Transformer Station

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After ten years and 40 shows, this month saw the end of the Bidwell-era for the Transformer Station.

The Bidwells gifted the gallery to the Cleveland Museum of Art earlier this year. While looking with anticipation to future exhibitions from the museum, we also take a look back at the Bidwells as catalytic figures in the revival of Hingetown and champions of art on the west side.

In 2015, Cleveland Magazine captured the Bidwells’ extraordinary journey from the advertising industry to art collectors. In 2010, the couple sought a space to house their more-than-800-piece art collection. 🖼️

Back then, Hingetown looked very different. Rising Star Coffee Roasters was an abandoned fire station. The Striebinger Block housed three gay bars, a head shop and a rarely open barbecue restaurant. Drugs and prostitutes were the marquee attractions. 🏚️

But the Bidwells bought into the vision of Graham Veysey and his then-fiancée, Marika Shioiri-Clark. Where a storefront was being used for storage, Veysey and Clark saw the Kutya Rev Ohio City Dog Haven. Where one window housed a bail bondsman sign, they envisioned Cleveland Tea Revival.

Where a 1920s power station sat, the Bidwells saw an art gallery.

👨‍💻For more about the Bidwells, Hingetown and the Transformer Station, click on the link in our bio.

🖊️Sheehan Hannan
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Did you catch 'SHOCKWAVES' when it was on view for one weekend in 2015 (January 31–February 1, 2015) at Transformer Station?

The darkly comic 'SHOCKWAVES' is about a man whose traumatic memories of childhood send him on a hallucinogenic carnival ride of self-destruction and murder. Through a Möbius strip of alternate realities, shifting times and multiple dimensions, Shockwaves weaves a kaleidoscopic nightmare tapestry of abuse and revenge.

Media artist Kasumi deploys an astonishing 25,000 public domain film samples, rotoscoped and live action film clips, dance choreography, animation and “stunning” sound design to produce a “brilliant,” “darkly madcap,” “grotesque, beautiful and transcendent” exploration of the nature of memory and our collective consciousness.

Images: Stills from the Kasumi "SHOCKWAVE" by the Cleveland-based artist and filmmaker, Kasumi.