Philadelphia Weekly

Never before has an art video propelled me out of my seat clapping and cheering as did Oliver Herring's exuberant tour-de-force Howard St. (Airborn), opening Saturday at FLUXSpace. The short video captures street acrobatics performed by members of the FLUX team and their young North Philadelphia neighbors in a venture intended to bring two disparate communities (art and non-art) together.

There are Cirque du Soleil thrills as young men and boys hurl their bodies through the air to be caught in the outstretched arms of others. These unrehearsed, spontaneous leaps of faith by a rag-tag troupe of people who barely know each other's names are a beautiful and exciting street ballet.

The project was initiated by FLUXSpace's Chris Golas and Joe DiGiuseppe who, after a chance meeting with Herring in 2006, invited the artist to Philadelphia.

Herring is a self-proclaimed utopian who believes in art as a force for change. He says he's pleased with the two videos he made in Philadelphia, and really happy that the community members who participated will be at the opening, bringing food like it's a neighborhood potluck dinner--all of which signals that Howard Street has accepted FLUXSpace into its family.

"I shot things and wasn't sure I had anything," says Herring. He also wasn't used to working with children and teens, whom he says are difficult to direct.

Herring was touched by the hard-boiled nature of the neighborhood. He says that while they were filming the second video, Waterloo St., a constant stream of drug users disappeared into the bushes to shoot up.

But Herring believes the project had a positive effect on the kids and neighbors involved. "These videos are about building trust," says Herring. "This was a very fertile environment for that. We created a platform and they didn't think of it as art. It was a creative outlet."

The scenes flow as if they were orchestrated. To an extent, they were--by Herring saying "Let's do it again" when nobody knew what to do next. Herring doesn't edit his videos himself but works with an editing lab, which had to cut extensively to get the fluidity Herring wanted in the finished product.

The elegiac and dreamy Waterloo St., which involves water play with an open fire hydrant, is the perfect companion piece to Howard St. It slows you down, allowing you to consider the beauty of these kids and their imaginations and sense of play in a neighborhood that offers them a lot of crime and grime.

The German-born Herring, a true romantic, has been in the U.S. for 17 years. He came here for love, he says, and is still with the same partner. He doesn't plan to show these videos anywhere else.

"I thought of putting them on YouTube," he says, "but this is a unique, intimate, special moment and I don't want to deflate it."

Oliver Herring
Opening party Sat., Dec. 15, 6-10pm. Free. Through Dec. 22. FLUXSpace, 3000 N. Hope St. 610.764.7488. www.thefluxspace.org

For more on the Philadelphia art scene go to fallonandrosof.blogspot.com