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Artica exists blissfully off-center from the city’s robust-but-conventional art festival scene. Yes, it’s a weekend to come and mix with artists and be moved by their work. But that’s where the similarities wrap up.

It’s a free-form, deeply interactive happening of site-specific and participatory art in communication with the Mississippi River and the rest of the physical and historical environment. Sounds like a mouthful, but mostly it’s a ton of fun.

What’s for sale? Nothing at all. What’s happening at the festival? Excellent question. Really, you’ll have to show up to find out. (It’s loose, but not complete chaos. Check out the schedule here.) Where is it? The two-day festival’s setting is a post-industrial playground by the river north of downtown—navigating it can be its own form of performance art.

Different artists and performance troupes are on hand to perform in some way, and spontaneous outpourings of creativity are to be expected. Planned activities include a parade, boat launch, dance, DJs, burns, and more.

“There’s always different things every year,” says Lohr Barkley. Barkley is acting executive director of the festival, but he stresses that the festival is a group effort. The board and volunteers are almost entirely unpaid, but the artists are paid, thanks to fundraising and sponsorship from the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and others.

“I don’t know what’s going to be the big star,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to the surprise—that’s kind of always what it’s about. We’ve gotten used to being surprised.”

Past years have seen unplanned performances by a dance troupe that happened to be having raft trouble on an epic journey down the river, unanticipated sculptures, and art cars.

“People are doing things that are kind of weird, temporary and experimental. You never know what’s going to happen,” Barkley says.

This year, the music stage is a little more planned out and organized than in years past. The more spontaneous outflow of other art forms at the festival is less workable for that crowd, explains Barkley.

“Musicians don’t really interact with us in that way,” he says. “We’re trying to bridge that gap.” Musicians have been invited and scheduled for the first stage.

A second stage has a little bit of scheduled programming, but it’s mostly open “for artists to do whatever they might come up with.”

One thing you won’t need for the festival is cash. There’s no vending on-site, so no matter how much you love the experience you have, it’s ephemeral.

“That’s just not what Artica is about,” Barkley says. “It’s an opportunity for artists to make art and be seen.”

Too often, he explains, artists get busy creating products for sale. Vending at festivals is great, but Artica is meant to be a place for artists to remember why they got into art in the first place, and what they’d be doing if they had all the time in the world.

“It’s kind of born out of the idea of a site-specific installation,” Barkley says. “It’s by nature temporary.”

Artica 2017: Artikinetic Entanglement. October 7 at 11 a.m. to October 8 at 10 p.m. 21 O’Fallon Street. Free.