DiverseWorks Announces 09-10 Season

The DiverseWorks 2009-2010 Season encompasses world premieres, major new exhibitions and performances from Houston-based and international artists, and the continuation of the organization’s twenty-seven year history of redefining contemporary art for Houston audiences. These new works, never before seen in our city, bring together artists and audiences to create experiences that engage on intellectual as well as emotional levels. Co-Director and Performing Arts Curator Sixto Wagan states: “DiverseWorks is not about simple entertainment. We exist to be that place where audiences see things and experience art that they will remember for a life-time.” Co-Executive Directords and Curators Diane Barber and Sixto Wagan have put together a season that begins with a playful group exhibition curated by Rachel Cook examining the tension between private experience and public spectacle and concludes with the Texas debut of political activists and provocateurs The Yes Men’s travelling solo exhibition Keep it Slick. The 2009-2010 season continues to explore the notions of private made public with the world premiere of The Voyeur, a performance and installation from the Australian-based Company Clare Dyson that explores intimacy, desire and the act of revealing. Choreographer Morgan Thorson investigates ecstatic perfection and how to achieve that state with every performance in Heaven. The Rude Mechanicals return to Houston with The Method Gun, a play that exposes the process-based techniques of actor training guru, Stella Burden. 

This Season is DiverseWorks' first as part of the Visual Arts Network (VAN), a program funded by the National Performance Network (NPN) to provide funding and exposure for artist residencies. Participation in VAN reinforces the work that DiverseWorks has been doing for years and we will be using this network to generate some exciting collaborations with like-minded organizations throughout the country during the 09/10 season and beyond. Few organizations, especially in times of economic uncertainty allow artists opportunities for unfettered creative exploration and expression. We are just as committed to providing that as ever and this season’s lineup is a testament to that fact,” says Co-Director and Visual Arts Curator Diane Barber. 

Houston takes on a major role in a number of our commissioned shows. Sō Percussion, described by The New York Times as “brilliant,” debuts Imaginary Cities, a multi-media sound experience that echoes the percussion group’s tour through various cities including Houston. In November, Houston-based Tierney Malone will transform the Main Gallery with his latest work, Third Ward is my Harlem, a massive exhibition incorporating painting, video and music reflecting on the artist’s roots in Houston’s Third Ward. Allison Hunter pushes new boundaries with her video installation Zoo-space, a perspective on the rapidly shifting ecological landscape in which species across the globe are threatened with extinction. Zoo-space runs in conjunction with FotoFest 2010. 

In keeping with the organization’s mission as a fully multi-disciplinary presenter, DiverseWorks again partners with some of the most revered arts organizations in the city to bring audiences the finest in contemporary art. DiverseWorks continues its collaboration with Aurora Picture Show for a second season of flickerlounge, an intimate on-site cinema featuring emerging filmmakers and video artists. DiverseWorks also welcomes Catastrophic Theatre Company back to DiverseWorks for a year-long developmental residency during which they will present 3 new bold and experimental productions in the theater. The residency will also provide the company with space and time to explore and perfect original productions like their highly anticipated new project Bluefinger, a collaboration with Charles Thompson (aka Black Finger). Plus, for the 09-10 Season, DiverseWorks is offering audiences a PAY WHAT YOU WANT price to all of the performing arts programs. 

Now that I’m by myself," she says, "I'm not by myself, which is good"
Curated by Rachel Cook
Sept. 11 – Oct. 24, 2009
Opening Reception Friday, Sept. 11, 2009, 6 – 8pm
DiverseWorks Main Gallery

“Now that I’m by myself,” she says, “I’m not by myself, which is good.” Now That I’m by Myself serves as the ultimate self-reflection of the creative act – Austin-based artist Rachel Cook curates an installation of work by artists Brian Bress, Wynne Greenwood, Laurel Nakadate and Yuki Okumura, and who inform her own personal artistic practice, often elevating private experience into public spectacle. Beginning with the idea of how artists decide to reveal themselves in their work, this shoseeks to push the boundaries of intimacy by melding the instincts of a group of artists who all deal with questions of the publicvs. the private self by expanding notions of the “personal” and providing insight into more universal truths and collective realities. 

Paint-A-Thon & Xtreme Meander
September 26, 2009
9am – 1pm
Discovery Green

Fundraising made fun! Join DiverseWorks at Discovery Green for Paint-A-Thon & Xtreme Meander , a true test of creativity, endurance and strength for the light- hearted! Paint-A-Thon is a morning excursion for families and friends to create their own landscape and/or skyscape through paintings, sculptures and installations. Not only will teams take home (or back to the office) their own masterpiece, but a panel of distinguished individuals will be awarding prizes for the “winning” entries. The 1(ish) K: Xtreme Meander returns for a second year offering both Elite and Masters level competitors a demanding one-kilometer (or so) course in a test of strength and endurance. Runners are invited to choose their own route, interpret what that race means to them and entertain and replenish at the unusual hydration and energy stations. Both events are meant to be fun, offer attendees a chance to mix and mingle with Houston’s art community and raise money and awareness for DiverseWorks. 

Ain Gordon
A Disaster Begins
Oct. 1 – 3, 2009, 8pm
Co-Commissioned by DiverseWorks with HERE Art Center, and NPN; and co-presented with Pick Up Performance Co.
Performance will be in the DiverseWorks Theater

Ain Gordon, a recipient of such honors as the Obie Award, NYFA Playwriting Fellow and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, presents the world premiere of his new work A Disaster Begins , a piece based on one young woman’s account of the Galveston hurricane that decimated the Texas island in 1900. This tragic historical disaster that took the lives of 6,000 people reveals the shocking truth behind the narrator’s stories of pubescent despair, presidential corruption, pre-marital sex, patriotic fervor and writer’s block. A Disaster Begins will have its New York premiere at Obie-Award winning HERE Arts Center immediately after its Houston run. 

Morgan Thorson
Heaven
Oct. 16 & 17, 2009, 8pm
Co-commissioned by DiverseWorks with Performance Space 122 (New York) and NPN
DiverseWorks Theater

DiverseWorks is thrilled to debut the world premiere of Heaven , an extraordinary collaboration between Minneapolis-based choreographer Morgan Thorson, the band, LOW (Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker), lighting designer Lenore Doxsee and visual and costume designer Emmet Ramstad. Thorson researched all manners of ecstatic transformation in religious forms, rituals and methodologies. Heaven works to create sublime revelations for all—audience members, dancers, believers, non-believers, dance enthusiasts and music lovers. 

Tierney Malone
Third Ward is My Harlem
Nov. 7 – Dec. 19, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, 6 – 8pm
Performances: To be determined at a later date
Commissioned by DiverseWorks DiverseWorks Main Gallery

Houston artist Tierney Malone transforms the DiverseWorks Main Gallery into a massive multi-media installation and community center with his latest work, Third Ward is My Harlem . Drawing from his own Southern roots and experiences, growing up in urban black American, Malone reframes American history and situates himself and his audience firmly in complex, non-linear narratives full of stoic nostalgia and sophistication. During the course of Malone’s residency at DiverseWorks, he will work alongside young, aspiring artists from Houston’s historically significant Third Ward to craft an undeniably personal story of that place in a way that speaks to the experiences of much more than just one man. 

Company Clare Dyson
The Voyeur
January 21 – 23, 2010, 8pm
DiverseWorks Theater

DiverseWorks is proud to present the U.S. premiere of The Voyeur , the latest performance installation by Australian-based Company Clare Dyson that explores notions of intimacy, desire, and the act of revealing. In this exciting new work, audiences are not passive viewers, they choose where and how they view the performance. Seats on stage surround the set, situated in front of specially designed “peepholes,” giving specialized viewing experiences. Some seats have binoculars, others headsets that reveal the performers’ inner monologues. Each audience member chooses how they move in the space and what is most important to them as they participate in The Voyeur. 

Sō Percussion
Imaginary City
February 12 & 13, 2010, 8pm
Commissioned by DiverseWorks with Myrna Loy Center/ Helena, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and National Performance Network DiverseWorks Theater

The New York Times described Sō Percussion as “brilliant” and Billboard Magazine called them “Astonishing.” Imaginary City is the newest work by Brooklyn’s Sō Percussion. They have collaborated with filmmaker Jenise Treuting to capture the sounds and images of several cities – from Treuting’s home in Tokyo to the vast skies of Helena, MT; to the mountains of Denver, CO; through the heartland of Cleveland, OH and the New England landscape of Burlington, VT and to the urban jungle of Houston. to emphasize the uniqueness and commonalities between the various cities. The performance will center around Sō Percussion’s utilization of percussion instruments to communicate the extremes of emotion and musical possibility. 

The Rude Mechanicals
The Method Gun
April 22 – 24, 2010
8pm
Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex

The Rude Mechanicals return to Houston with their latest production, The Method Gun . A play that explores the life, ethos and techniques of actor training guru, Stella Burden, as recounted through the eyes of her students. Burden’s training techniques, The Approach, fused Western acting techniques and more dangerous METHODS in an effort to infuse even the smallest roles with sex, death and violence. 

Allison Hunter
Zoosphere
March 12 – April 17, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, March 12, 2010, 6 – 8pm
DiverseWorks Main Gallery

Allison Hunter’s Zoosphere is a transcendent, site-specific installation investigating humankind’s relationship to the natural world. In her first ever immersive video installation, Hunter upends the power dynamic between the human and non-human animal within a dark, mazelike environment in which man and beast co-mingle. Against the backdrop of a rapidly shifting ecological landscape in which species across the globe are threatened with extinction, Zoosphere reconnects humanity with the beauty and wonder of the animal kingdom and forces us to examine our relationship with and responsibility to it. 

Keep it Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with The Yes Men
April 30 – June 5, 2010
Opening Reception: Friday, April 30, 2010, 6 – 8pm
Curated by Astria Suparek Organized by Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of Art and Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University
DiverseWorks Main Gallery

The Yes Men, some of the most important political artists of the last decade, come to DiverseWorks for their first traveling solo exhibition, Keep it Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism . They have fearlessly taken on the world’s biggest corporations and bureaucracy through a process they call “Identity Correction.” Masquerading as official representatives at business conferences and on the news, they have helped keep critical issues in the international spotlight by publicly humiliating them for conspiring against the public good. The exhibit mixes video with 

flickerlounge
All season long in conjunction with the Main Gallery exhibitions
In partnership with Aurora Picture Show
DiverseWorks Project Space

DiverseWorks and Aurora Picture Show are pleased to partner for the second season of flickerlounge, a season-long cinematic experience in the Project Gallery at DiverseWorks. In coordination with the visual arts exhibitions, flickerlounge showcases an eclectic lineup of rotating full-length films, shorts and video presentations to accompany the Main Gallery exhibitions. 

Real (Art) World: 2009
Visual Arts Residency June 21 – Aug. 15, 2010
Applications Due April 1, 2010
DiverseWorks Main Gallery

For the fourth year, DiverseWorks will turn the gallery keys over to four artists picked to share studio space in our 3000 square-foot main gallery for a period of six weeks. The Real (Art) World summer residency program provides selected artists with a stipend, institutional support and the unique opportunity to create work free from restrictions in a collaborative environment.