Off the Grid: Techno Feminist Edition

Winter has come in all its miserable glory, so let’s think about something just over that wintry horizon, something with a little more heat behind it: Off the Grid, Saturday, March 12. An exhibition of desert artist Noah Purifoy’s otherworldly work will raise the temperature, food from all manner of local restaurants will sate your hunger, visuals by Columbus-based video artists PFM will set the mood, and the one-two punch of New York-based DJs UMFANG and BEARCAT will have the sweat flowing on the dance floor. Tickets to Off the Grid, which benefits Wex educational programming, are on sale now. Prices increase as the date draws closer, so be sure to get ‘em while they’re hot. In the meantime, whet your appetite with more from the evening’s headliners:

UMFANG. Image courtesy the artist.
UMFANG (a.k.a. Emma Olson) is a Kansas-born artist, producer, and DJ whose work blends classic Detroit house with experimental textures and contemporary sensibilities. Her debut tape, Umfang, released on Videogamemusic in May of last year, was quickly followed by a second full-length release, OK, in August via 1080p Collection. Both showcase an evolving artist as adept at creating an ambient mood as injecting a track with the kind of frenetic energy that sets a club on fire.

UMFANG vinyl mix

BEARCAT. Image courtesy the artist.
BEARCAT (a.k.a. Kerrie Murphy) is a London-born queer artist who cut her teeth on the Berlin club scene before moving to New York. Her work on the decks is high energy and emotional, drawing inspiration from her Jamaican roots and utilizing an international palette that stretches across genres.

BEARCAT mix for THUMP

Both are on the roster at Discwoman (of which UMFANG is a co-founder) an all-female electronic music agency that you may have read about in Forbes, NPR, or any number of places. We’re thrilled to bring talent of this caliber to the shores of Columbus, and to do so through an entity as exciting as Discwoman. The Wex has always been committed to innovation, diversity, experimentation, and the advancement of contemporary art through all of our programming: exhibitions, screenings, performances, residencies, educational programs—and dance parties. Looking back with the assemblage artwork of a legend like Purifoy and forward with the futurism of burgeoning electronic artists like UMFANG and BEARCAT, this year’s Off the Grid embodies that mission more than any before.