The Hidden Agenda: All Good Things
We’ve got you set up with the best under-the-radar events Houston has to offer, including receptions for exhibitions at Blaffer Art Museum and Inman Gallery, a dance festival at MATCH Houston, a record release event at Smither Park, and much more.
Monday, April 28
Performance — They, Who Sound
Lawndale Art Center
Start your week with the final installment of this season of They, Who Sound — the long-time experimental music series presented by local nonprofit Nameless Sound — hosted at Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main St.). The evening features performances from Austin’s Clandestine Flower — composed of Jonathan Horne and Joshua Thompson — and the first-time duo of Will Adams and Rachel Hulsey. Doors open at 7 p.m. for this free performance that runs from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 29
Barnstorm Dance Fest
MATCH Houston
Running from Tuesday through Saturday, the tenth edition of Barnstorm Dance Fest presents 15 live performances and six dance films covering an array of dance genres. Highlighting emerging and established dancemakers, the festival — hosted at MATCH Houston (3400 Main St.) — also includes facilitated artist talks to take audiences on a deeper dive into the creative process. Single program tickets are $25 with three-program passes for $65.
Wednesday, April 30
Discussion — Curating at the Venice Biennale: Seolhui Lee on the Korean Pavilion
Asia Society Texas Center
Internationally renowned curator Seolhui Lee, the artistic director of the Korean Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, will present a lecture at Asia Society Texas Center (1370 Southmore Blvd.) from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Lee, who curated a multi-sensorial installation by interdisciplinary artist Koo Jeong A, will guide the audience through the process of organizing this ground-breaking exhibition as well as sharing on how the recent Korean Pavilion investigated how we perceive and recollect spaces, particularly in how scents, smells, and odors contribute to these memories.
Friday, May 2
Opening Reception — UH School of Art Annual Student Exhibition
Blaffer Art Museum
Each spring, Blaffer Art Museum (4173 Elgin St.) introduces audiences to the work of University of Houston School of Art undergraduate seniors and first- and second-year graduate students with their Annual Student Exhibition. Featuring the work of more than 100 UH artists, the exhibition — on view through May 18 — serves as a way to introduce rising artists to local patrons and provides students with the experience of presenting works in a professional museum. The opening reception runs from 5 to 7 p.m., with the UH School of Art also hosting Open Studios to give visitors a chance to explore the Fine Arts building and its art and design studios.
Houston Palestine Film Festival
Rice Cinema
Taking place from Friday through Sunday, Rice Cinema (6100 Main St.) presents the 18th edition of the Houston Palestine Film Festival. The festival plays host to seven features — including award-winning films To A Land Unknown and From Ground Zero — as well as a collection of short films from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Tickets to each screening at the festival are $10.
Saturday, May 3
Closing and Artist Discussion — Carlos Vielma: An infinite picnic
Lawndale Art Center
Showcased in Lawndale’s Cecily E. Horton Gallery, Carlos Vielma’s An infinite picnic presents a video installation inspired by “The Million Year Picnic,” the final short story from Ray Bradbury’s post-apocalyptic science fiction The Martian Chronicles. Vielma’s “rural adaptation” of this short story explores themes of migration, colonization, and human existence. A Mexican visual artist with a background in architecture, Vielma is a 2024-2025 fellow of the Core Program at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. At 11:30 a.m., the artist will be joined by Lauren Klotzman and Jeremy Johnson to discuss the exhibition.
Closing and Artist Discussion — Farima Fooladi: The Fever
Lawndale Art Center
Farima Fooladi’s exhibition The Fever — displayed in Lawndale’s John M. O’Quinn Gallery — presents a series of new paintings exploring the interplay between architecture, memory, and displacement. The Iranian-born, Houston-based artist received one of Lawndale’s awards for The Big Show in 2024, and at 2 p.m., Fooladi will be joined in conversation by Dr. Laura Augusta — juror of The Big Show — to discuss the exhibition.
Closing and Artist Tour — Dario S. Bucheli: Not Without a Cost
Lawndale Art Center
Artist Dario S. Bucheli presents Not Without a Cost, a site-specific painting presented in the Grace G. Cavnar Gallery at Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main Street). Bucheli, a Mexican-born artist working in Beaumont, says “the paintings bring together elements of pre-colonial Mexican codices, with references to contemporary American culture and politics.” In celebration of its closing day, Buscheli will give a tour of the exhibition at 4 p.m.
Closing — Bradley Kerl: Magic Hour
McClain Gallery
Plan a visit to McClain Gallery (2242 Richmond Ave.) to catch the final day of Magic Hour, an exhibition of new paintings from Houston-based artist Bradley Kerl. As the title intimates, the paintings center on the mundane yet magical interplay that occurs as the sun pours light through vegetation at twilight. It’s also the last day to catch the gallery’s presentation of California-based artist Gary Lang’s exhibition Fourfold Glow. The gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m.
Shane Lavalette, Ground Zero, 2010.
Image: Shane Lavalette
Reception — Shane Lavalette: One Sun, One Shadow
Inman Gallery
Starting in 2010, photographer Shane Lavalette was commissioned by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to create a new series for their 2012 exhibition, Picturing the South. His exhibition One Sun, One Shadow — on view at Inman Gallery (3901 Main St.) through May 31 — is an extension of this body of work. As a native Northeasterner, Lavalette primarily formed a relationship with the South through traditional music — old time, blues, and gospel — and the resulting photographs delicately convey this perspective. The reception runs from 4 to 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 4
Performance — Tex Kerschen + the Blue Ladies with The Revolutionary Love Choir and In Spite of Dreams
Smither Park
Finish your week with a bang at the album release and live debut of Tex Kerschen + the Blue Ladies at Smither Park (2441 Munger St.). The new effort from Kerschen — one of the forces behind legendary Houston outfit Studded Left (formerly Indian Jewelry) – will perform with support from sound and performance artist Gerritt Wittmer’s electronic project In Spite of Dreams and new vocal group The Revolutionary Love Choir. Admission is free for this concert that begins at 3 p.m.
