So I want to talk about the flow bar —
For those who don't know what I move through: I'm deep in the world of flow arts. I teach, I perform, and I actively help grow this world because I see so many beautiful people in it, and so much potential. Whenever I go to events, I bring everything — spin fins, buugeng, hula hoops — so people can try things, get excited, learn.
But here's what I kept noticing: people would grab a prop from a pile, and then just... put it back. Messier and messier each time. Even with someone overseeing the space, it's chaos. And I get it — distractions, excitement, flow state. You kind of trust people to be okay with the props. But after events, things would come back beaten up. Discolored. Deformed. Rolled through the ground apparently.
And it made me wonder — how do we make sure props are actually respected? How do we make it so people aren't just putting something back without even knowing its name?
That's where the flow bar idea came from.
A place where you could order a prop. Where, in the future, you could rent LED props, take them across a festival, everyone synchronized — same lights, same vibe.
The idea had been sitting with me for a while. Then one day I'm at the hairdresser — Kinki kappers — and a child walks up to one of the bars, starts touching the LED tube inside it. The hairdresser calls out, oh no, don't— and then stops himself. Wait, we're getting rid of that anyway.
I asked: you're getting rid of the bar?
He said yes. Two bars, both colorful — turquoise and purple. One had a metal-framed backdrop lined with LED tubes. The front was stacked with more LED tubes in layers of color. And I looked at it and thought: this is exactly what a flow bar should look like. Cyberpunk. LED everything. Bringing the lights to the events.
So I called my partner Tantracle. Hey... do you want to get a bar?
We did. Picked it up with a friend, brought it home, and suddenly had a bar we didn't fully know what to do with yet.
The first event we applied to — denied. That was a bummer, because I was hoping for some funding to fix it up further, make it more cyberpunk.
Then we got a call from a friend. They were looking for someone to host a flow space at Solstice Ruigoord — a ghost stage without its own DJ, described as more of a dance space. And they were offering a whole space for Flow Arts.
I couldn't believe my ears. Nobody has ever offered that before.
I told them about the bar. They got excited. If you have a bar, then it's more of its own thing. And just like that, the ball was rolling.
The flow bar is going to Solstice. June 20th.
Along the way we decided to add lemonade — because flow arts is a refresh for the mind, and lemonade is a refresh for the body. So you can get a really cheap, wonderfully tasty refresher, or go full mocktail. Either way, you're hydrated.
Tantracle and MightyPower have been working on shortening the bar (practical needs), fixing up the LED tubes, upgrading everything. Because this is the first time we're bringing it out — and we want footage. Good photos. Something we can use to pitch having our own area at future events.
I built a props menu — an actual physical menu, like a booklet you can page through — so that when you come to the flow bar, you can order a buugeng or some spin fans. There'll also be a screen with history and explanations, so people actually learn what they're holding. What is a buugeng? Now you can read about it while you're deciding whether to try one.
And Chip — our inventor — is building a cyberpunk lemonade dispenser. Right now we operate it, but eventually people will be able to mix their own. And when it comes out, there's a gun with electricity. Instead of a shaker, you get the electric experience.
I also built a website for our team — a private internal overview. Schedules, shifts, to-dos, notes, everything in one place. The project is actually running.
I think the concept is really solid. I think we're one step away from making something even more epic than this — but you have to start somewhere. And right now, all focus is on the bar. On the system. On making this first one count.
I hope it won't be long before we do this more. These events are incredibly time-consuming, but hopefully equally rewarding — so we can keep building, keep making art pieces to go with it, and eventually grow into a whole stage.
Because honestly? I think my music taste deserves a stage. I think I know what we need. I think it'll be quite original.
Or maybe it's just a chill space. Chilling and flowing. That's the vibe.
We'll see.
#journal #flowarts #flowbar #solstice #novacreates