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Photo By David Wasinger
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SSNOVA
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A steamy Sunday evening in late July finds Emily Buddendeck standing off to the side of a second floor space inside the Mockbee Building, home to the alternative arts space SSNOVA. The room is warm and moist, made warmer by the crowds of people.
The large windows overlooking Central Parkway offer little comfort. A cooler filled with beer and water is soon depleted. Buddendeck does her best to stay in the background, but a stream of people come up to talk to her.
At dusk, the evening's program begins: "Underneath Cincinnati," a series of alternative films and videos. The presentation is raw -- a ramshackle screen, a pair of speakers and a portable video projector.
But that's what people expect at SSNOVA. The point is that the experience is different from what they'd get at one of Cincinnati's major art galleries or museums.
The crowd talks and mingles between the films. They introduce themselves to the various filmmakers. More importantly, they discuss collaborating with each other.
Intentional or not, SSNOVA has become the place for young local artists to network. Buddendeck watches and nods. Everything is how she dreamed it could be.
SSNOVA stands for "Sanctum Sanctorum Non-profit Organization and Venue for the Arts." Emily Buddendeck, a 28-year-old who's organized informal art events under the name Sanctum Sanctorum at her various apartments over the past three years, manages the alternative arts space.
Buddendeck saw potential in the massive Mockbee Building, built into the hillside that curves along Central Parkway adjacent to Cincinnati's Brighton neighborhood. The building was once home to the Bellevue Brewery and, more recently, operated as a restaurant.
The building's current owner, Fred Lane, attended one of Buddendeck's home shows and shared her vision for the Mockbee Building. A few months later, Hank McLendon, a local Web site designer, agreed to help promote the space.
In early 2001, volunteers began hauling out mountains of rock and dirt that had accumulated in the Mockbee's cavernous first-floor space over the years. It was long and hard work.
Once they cleared the debris, Buddendeck, Lane and assorted friends began to make the building accessible. A new entrance and steps to the upper levels were constructed. Buddendeck restored a mosaiclike painting above the Central Parkway entrance, enhancing the work with her own drawings.
On Aug. 11, 2001, the Mockbee Building reopened its newly installed glass doors as SSNOVA. The response to the space has been enthusiastic and immediate, attracting a sizable following to its eclectic calendar of visual artist exhibitions, avant-garde musicians and independent films.
"This week alone, I've been at three different shows, and they've all been great," says local artist Kendall Bruns, an Art Academy of Cincinnati alum who's shown his work at SSNOVA. "It's amazing when you think about all that happens here."
After one year of operation, SSNOVA has become ground zero for Cincinnati's artistic subculture. The space consistently draws crowds of people and a burst of energy to the little-known district called Brighton, a rough part of Cincinnati never meant to be an arts neighborhood.
The heart of it
As is often the case, a city's recognizable landmarks are the buildings passersby can see from the highways. Cincinnati's temples of arts and culture include Music Hall, the large Over-the-Rhine auditorium whose red-brick spires rise high above neighborhood apartment buildings. Music Hall might resemble a church, but it's actually home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops and Cincinnati Opera.
Further to the west, Union Terminal's massive art deco dome attracts visitors to the science and history exhibits at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Once a thriving railroad station, Union Terminal remains the centerpiece of Cincinnati's West End neighborhood.
Looking eastward to the hills of Mount Adams, the buildings representing the Cincinnati Art Museum, the adjacent Art Academy of Cincinnati and Playhouse in the Park sit high above the city.
Just a little north of Union Terminal, as I-75 cuts through the West End, there's a clear sightline toward SSNOVA's Mockbee Building. It's a nondescript place, much like the countless factory buildings around it. Most passersby who walk along Central Parkway, passing beneath SSNOVA's front windows, have no idea what goes on behind the white-brick facade.
There are no large signs or landmarks pointing out SSNOVA to the uninitiated. Like a hip nightclub, it thrives on anonymity. It's a gathering spot for people who've been there before.
"I had people over to my apartment for shows, but there's only so much I can do," Buddendeck says. "It's still my home. I have to live there. I can't turn it into a full-time gallery. Still, everything I tried to accomplish at my home is what's behind the programming at SSNOVA.
"I like introducing artists to each other and finding out the projects they create together. There are a lot of talented artists in this area. This is a way for them to exchange ideas, discover the other pieces of the puzzle they might not know about."
For many artists, Cincinnati is stuck in the doldrums. The April 2001 riots continue to affect Over-the-Rhine and the West End, neighborhoods many artists call home. The Coalition for a Just Cincinnati, the local activist group, continues to boycott downtown, demanding progress on the social and economic gaps that segregate Cincinnati. Earlier this year, photographer Thomas Condon went to prison for photographing bodies at the Hamilton County Morgue.
On the bright side, Cincinnati is experiencing three large construction projects at its major art museums. On the eastern edge of downtown, the Taft Museum of Art is building a new wing. The Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) continues to renovate older galleries into the Cincinnati Wing, its new home for local art. And the rising facade of the new Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is taking shape at Sixth and Walnut streets downtown.
Each institution will offer exciting programs in their new spaces, but they represent a world separate from the lives of many local artists. For them, SSNOVA is the one item of good news to get excited about. If there's any energy in Cincinnati's alternative arts community -- and many people say there is -- then SSNOVA is its wellspring.
"If you're a young artist, I think this is a great time to be in Cincinnati," says Arie Vandenberg, editor and publisher of the bi-monthly arts magazine Art Spike. "I think art always responds to the politics and the happenings of a city. When things turn bad, it's art and artists who respond with energy. There are lots of things going on in Cincinnati, and SSNOVA is at the heart of it."
The woman holding the key
A few days after the Sunday night film program, Buddendeck stands on SSNOVA's second floor and looks out the window to her Brighton apartment. It's a sweltering afternoon, and she's talking about her ideas for SSNOVA.
Outside, the sidewalks are empty. In the next room, though, local fashion designers Jennifer Sult, Becca Cooper and Lisa Kagen prepare for "Cuckoo Couture," a fashion show and concert performance scheduled for the following Saturday night.
Lane might own the Mockbee Building, but Buddendeck holds the keys. She also handles the SSNOVA calendar -- by herself.
Asked about her programming philosophy, Buddendeck's answers resemble a form of arts socialism: Any artist with the money to rent the space is given a chance. Basically, SSNOVA is a community gallery, offering a wide section of one-night shows, many by emerging artists who ordinarily wouldn't be able to show their work publicly.
Like many community galleries, SSNOVA is a hit-and-miss affair. Sometimes there are wonderful discoveries. Other times, the work is amateur at best.
"I've been to some shows when I walked out after a few minutes in the door," says Laura Hollis, director of The Artery, an artist gallery and performance space in Newport. "We used to have a similar mission, opening our doors to just about anyone. Now that SSNOVA is attracting so many people, we've decided to tweak our mission and become more selective. SSNOVA is a raw space, so it's a good first opportunity for first-time artists.
"We're renovating our space for a fall reopening. It will be a more professional space. I think the goal is to fill in the gap between SSNOVA and other spaces like the Weston Art Gallery and Linda Schwartz Gallery."
The focus for SSNOVA, Buddendeck says, is for young artists to come together to show their work and inspire each other. She understands that the space is raw, but that's also part of its strength. When someone walks into its cavernous first floor for the first time, the impact can be awe-inspiring.
"I don't see us renovating the space too much," Buddendeck says. "The one thing we want to do is raise enough money to buy a dehumidification system. This building was built to store beer, and it holds moisture. You can see a stream running down the east wall. That's one of the reasons we have one-night events. The moisture won't allow us to hang art for long periods of time. I think a system costs around $6,000, so we're planning a fund-raiser later this year."
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Photo By Matt Borgerding
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Emily Buddendeck (right) at the "Cuckoo Couture"
show at SSNOVA.
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Looking across the street to her apartment, the site of many of her home exhibitions, Buddendeck admits she's a little surprised that SSNOVA has succeeded so quickly. She's an accomplished visual and performance artist, but it's safe to say this space is her greatest artwork. In one year, she's become a positive role model to countless artists and an inspiration for others to stick around Cincinnati and make a difference.
Buddendeck is a thin woman with frizzy dreadlocks and a girlish face. Her gaze is intent and serious, like her funky wardrobe of long skirts, piercings and numerous body tattoos. But her lithe body language resembles a child at play. Her hushed speech matches perfectly with her private personality.
She shies away from the spotlight and refuses to pose for a solo picture. A nearby poster trumpets her name in bold letters, but she insists it wasn't her idea.
SSNOVA has always been about its family of artists and arts patrons, she says. It's a "DIY" space -- artists install and promote their own shows. Basically, the artists do all the work, so it's only fair to say they're making the biggest impact.
In Buddendeck's opinion, she just happens to be keeper of the building's key.
Getting on the radar
Later in the week, "Cuckoo Couture" is lively and well attended. Friends and family come to support Sult, Cooper and Kagen's fashion work and have a good time.
All the fashions are priced, but many of the visitors have no interest in buying them. SSNOVA isn't a space that sells a lot of art -- it's more of a place to gather with friends and socialize. A few blocks away, Carl Solway Gallery remains the archetypal serious gallery space for people with serious money.
"The focus for SSNOVA," Buddendeck explains, "is for young artists to come together to show their work and inspire each other. I've been to galleries before where it was clear I didn't have any money and I was made to feel very uncomfortable. I don't want anyone to have that feeling at SSNOVA, and they don't."
Cynics will tell you Buddendeck is destined to leave Cincinnati for a more creative place. She disagrees, saying matter-of-factly she has no plans to leave. There's too much work to be done, she says.
SSNOVA is pushing Buddendeck into the realm of the nonprofit arts community. She hopes to complete the paperwork to make it an official nonprofit before the end of the year. Plans are being discussed to expand onto the Mockbee Building's upper floors, where she envisions artist studios and a community room.
Buddendeck would like to make SSNOVA a vertical arts factory, creating the work on one floor and displaying it on another. If she has her way, SSNOVA won't be underground much longer.
"I don't dream of sitting at the table with Charles Desmarais (CAC director) and the Timothy Rubs (CAM director) of the world," Buddendeck says. "I really don't know those people, and while I've talked to DAAP faculty at UC I don't think they know me. The goal is for more people to become aware of SSNOVA and use the space. The CAC had one of their Final Friday parties here recently. We do a lot of shows with Art Academy and DAAP students. We're also going to do a show with students from Northern Kentucky University."
Buddendeck grew up in Dayton, Ohio. She attended DAAP briefly but left after her freshman year, convinced that college wasn't for her. She says she wanted to improve her artwork by experience. SSNOVA is her thesis.
Many people know Buddendeck for her performance art, but the mosaiclike drawing above the SSNOVA entrance reveal her strengths as a visual artist. The mosaic is classically drawn with an emphasis on its figures.
The original painting was part of the restaurant, and Buddendeck peeled away the surface paint and added her own drawings. The result is more classical than avant-garde.
There are key moments that symbolize a neighborhood's transformation. In David Dillon's opinion, one of those moments for Brighton occurred on Aug. 11, 2001.
Since 1997, Dillon and key volunteers such as Andy Marko have been managing Semantics Gallery, a storefront space dedicated to regional artists. The space is directly across Central Parkway from SSNOVA in another of Lane's buildings.
Dillon has watched the neighborhood change through the years, and today more artists call Brighton home. The city of Cincinnati installed a stop light and built a new right-of-way in the neighborhood. Still, nothing compared to the impact of SSNOVA's opening.
"It's amazing when you think about what Emily has done in one year," Dillon says. "I don't know what the future holds for them. I know we're not interested in the paperwork and the bullshit involved with becoming a nonprofit. I like it the way it is, just a bunch of us working hard and making it happen.
"Maybe becoming a nonprofit will work for them. Still, it's no guarantee you'll get funding. For one thing, foundations want to know what kind of arts outreach you're doing and how many kids are passing through your space."
A few miles south of Brighton, the new Contemporary Arts Center rises as the leading symbol for Cincinnati's bragging rights. For city leaders, this is the type of high-profile arts project that warrants city investment.
For the time being, despite its success at attracting large crowds of people into a depressed neighborhood on a regular basis, SSNOVA's avant-garde programming remains off the City Hall radar.
Experiencing it all
Of course, SSNOVA isn't the first alternative arts space to open in a remote corner of Cincinnati. CAGE, one of the city's first artist co-op spaces, enjoyed a long life on West Fourth Street downtown before a brief move to Over-the-Rhine.
Matt Distle and Kristin Rogers operated DiLeia Contemporary Gallery inside a Camp Washington meatpacking plant until financial hardships forced them to close in July 1999. Artists Lou Larson and Steve Zieverink reopened the space as Unit 2, hosting an annual exhibition. On the building's second floor, Saw Theater presents performances of new multimedia pieces such as Account Me Puppet.
In November 1998, artist and Art Academy instructor Keith Benjamin opened Warsaw Project Space in East Price Hill. Like SSNOVA, Warsaw Project regularly hosts shows by Art Academy students and faculty. Openings are well attended, but its Saturday gallery hours usually see sparse crowds.
Two summers ago, VOLK/c.s.p.i, a collaborative effort by local artists, successfully converted a 14th Street warehouse into a temporary summer-long gallery.
Semantics, meanwhile, is enjoying a high point in its own scattered history of various city locations. Distle, now an assistant curator at the CAC, remembers how the lack of financial support forced him to close DiLeia in 1999 despite the critical outpouring for its shows.
"We were more serious than SSNOVA, but I think it's important to have a community gallery in the city," Distle says over a cup of coffee. "I don't know what their financial needs are, but I do think they're in good shape with Fred (Lane) helping out."
Asked about Brighton's potential to become Cincinnati's long-trumpeted arts neighborhood, Distle says, "I don't believe in arts neighborhoods per se. I think it's important just to have as many art spaces and arts events happening throughout the city. Cincinnati isn't a big place. It doesn't take long to get around town.
"I think there's a web of stuff happening in the city. SSNOVA is just one, although important, piece of it. I know that at the CAC we're really interested in what SSNOVA and other alternative spaces are doing. We're going to have a lot of visitors coming to the new museum next year, and we want them to spend a couple of days in the city and experience all that we have going on. We don't want these tourists just to pop into the CAC, buy something at our bookstore and then leave."
Room for more
As is often the case, when I meet to talk with Laura Hollis she's cleaning dirt and trash out of The Artery. It's a Saturday morning, and she has plenty of work to do.
The Artery opened its doors three years ago. Finally, Hollis says, people know who they are and what they do. Across the street, at a back table inside a Monmouth Street chili parlor, she says that The Artery's current improvements are a direct response to the initial success of SSNOVA.
"We want to reach out more to the regional arts community," says Hollis, 30, laughing wistfully. "I think it's great what they're doing at SSNOVA, because so many young artists need a place to show their work. But there are drawbacks to the space. You really can't hang artwork there. The moisture is terrible. Yet the space is so large and awesome. I really don't know what I would do with it, whether I would keep it as it is or renovate.
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Photo By Matt Borgerding
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Audience members watch "The Amoeba Project."
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"I remember when the galleries used to be concentrated on Fourth Street. Then they closed and everything was focused on Main Street. Well, that never took off, and now we have places scattered throughout the city. The Carnegie in Covington is looking great, thanks to its renovation. There are other start-up spaces like Camp Foods. I think there's room for a lot more."
Later that day, inside a Camp Washington chili parlor, artists Zieverink, Larson and Millicent Straub are eating a late breakfast. They've all shown work at SSNOVA, and they're grateful for the space. But they have no intention of exhibiting again at the Mockbee Building.
In their eyes, SSNOVA is a space for first-time artists. Once you gain some exposure, you seek better, more polished environs to show your work.
"We don't have a lot of money, and SSNOVA was a great way to get our work seen by a large amount of people," Zieverink says. "I think it's great. We need more places like this, because there are a lot of artists in Cincinnati who otherwise wouldn't get the chance. Still, it's a tough space."
Earlier in the summer, Larson and Zieverink mounted their kinetic sound sculptures in SSNOVA's cavernous second-floor room. There's no working freight elevator, so the pieces had to be carried up a flight of stairs. Without a way to drive a crane into the space, Larson and Zieverink had to balance themselves on ladders to mount the three sculptures in the high ceiling.
Each sculpture contains a glass beaker connected to the metal frames by a long tube wrapped in pigskin and cow intestines. The beakers are hand-blown, with goatskin providing a drumlike bottom. Small balls are placed inside each beaker. Sound processors and motorized pulleys bounce the balls in synchronized fashion.
Larson says the piece is meant to have a raw street aesthetic, but he never expected SSNOVA's moisture problem.
"The water was dripping from the goatskin right after we installed the piece," Larson says. "It was tough because there's animal skins and intestines in the piece. It was hard work because it took so much time to install it, and the show was only for two nights. The reality is that we couldn't afford to keep the piece in there much longer."
Larson and Zieverink aren't convinced SSNOVA is a good space for the large sculptures they create. For their next project, they plan to show the work in their own Unit 2 space in Camp Washington, even if it means they won't get large SSNOVA-like crowds.
Still, Straub is grateful for her experience at SSNOVA.
"I never would have been able to show my work publicly without SSNOVA," she says. "My work was put on their Web site, and because of it I got calls from other people. SSNOVA is about young people and grassroots efforts. I think it's something Cincinnati needs more than ever."
What's next?
It's early August, and Buddendeck is eating lunch with McClendon at a downtown restaurant. SSNOVA is quiet for most of the month, allowing playwright Joe Barnett to use the second floor as a rehearsal space.
Buddendeck is using the down time to prepare paperwork for SSNOVA's nonprofit applications. She's not interested in mounting an anniversary party. After 12 months of hard work, she remains focused on the future.
"We want to raise the money to pay for a dehumidification system and renovate the space a little more," she says. "But we'll always remain a raw space. I think that's part of the building's charm, but I would be interested to hear what other people have to say."
While Barnett rehearses his elaborate performance piece, "The Amoeba Project," Buddendeck stays busy, fine-tuning SSNOVA's mission. She's also finishing her own work, curating a fall show at the Weston Art Gallery and participating in a fall exhibition at The Carnegie.
It's clear she's tired of working part-time at the Public Library and struggling to pay her bills. She sees SSNOVA becoming something major, and she wants to be part of it. She wants to be a full-time artist, and no one can blame her.
Dusty clutter epitomizes SSNOVA. Outside the Mockbee Building, Brighton remains as tough and dirty as ever. Gentrification requires more than a popular art space. Still, for anyone who's been at a packed SSNOVA event, it's clear things are changing for the better.
There's a mix of acclaim and frustration when people speak about SSNOVA. Some people want the space to change. Others like it the way it is. The only certainty is that Buddendeck will be one of the key people calling the shots.
At an age when most people are still discovering themselves, Buddendeck is a painter, performance artist and, with Lane and McClendon, co-director of Cincinnati's popular cutting-edge arts space. She's a figurehead to students and artists in the local underground community. What remains to be seen is whether she'll progress into the circle of Cincinnati's well-known philanthropists and arts administrators.
"This isn't about me," Buddendeck says, finishing her lunch.
She's probably the only one who feels that way. ©
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