ANTHONY ALMENDÁREZ: HELLO, MY NAME IS _____
Image: Anthony Almendarez, Hello My Name Is _____, 2022, video and sound installation. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Almendárez’s multi-channel video and sound installation draws upon survey questions related to employment and labor policies in the United States. As part of the project, the parallels and contradictions between predominantly accepted notions of work vs. artistic labor are further explored through a live, interpretive performance by sound and video artists on March 8th.
Almendárez’s work explores modes of storytelling that confront audiences with the nuanced, layered, and complex realities of how we construct identity. He often employs strategies that challenge the hierarchy between audio and visual stimuli, opening up new pathways to interpret and internalize our surroundings.
Hello, My Name Is ____ is a unique video and sound installation that creates a platform for dialogue around how different forms of labor are valued, or undervalued, including the work of artists. This theme will be further explored in a panel discussion and the performance work, by Laura Gutierrez: In Tarps I Trust, in February 2024.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anthony Almendárez is an artist and composer working with sound, improvisation, performance, video, photo, and writing. His work has been presented at the local, national, and international stage including the Cité International des Arts, Paris, France; the Virginia Center for the Arts, Amherst, Virginia; the Banff Center for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada; and CIRCA, London, UK. He is the recipient of artist grants from Bard College, YES Contemporary, and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. Writing on his work has been featured in publications including Moving Image Art London, The Invisible Archive Journal, and Glasstire. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Almendárez is currently based in Houston where he is an Administrative Coordinator and Artist Facilitator for Nameless Sound and Musical Director for TEATRX. He received his BA in Music Education from California State University, Dominguez Hills; his MA in Music Theory and Composition from Marshall University; and his MFA in Music/Sound from Bard College.
SUPPORT
The presentation of Anthony Almendárez: Hello, My Name Is _____ is supported, in part, by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, the Brown Foundation, Inc., the Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, Houston Endowment, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts, the Teiger Foundation, and DiverseWorks members and patrons.