ArtNow! with Al Ridenour: Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas

ArtNow! with Al Ridenour
Tuesday, December 11, 6pm-7pm
$10 for nonmembers, free for members (includes light snacks and refreshments)

ArtNow! gives you the opportunity to engage with wildly disparate practices collectively known as “the art of our time” during this playful lecture series. With the appearance of the demonic Christmas character Krampus in contemporary Hollywood movies, television shows, advertisements, and greeting cards, medieval folklore has now been revisited in American culture. Krampus-related events and parades occur both in North America and Europe, and they are an ever-growing phenomenon. Though the Krampus figure has once again become iconic, not much can be found about its history and meaning, thus calling for a book like Al Ridenour’s The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Al Ridenour is a veteran freelance writer for newspapers, magazines and websites as well as co-founder of Krampus Los Angeles, which since 2013, has organized Krampus parades and other events in the greater LA area. In 2014, Krampus LA hosted the first European visitors to appear stateside in traditional costumes. Throughout the 1990s, Ridenour served as leader of the Los Angeles lodge of the Cacophony Society, a national network of art provocateurs and urban explorers responsible for founding the Burning Man Festival and serving as a prototype for “Project Mayhem” in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club. His experience of improvisational street theater with this group, along with undergrad study of German culture, continued on a Fulbright scholarship to Berlin post-graduation, worked together to inspire his interest in Krampus.