I met Jesse Small a year ago while at a dinner party in Kansas City. His ceramic work is rich with complexity and detail and makes one really consider the space that is shared between the viewer and the object.

Clever and quirky, one considers both the rich history of Venetian chandeliers as well as the cleverness of video games past. Color and form combined with attention to surface detail are what entice one in to examine in minute detail Jesse’s inventive ceramics.

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Carnal Torpor out of Kansas City weaves extreme metal, prog, and electronic elements into a crypto-psychedelic tapestry that alternates between demonic ugliness and shimmering beauty with the drop of a hi-hat.

Whoop Dee Doo is a performance art group based out of Kansas City, Missouri, and hosted by Jaimie Warren and Matt Roche, alongside fifteen or so other cast and crew members. They travel internationally to put on random shows that, visually at least, remind me of a G-Rated John Waters movie. The idea of Whoop Dee Doo shows is based upon kid-friendly faux public access TV programs (they are filmed but don’t actually air) that appear highly entertaining for adults as well. Last year, they performed at Deitch Projects’ holiday party, amongst other places.

Every show is totally original and the props and the set designs are made on location, sometimes the night before a show. Once the cast and crew land in a city, they scout weird and interesting local talent to weave into their act, along with contests such as the ‘Janet Jackson Nasty Boys Dirty Sock Contest’, game shows, and dance intermissions that require, guess what … yes, audience participation! If you’re in Kansas City this Halloween, be sure to check out their Halloween Spooktacular! Needless to say, come in full costume.

A project that has been a pioneer of the revitalization of downtown Kansas City, this building’s goal was to promote the Central Library as well as represent the city itself. A call went out to the people of the city to name highly influential books that in their opinion represented Kansas City. The titles were then placed on the exterior of the car park in big scale. We assume that one of them is Wizard of Oz.