Best Of Award

BEST PLACE TO SEE AND BE SEEN ON A FIRST FRIDAY

.anti_space

We've heard whisperings lately amongst art scenesters that First Friday isn't what it used to be, especially in the Evans-Churchill neighborhood (home to Roosevelt Row). These catty kooks claim the downtown district from where the monthly art walk sprang more than a decade ago has become too gentrified and overpriced, with all the hipper happenings going down over on Grand Avenue. Guess these naysayers haven't stopped by .anti_space yet, as the newest location of Scot McKenzie and Justin McBee's art space transmogrifies into a crazy-ass countercultural carnival every First Friday. Not only does their concrete bunker house two chic boutiques and four gonzo galleries, it's also the site of plenty of outlandish and enjoyable antics. Madcap mixed-media installations are erected each month (like an enormous Newton's Cradle made with bowling balls or a gigantic gas-powered blender used to obliterate watermelons and piņatas), while McKenzie or other local DJs work the wheels of steel on the sidewalk, and friends jet around on screwy-looking modified bikes. We're pretty sure you'll never get bored here.