Nomadic Host

Host Clothing closes its Old City space, but Craig Kandel and Adam Deal aren’t done just yet


Host Clothing will become a part of Knoxville mythology this month as co-creator Craig Kandel heads for San Francisco. Over the last couple of years, Host’s inclusive and collaborative art events and exhibits, held in a second floor walk-up on the corner of West Jackson and South Central, have provided a rich and idiosyncratic presence in the Knoxville art scene. Knoxville Voice spoke with Kandel and co-instigator Adam Deal about Host’s history in Knoxville.

Knoxville Voice: How long has Host been in existence?

Craig Kandel: If I knew what Host was, I might be able to tell you. I’ve heard rumors, though, and my guess would be about 21 dog years. Seriously, I can’t easily define Host, so it’s hard to tell you how long it’s been around. Host is a gallery, a venue, an open studio, an education space, a Web site, a clothing line, a retail space. I guess it started when I met Adam three or four years ago. Host became an alias in which I could remove the “I” from my work and interject the “we.”

KV: What has been Host’s finest hour?

CK: When Adam and I re-wrote the script for The Last Temptation of Christ. It was way sexier. Like Behind The Green Door but with apostles. Host is always about conceiving of an idea and materializing it. Host’s finest hours are those when a person, surrounded by the monotony or the restrictions of their everyday schedule, breaks away and makes something with us, something they truly get pleasure out of because they never thought they’d do it.

I also loved the workshops. Working artists took time out of their schedules to help teach them — that implies a sense of excitement and community that you don’t see often. I loved that Host became an alternative education space as well as a place for debauchery. A girl that took the screen-printing workshop here brought her newborn baby to every class. A couple months ago I saw her vending her screen-printed clothing at a craft fair. She learned that at Host. It was pretty great.

Adam Deal: For me, it would have to be the time I lost my virginity to Chip the Curious Golem, who had been brought to life one night by Craig and myself through the workings of alchemical mishap. In the picture window of the studio, softly lit by the nighttime streets, I finally discovered myself as a true artist.

KV: What are some other memorable moments?

CK: Filming the public access show with Adam and Meredith. We once made a 23-minute long music video called “Poop on the Loose.”

You know, right before I came here I was homeless. I slept on the floor of a high-rise retirement home and squatted in abandoned houses. I ate from vending machines that I broke into to get the change. My best friend was living here — she sorta rescued me. Picked me up from the bus station and helped me get back on my feet. I started Host a few blocks away from where I arrived about a year later.

Every moment has been great, every project, concert, performance and workshop. We did the Conflux festival in Brooklyn. Bettina McCann and I made these utility bracelets based on psychogeographic art ideas. The Eclipse Show, in which we linked Host with the Yogiga gallery in Seoul, South Korea, and traded artists. Children of the Atom started at Host and ended at the KMA. We built a working guillotine and decapitated Oprah and George W. Bush for the Ascension Party. We had an exhibition with a working slide that was nothing short of Alice in Wonderland. There was a mythology exhibit in which every artist made their own mythological creature and a story for it. We set that one up like the Natural History museum. It goes on and on.

KV: You guys have raised the bar for inventive art events in this city. Has it all been worth it? How have you grown as an artist, helping develop all these events?