Pumpkin Spice of the Minds Eye
An experimental musician, Walter Hopps, and a modern archetype walk into a bar and order a pumpkin spice latte. Well it could happen and I really wish that it would! Perhaps it is your very moment to make this all happen. Our Houston programming extravaganza is upon us and there is no shortage of intellectual voyages to embark upon. More enjoyable hours to be outside, disastrous weather seems to be past us for the time being, and the vibes all around and throughout appear to be copacetic. A true love of the fall season for the new exhibitions, the seasons programming cornucopia, and the fresh energy October usually brings. Drawing inside the digital age paired with a play with no real beginning or end and concluded with a weekend read of Houston’s curatorial hero. This week has a bounty of transcending experiences and here is the Hidden Agenda for the week.
Monday, 10/06
They Who Sound, 7:30 - 9:30pm
Lawndale Art Center | 4912 Main St
We don’t favor this series over others, but it’s always so damn good! With a weekly program that is always so strongly curated we just think you should go every week! For this week we have a power collaboration of Violette Bule & Ernesto Montiel/Rebecca Novak. The lineup for the evening is as follows Violette Bule & Ernesto Montiel /Rebecca Novak. A dynamo grouping with some local and visiting artist. Violette Bule (Houston) - sound sculptures, Ernesto Montiel (Dallas) - objects on guitar, and Rebecca Novak (Houston) - cornet and objects. Maybe I’ll see ya there!
Tuesday, 10/07
End Game
Catastrophic Theater / Match | 3400 Main St
From the brilliant collection of absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett and the director extraordinaire Jason Nodler, comes forth Catastrophic Theater’s Endgame. Having opened on September 19 this will be the last week to see this amazing production. So treat yourself and get a ticket before this closes on the 11th. Want to disconnect into oblivion? This will be that perfect opportunity.
Wednesday, 10/08
The Archetype of Modern Man: Irrationality | 7pm
Art Club | 401 Franklin St
Art Club is always cooking up impressive exhibitions and new media interventions. So hopefully you have time to check out this continuing program.
“Curated by pianist and writer Elizabeth Newkirk, The Archetype of Modern Man dwells in the space between light and shadow, knowledge and superstition, where music, philosophy, and art entwine. Across four performances, it unveils universal archetypes and the unseen tensions that shape our modern existence—inviting you into the unknown depths of the human experience. Presented in collaboration with The Houston Arts Alliance”.
The evening will unfold as:
Scaramouche for 2 pianos by Darius Milhaud
La Valse for 2 pianos by Maurice Ravel
Pianists: Chloe Weston and Elizabeth Newkirk
Visual Artist: James Templeton
Philosophical text: Arina Zaytseva
Find more information on Irrationality and the artists here.
Thursday, 10/09
Francesca Fuchs Talk | 7 - 9pm
The Menil Collection | 1533 Sul Ross St
Surely you’ve been to see this exhibition. No? Oh well I see you don’t enjoy exceptional experiences. Now's your chance to see this wonderful show and learn the deeper nuisances hidden throughout.
Artist Francesca Fuchs discusses her exhibition at the Menil, The Space Between Looking and Loving: Francesca Fuchs and the de Menil House. Reflecting through her paintings and installation interventions Fuchs engages with the emotional and visual language of everyday objects and interiors we live within. As the artist says, how do we live with objects that we love.
Gabrielle Lamb: Dimensions Variable | 6 - 8pm
Moody Center for the Arts | 6100 Main St
Inspired by the fall exhibition Bio Morphe Choreographer Gabrielle Lamb presents a site-specific immersive performance with her organization Pigeonwing Dance. This is the culmination of a week-long residency at the Moody Center for the Arts and deems to explore the connectivity between the human body, nature, and science.
Danny Lyon: Conversation with a Photobook Maker | 6:30 - 7:30pm
The Museum of Fine Art Hirsch Library | 1001 Bissonet St
Danny Lyon has been an influential documentary photographers for over 50 years. Through the years Lyon has interwoven his practice and investigations within the Civil Rights Movement, a Chicago motorcycle club, the destruction of Lower Manhattan, Native American reservations, and the Texas prison system. To use the word documentation for his powerful body of work would be elementary.
“Joining Lyon in conversation is Russet Lederman, New York City–based writer, editor, photobook collector, and co-founder of 10x10 Photobooks. Lederman is co-coordinator of Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950–Present, an exhibition and reading room that features a global selection of photobooks, zines, posters, pamphlets, independent journals, and alternative newspapers addressing protest and resistance from the past 75 years”.
This conversation is presented in conjunction with the October 9 opening of Flashpoint! A book signing and reception to follow in the Hirsch Library.
Repo! The Genetic Opera | 8pm
River Oaks Theater | 2009 West Gray
They are at it again. River Oaks Theater is setting them up and knocking them down. Consistent bangers for you to indulge upon. Presenting Film Strip: A Cult Classic Cabaret featuring your favorite midnight movies and burlesque beauties!
“Grimm and Ghoulia, headmistresses of The Sisterhood of Lili St. Cyr bring monthly interactive screenings of cult movies preceded by a rotating cast of strip teasers for a truly Double-D feature every month. NOTE: This is an interactive screening. Quoting and singing along with the film is encouraged. Surprise gags and performances may take place during the film”. It means expect the unexpected and keep the kids at home. Who doesn’t love wild risqué off the cuff unpredictable film screenings?! Get your tickets here!
Friday, 10/10
Lines of Resolution: Drawing at the Advent of Television and Video | 11am - 7pm
The Menil Drawing Institute | 1412 W Main St
Co-curated by Dr. Anna Lovatt, Associate Professor of Art History at Southern Methodist University, and Kelly Montana, Associate Curator, Menil Drawing Institute this is a must see. Exploring the dynamics between video, television, and mark making, this exhibition spans the 1950s to the 1980s. You’ll hear more about this from us but this one of a kind exploration within static fuzz of a glowing tube and the grainy resolution of captured images presents an exquisite archive. Seize the moment this Friday to experience all that is to immerse, watch, and listen.
Saturday, 10/11
Dacamera: Stop Look and Listen! | 3 - 4pm
The Menil Collection Lawn | 1533 Sul Ross St
A gorgeous park, blankets, drinks, and an outdoor jazz performance by David Caceres and his Quartet, DACAMERA Young Artists. What else is there to say. Come on, take your shoes off do some grounding and treat your senses.
Hillerbrand + Mary Magsamen: nothing is precious, everything is game | 2-5pm
Foto Fest / Silver Street Studios | 2000 Edwards St
Hillerbrand + Magsamen is packing a powerful evening and we are here for it. nothing is precious, everything is game is the first career survey of Houston-based artist duo Stephan Hillerbrand and Mary Magsamen. The couple and creative team continuously transforms the everyday exchange into the extraordinary. Revolving around life, family, routine, and internal exploration the playful pair present a sampling of their lifetime of work.
“Carried by this playful spirit, nothing is precious, everything is game unfolds through a collection of photographs, videos, sculptural objects, and performances spanning the artists’ career".
Gil Rocha / Cáscaras y Leftovers: Mapping Memories for Tomorrow | 6 - 9pm, Talk 6:30pm
Galveston Art Center | 2127 Strand, Galveston TX
Thinking a drive to the coast sounds more your pace? Galveston has a weekend jaunt for you. ”Gil Rocha’s exhibition, Cáscaras y Leftovers: Mapping Memories for Tomorrow, explores the U.S.-Mexico border as a site of transformation, complexity, and contradiction, where issues of migration, identity, and survival intersect. Grounded in rasquache aesthetics his work examines the act of crossing - physically, culturally, and psychologically - while challenging fixed notions of identity, place, and belonging”.
Sunday, 10/12
Book Launch & Signing: "Duchamp in California: Walter Hopps Curates a Retrospective" | 5 - 7pm
The Menil Bookstore | 1520 Sul Ross St.
Close out your weekend with a superb event at The Menil Collection. Walter Hopps was Houston’s very own internationally known creative mastermind. Curating hundreds of exhibitions, pioneering a pop art movement on the west coast, and once coined “the marvelous mad maven of modern art in America”. Can’t go wrong with anything to do with this man!
“Join author and designer Don Quaintance for a celebration and signing of the new publication "Duchamp in California: Walter Hopps Curates a Retrospective", an engaging account of Marcel Duchamp’s first retrospective and its significant place within the cultural milieu of Los Angeles in the 1960s”.
