The evening of Friday, Feb. 19, temperatures held steady below freezing. It may have been another frigid night, but inside the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), people couldn’t shed their coats fast enough. Warm temperature inside the Calatrava remained pleasant as many bodies began to fill the remarkable white space.
Kicking off promptly at 5 p.m., customary MAM After Dark events included: a DIY craft station buzzing with Do-It-Yourselfers, Café Calatrava serving snacks, and the exhibit “Street Seen,” which remained open while the permanent collections shut their doors for the evening.
Curator Lisa Hostetler’s photography exhibit “Street Seen” was the focus of the evening. The exhibit displays World War II and post World War non-commercial photography in America.
Transitioning from past to present to postmodern, the night saw various dance performances from Danceworks and True Skool of Milwaukee. The images of “Street Seen” came to life as lighting designer Iain Court collected live shots of the Danceworks performers and superimposed them upon images from the exhibition. The resulting mash-up of video and dance set a backdrop on the placid walls of the Calatrava as the dancers performed.
“MAM approached Danceworks to perform at this MAM After Dark event,” said Jonas Wittke, community relations manager at MAM. Wittke also works as the Post’s puzzle editor.
Danceworks, in collaboration with choreographer, Simone Ferro of UW-Milwaukee, took to the floor at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., respectively. Ferro did not let the dancers view the exhibit before their performances; dressed only in black and white to mirror the images in “Street Seen,” the resulting performance was a marriage of contemporary dance interpreting mid-century photography.
Some MAM events get off to a slow start. However, three hours into the night, entrance lines were still set at 10 deep, as patrons eagerly awaited the night’s performances.
Dance continued with True Skool at 9:30 p.m. as more performers took to the rich marble floors. True Skool’s live bucket drummers collaborated with 88.9 Radio Milwaukee’s DJs, providing the backbeat for a high-intensity break dance battle.
“[True Skool] was really fun, high energy…and I loved the live beat drums,” said Molly Hogan of Milwaukee.
The bucket drummers, from the Lincoln Center for the Arts, Bayview High School, and Fritsche Middle School collective response following their performance; “It was really cool to play here.”
Before they began rapping beats on buckets, their coach emphasized to the audience, “This is celebration of many different cultures, diversity, every culture in the world share these two things – dance and some form of drumming.”
Also loud, but not on the ears, a street artist worked on a canvas throughout the night.
Eliot Patterson, also of True Skool, worked on a live, graffiti art piece inspired by “Street Seen” all evening. He plans on donating the piece to Haiti.
88.9 DJs kept the evening going as a spontaneous hip-hop and break dance battle broke out between patrons. The crowd cheered on as dancers respectfully took their turns entering the circle to show off their skills.
As the evening came to an end the exhibit doors closed, the lively music died down, and empty wine glasses and beer bottles topped many tables. Attendees exited the remarkable white space to let it return to that…until the next MAM After Dark event.
