s the Urban Hermitt will
perform on Sunday, along with folk singer
Dennis Driscoll, art rockers Old Relijun and
many others. Others in attendance will be
some of the many filmmakers who’ve held
screenings at My House and the Sunday show
will conclude with a mini-film fest of sorts.
Beginning at 9:30 pm, hand-cranked film
by Lee Krist with live music by Mediaclast
will be shown, followed by a slideshow and
film shorts from Olympia Film Ranch and the
evening will conclude with a My House film
retrospective beginning at 10:30 pm with
works by Sandra Lea Gibson, Paolo Davanzo,
Jim Finn and others.
ew
A full schedule of events can be found at
www.notmyhouse.com