There’s really nothing like when a show transcends being about a band you like and becomes an experience you’ll never forget. The Station to Station party in West Oakland last Saturday night fell into the latter camp. It was part rave, part art installation, part maker fair, and generally a magical gathering for the 3,000 of us who attended. It was located in and around the abandoned 16th Street Station, a gorgeous old railway relic now covered in graffiti. Oakland was the last stop for this nomadic event, which brought artists, crafts people, bands, and creative foodies like local chef Leif Hedendal on a three-week, nine-stop train tour from New York to the Bay Area.
The concept for this traveling band of underground and established folks came from Doug Aitken, an innovative multimedia artist (I love his videos) known for temporarily reshaping landscapes through art. This great quote about the project, which included video screenings, book sellers, and colorful yurts housing sensory experiences, sums things up perfectly: “For a brief moment, the most interesting place in the country will be a moving target.”
Even within Station to Station, the prominent experience was a moving target. From the minute I arrived, I hit sensory overload. A maker tent housed people crafting gorgeous things with a loom, leather, tie dye, and sewing machines (products you could purchase for a pretty penny in the yurt next door). Photography and film installations spanned the grounds, and bands performed on stages inside the train station and outdoors in rapid succession. By the time I got through the line for the white smoke-mirrrors-and-white bedding yurt, for example, I’d missed most of Twin Shadow’s show. The lines for everything from food to tented installations were incredibly long. If Aitken curates a second Station to Station, and I really hope he does, I’d suggest starting the event much earlier so guests have more than a four-hour time slot to experience everything.
I imagine much of the future of this event relies on corporate sponsor Levi’s, though. The jeans giants’ branding was everywhere in the maker area. They generously put down the cash to make this event — which also benefitted nine museums around the country — possible. Pretty awesome, I hope they keep this thing going.
The band lineup alone was incredible — it included searing performances by No Age, Savages, and more. It was so hard figuring out who was playing when, though, with no visible schedules posted and so much happening at once. And that’s not even mentioning Oakland artist Evan Holm’s piece — he set up an underwater DJing apparatus where multiple records spun under a shallow pond surrounded by branches, warping the sound slightly in a psychedelic way. It was spellbinding to both watch and listen to as he played vinyl by old country acts and newer guys like Four Tet.
With so much to see and do, it was easiest to experience some things solo just so you could move at your own speed. But at the end of the night, Dan Deacon brought everyone together with his hilarious, crowd-must-participate dance party. The first two photos in this post are from that part of the night, when Deacon pulled out every last trick to get people interacting with strangers. He hosted a dance-off between two sides of the crowd, created an app that caused everyone (who had downloaded it beforehand) to watch as their iPhone screens glowed different shades of green and purple, and attempted to get everyone to leave through a human train. The idea behind that last bit was for people to dance through a “station” of paired people holding hands on their way out, giving new meaning to the concept of interactive art.
Next to The Creator’s Project that Vice and Intel hosted in 2012, Station to Station was one of the most inspiring, large scale events I’ve been to in the Bay Area. It’s encouraging to see big companies supporting such grand alternative art and music experiences. I hope Station to Station returns next year — and here’s to more nomadic events in the future.
