UH Mitchell Center for the Arts Announces Fall 2012 Public Programs

For its fall season of programs, the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts hosts artists who will use Houston as a laboratory and launching pad for imaginative new works.

Four artists in residence will explore Houston’s cultural, geographic and economic landscapes to draw inspiration for public programs and performances that range from groundbreaking musical events to insightful discussions to provocative theatrical ventures.

Season highlights include “Heart Chamber Orchestra,” an audiovisual performance that mixes classical music, technology and live human heartbeats and “The Boundary of Life is Quietly Crossed,” a newly commissioned talk by visual artist Dario Robleto. In November, theater maverick Aaron Landsman returns to Houston for “City Council Meeting,” a participatory blend of art, community and politics; and London-based group The Light Surgeons presents the explosive live cinema performance “SuperEverything*.” Many of these projects are part of the Mitchell Center’s residency program, which develops new work that is deeply connected to Houston.

The Mitchell Center also joins Blaffer Art Museum in hosting artist Lynne McCabe for the fall semester. A residency, exhibition, installation and class, “Room to be (Ms.)understood: A Social Sculpture Workshop” focuses on process, collaboration, interaction and conversation to explore feminist writing, performance and site-specific interventions.

The Mitchell Center’s fall activities are as follows:

September 21, 7:30 p.m.: TERMINALBEACH – “Heart Chamber Orchestra” (performed by Two Star Symphony) in conjunction with Aurora Picture Show’s  ninth annual Media Archeology: Real Time
Barnvelder Movement/Arts Complex (2201 Preston Ave.)

TERMINALBEACH presents an audiovisual performance where music literally “comes from the heart.” An immersive visual environment and musical score is generated in real time by the heartbeats of musicians wearing electrocardiogram sensors.

October 24, 6 p.m.: Dario Robleto – “The Boundary of Life is Quietly Crossed”
UH’s Dudley Recital Hall (Entrance 16 off Cullen Blvd.)

Visionary Texas-based sculptural artist Robleto uses storytelling along with his vast collection of sounds and images to suggest a profound connection between creativity, loss and memory. “The Boundary of Life is Quietly Crossed” is presented as part of the UH Libraries’ symposium, “The Art of Death and Dying.”

November 1–3, 7:30 p.m.: Aaron Landsman – “City Council Meeting”
DiverseWorks (1117 E. Freeway)

A national performance project restaged in neighborhoods throughout the United States, “City Council Meeting” uses local artists, activists, government officials and other citizens. Conceived after a particularly well-performed political battle about zoning at city hall in Portland, Ore., this project takes the formal structures of local government as its departure point.

November  9–10, 7:30 p.m.: The Light Surgeons – “SuperEverything*”
Asia Society Texas Center (1370 Southmore Blvd)

With multiple projections and using different media, this live cinema performance layers together stunning documentary footage and motion graphics with an original, live electronic musical score. Filmed on location across Peninsular Malaysia, “SuperEverything*” explores the relationship between identity, ritual and place. It weaves different documentary narratives to create a poetic, audio-visual tapestry that forms a kaleidoscopic portrait of the diverse cultural landscape of Malaysia. “SuperEverything*” is co-presented with Asia Society Texas Center and as part of the 2012 Houston Cinema Arts Festival.

Lynne McCabe “Room to be (Ms.)understood: A Social Sculpture Workshop” Associated Public Programs:

• November 13, 5:30 p.m.: “Room to be (Ms.)understood: A Panel Discussion” - Blaffer Art Museum Media Room (Entrance 16 off Cullen Blvd)

This public conversation will include artist Jacki Apple, McCabe, and UH women’s studies professor Elizabeth Gregory. It is moderated by UH art professor Jenni Sorkin. “Room to be (Ms.)understood: A Panel Discussion” explores the limits of “social sculpture” and the increasingly common “experience-as-medium” mode of working.  

“Working with Social Works” is a public lecture and conversation with Shannon Jackson, professor at the University of California and McCabe. This event is associated with McCabe’s course “Participation and Feminist Strategies,” which aims to interrogate the origins and genealogies of these practices by looking to a different, often neglected history of feminist writing, performance, and site-specific interventions from the 1970s.

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts is dedicated to groundbreaking, transformative collaborations across the performing, visual, and literary arts. Based at the University of Houston, the Mitchell Center commissions and produces new works, presents public performances and exhibitions, offers curriculum and scholarships, and hosts residencies with renowned visiting artists from throughout the world. The Mitchell Center forms an alliance among five departments at UH: the School of Art, Moores School of Music, School of Theatre & Dance, Creative Writing Program, and Blaffer Art Museum. For more information about the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, visit www.mitchellcenterforarts.org

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The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation’s fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 39,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country. For more information about UH, visit

http://www.uh.edu/news-events/

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