Music

BEARCAT (Discwoman/NY)

BEARCAT is a London-born, Philadelphia-based artist. She has performed all over the world, including Egypt, Paris, Lyon, Berlin, Leipzig, Barcelona, Mexico City, Oakland and Chicago. She has worked as a DJ/producer, audio engineer and professional make-up artist since 2005. BEARCAT provided creative direction for live events and festivals such as Afropunk, Glastonbury, Reading and Lovebox, among others. She has also DJ’ed sets for the musicians including 21 Savage, bbymutha, CupcakKe and Caleborate. She draws from deeply personal experiences and Diaspora roots, and isn’t afraid to delve deep. Her sets are emotive musical selections as a form of therapy. Her ear guides her into creating bass-heavy uncompromising, powerful mixes that harness a symbiotic energy between the music and the crowd to generate the perfect soundtrack to any event. 2018 was a year of astounding new heights. BEARCAT performed at the MoMA, Guggenheim, Afropunk, Wiener Festwochen in Vienna, Bloomberg Summer Picnic, 29Rooms, Performa 17 Biennial. BEARCAT’s archive of work and sets can be found at bearcat.digital

He Valencia (Indiana)

He Valencia aka Aloiso Wilmoth is an Indiana-based artist, DJ, producer exploring the intersections and permeation of techno and other experimental electronic music. He uses these mediums to explorer greater themes of diaspora and Afrofuturism. He Valencia has performed all over the world and been featured on Rinse FM, Mask Magazine, and performed countless live events.

RA Child (STL)

Experimental rapper and producer creating leftfield, off-setting rhythmic patterns and textures deeply embeded in the underground St. Louis music scene.

Experience Design & Curation

Katherine Simóne Reynolds

Katherine Simóne Reynolds’ practice works to physicalize emotions and experiences by constructing pieces that include portrait photography, video works, and choreography. In the process of making subtle changes to her practice she has learned that creating an environment built on intention brings the most disarming feelings to her work. Utilizing the Black body and her own personal narrative as a place of departure has made her question her own navigation of ownership, inclusion, and authenticity within a contemporary gaze. She draws inspiration from Black glamour, the Black athlete, and the Church. Her practice generally deals in Blackness from my her own perspective and she continually searches for what it means to produce “Black work.”

She has exhibited work within many spaces and institutions around Saint Louis, including the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, and The Luminary. Internationally she was hired to work for ImPulsTanz, the largest contemporary dance festival in Europe, as the event photographer where she worked on photographic and performance projects within the MUMOK, the Weltmuseum, and many other unique venues around Vienna, Austria.

She has exhibited in local, national, and international group and solo shows, has spoken at The Contemporary Art Museum of Saint Louis and The Saint Louis Art Museum, and MoMA for their Gallery Sessions where she also performed. She has recently exhibited work in the In Practice group exhibition at The Sculpture center, and has been appointed the new curator at The Luminary a non-profit art institution in Saint Louis, MO.

Dwight Portocarrero

Dwight Portocarrero explores the precarious state of our ecosystem through sculpture, living installations, and works on canvas. Growing up in Venezuela, he was immersed in a tropical environment that fostered his appreciation for fertile land and extensive flora. This continues to impact his aesthetic inquiry. Witnessing sociopolitical unrest and its repercussions fueled his interest in recontextualizing the garden. Portocarrero lives and works in New York and Venezuela. Follow his work on Instagram.

BIOTA / Justin Enoch

Biota is a platform for underrepresented, experimental electronic music and club culture. In addition to curating and fabricating safe, inclusive spaces for nightlife, Biota hosts a series of lectures at Venture Cafe which interface with a variety of sound and music industry related topics.

Matt Ruzicka

Matt Ruzicka is a St. Louis-based artist who builds interactive installations inspired by technology, nature, philosophy, and novelty.

Tyer Mathews

Tyler Mathews is the Executive Director of Venture Cafe St. Louis and founding board member of Fabricatorz Foundation. Tyler identifies, connects, and helps grow emerging creative communities.