Zombie Apocalypse Descends Upon SPACES

Slavs and slaughter, accordions and apocalypse collided on the Superior Viaduct Saturday night at SPACES Gallery's benefit party, the Polkapocalypse. A live (and undead) polka band played while zombie party guests with perfected decaying-flesh makeup and splattered fake blood shambled through the gallery, almost stealing the show from the hundreds of artworks auctioned off.  

Other costumed guests embraced the themes of polka and the apocalypse, such as this player of a nuclear bomb accordion and this couple with polka-dotted faces and T-shirts bearing the date of the purported Mayan apocalypse.  Photographer Justyna Walker won the title of Zombie Queen for her entry in the zombie art contest, a photo of a female zombie in traditional Polish dance clothing.

Polka, Zombies Descend on SPACES Gallery for Saturday Polkapocalypse

You can always count on the artists and art lovers of SPACES gallery to put on a creative party. This year, they've dubbed their annual benefit the Polkapocalypse, crossing Cleveland-style old-world music with the latest undead craze.

That's right. Polka + zombies.

Flesh-eating hordes will stalk the Superior Viaduct this Saturday night.  It's a costume-optional party, but just imagine the possibilities. You could go as zombie Frankie Yankovic, your accordion wailing a peppy death march... or dress in a checkered red shirt and gray face paint...  or shamble slowly but relentlessly through the crowd, singing "Who Stole the Brains?" in Polish...

Whatever I can imagine, the SPACES crowd will surely outdo it.

The apocalypse begins at 7 pm for VIPs, 8 pm for regular ticket-holders, 10 pm if you get the "graveyard shift" $10 tickets. Live music starts around 8; DJ Kishka spins polka records starting at 10. Everyone gets a chance to bid on auctioned art, and higher-priced tickets include a buy-it-now option. There's also a 12x12 art sale, where everything's $75 and 12-by-12-inches or smaller.  (For more info, click here. You can buy tickets online until noon today. After that, they'll only be available at the door.)

At 9:45, the evening peaks with several guest-blogger judges (including yours truly) judging the results of a polka zombie art contest. We will name the winner the Zombie King or Zombie Queen.

SPACES Opens Mock City Visitors Bureau Tonight

Wearing your city on your chest has become the motto of every local clothing company lately. They're selling shirts decorated with everything from area codes to state outlines to local rappers' lyrics. The experimental contemporary art gallery SPACES joins the trend tonight with on-site silk screen-printing at their mock Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“People don’t often think of Cleveland as a tourist location," says SPACES Executive Director, Christopher Lynn. "People don’t know what we have to offer. What causes people to linger and look at Cleveland in a different way?” Tonight’s mock convention of all things Cleveland offers one answer.

The night is designed for guests to see the “creative, funky side” of the city through a visitor’s view. SPACES' front gallery will host a tearoom with postcards and brochures from local Cleveland hot spots. Artwork from Cleveland SGS, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Temporary Travel Office and The Think Tank That Has Yet to Be Named will take guests deeper into the exhibition

Local screeners and artists will be fashioning T-shirts with two different screens, including the SPACES event theme “Rust is the New Black.” Bring your own T-shirt and screen it for $8, or buy a pre-printed for $12 and rep your Cleveland pride.


SPACES is located at 2220 Superior Viaduct, a block from the corner of Detroit Avenue and West 25th St. The free event goes from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight.