VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston looks to the city for inspiration in No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston.  Opening reception: Friday, May 8, 2009, 7:00-10:00 p.m. On view: May 9 – October 4, 2009.

Free from the land-use and zoning ordinances that shape other large American cities by separating residential, commercial, and industrial areas, Houston allows a mixed-use approach where disparate architectures and functions blend. In this often chaotic, jarring urban topography, many Houston artists have been able to carve out spaces and opportunities for themselves, their work, and their communities. No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston is the first museum exhibition to consider the current and past efforts of regional artists working in the urban environment.

The exhibition will feature work by approximately 15 individual and collaborative teams. Participants contributing new projects include The Art Guys (Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing), who will present a performance that involves marrying a tree; Mary Ellen Carroll, who is reconfiguring an abandoned tract house in the southwestern Sharpstown neighborhood; and Rick Lowe, who celebrates residents of the Third Ward in billboards.

Also included is work by current and former Houston artists Bill Davenport, Ben Tecumseh DeSoto, Sharon Engelstein, The Flower Man (Cleveland Turner), The Fundred Dollar Bill Project (Mel Chin et al.), Andrea Grover, collaborators Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, George Hixson, Lauren Kelley, KnittaPlease (Magda Sayeg et al.), Eric Leshinsky, Benjy Mason and Zach Moser of Workshop Houston, Jim Pirtle, and Nestor Topchy.

No Zoning will include examples and documentation of important city interventions and visionary structures from the 1980s to the present. The exhibition will incorporate a combination performance, lecture, and video screening space that will present special programs during the museum’s extended Thursday evening hours. In addition, a series of special artistic programs and educational tours will be located throughout the city.

Laboring alone and in collaborative groups—and often simultaneously exhibiting in established museums and galleries—Houston artists have built art works, launched alternative art-presenting venues, and staged performances and events throughout the city. “Whether there is a direct correlation between the city’s lack of zoning and its inspired do-it-yourself artistic culture can be debated. It’s clear though, that Houston is an exceptionally art-permeable city where artistic entrepreneurship has flourished,” says the exhibition’s co-curator Toby Kamps.

PUBLICATION
No Zoning will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue featuring comprehensive information on the featured artists and works. Supplemental essays by Houston authors Cameron Armstrong, Susanne Theis, and The Art Guys with Caroline Huber address the city’s unique land use policies, the history of its alternative art scenes, its folk art treasures, and other topics. The exhibition is organized by CAMH senior curator Toby Kamps and curatorial associate Meredith Goldsmith.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Programs are listed here for May. Please visit www.camh.org  for more information about these and other programs associated with the exhibition.

Opening reception: No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston
Friday, May 8, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Celebrate the opening of this group exhibition examining the ways Houston artists use the city as inspiration, material, and site. The featured artists are The Art Guys, Mary Ellen Carroll, Bill Davenport, Ben Tecumseh DeSoto, Sharon Engelstein, The Flower Man (Cleveland Turner), The Fundred Dollar Bill Project (Mel Chin et al.), Andrea Grover, Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, George Hixson, Lauren Kelley, KnittaPlease (Magda Sayeg et al.), Eric Leshinsky, Rick Lowe, Benjy Mason and Zach Moser of Workshop Houston, Jim Pirtle, and Nestor Topchy.

Gallery Talk
Sunday, May 10, 2:00 p.m.
Join Toby Kamps and Meredith Goldsmith, co-curators of No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston, in a gallery walk through and conversation with exhibition artists about extra-institutional art in Houston.

Family Day
Sunday, May 17, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Join us for family tours and hands-on art activities.

The Catastrophic Theatre and Dolan Smith’s Clown Town
Thursday, May 21, 6:30 p.m.
The Catastrophic Theatre ensemble focuses on the personal and emotional aspects of ‘catastrophic’ events and states of being, however large or small, with the belief that it is through art that we are able to explore the psychic and emotional impact of these events. Best known for its bold, experimental aesthetic, which translates into a pronounced sense of fun, The Catastrophic Theatre will be performing two short pieces at CAMH: “Food Love” by Tamarie Cooper and Kyle Sturdivant, and “Catastrophe” by Samuel Beckett, directed by Jason Nodler. Dolan Smith will present an all-new “Clown Town” and screen a short video of the original version, an “exhibition/insane- party/spontaneous-” performance piece, which was filmed by George Hixson, one of the exhibiting artists in No Zoning.

Houston Un-Zoned Bus Tour
Saturday, May 23, 2:00 p.m.
Join us for a field trip to see Houston’s unique non-places, un-zoned marvels, and artist-built sites with Stephen Fox, architectural historian and urban studies scholar. Tickets are $25 (members receive a 10% discount). Space is limited so please call (713)284-8257 for reservations and more information.

Astrodome Cinema
Thursday, May 28, 6:30 p.m.
Once called the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” the Astrodome was the first domed sports stadium when it opened in 1965 and was home to the Houston Astros (1965-1999) and the Houston Oilers (1965-1996). Join us for a special screening of the Astrodome as portrayed in a 16mm documentary and other films, curated by Andrea Grover, founder of Aurora Picture Show.

Ongoing Programs
Ongoing programs will be held throughout the run of the exhibition: boat-building workshops most Saturdays led by Benjy Mason and Zach Moser of Workshop Houston; Thursday-evening opening receptions for seven exhibitions of mini-artworks at Sharon Engelstein’s miniature Gallery One Three Seven; shopping at the CAMH satellite shop of Bill’s Junk; an ever-changing outdoor installation by The Flower Man; and public seminars in conjunction with Mary Ellen Carroll’s Prototype

EXHIBITION FUNDING AND SUPPORT
No Zoning: Artist Engage Houston has been made possible by generous support from the Union Pacific Foundation.

This exhibition has been made possible by the patrons, benefactors, and donors to the Museum's Major Exhibition Fund: Major Patron—Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, Fayez Sarofim, and Michael Zilkha; Patrons—Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ballard, Mr. and Mrs. I. H. Kempner III, Ms. Louisa Stude Sarofim, Leigh and Reggie Smith; Benefactors—Marita and J.B. Fairbanks, George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, Jackson Hicks / Jackson and Company, Elizabeth Howard, King & Spalding L.L.P., Elisa and Cris Pye, Beverly and Howard Robinson, Swift + Company, The Susan Vaughan Foundation, Inc.; Donors—Baker Botts, LLP, Bergner and Johnson Design, Citi Private Bank, Jana and Richard Fant, Julia and Russell Frankel, Jo and Jim Furr, Mr. and Mrs. William Goldberg / Bernstein Global Wealth Management, Louise D. Jamail, Karol Kreymer and Robert J. Card, M.D., KPMG, LLP, Judy and Scott Nyquist, Lauren Rottet, David I. Saperstein, Karen and Harry Susman, Mark Wawro and Melanie Gray, and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Wilson.

EDUCATION SUPPORT
The Museum receives support for its education programs from M.D. Anderson Foundation, Baker Hughes Foundation, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Louise D. Jamail, Marian and Speros Martel Foundation Endowment, and Nordstrom, Inc.

GENERAL SUPPORT
The Museum’s operations and programs are made possible through the generosity of the Museum’s trustees, patrons, members and donors. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston receives partial operating support from the Houston Endowment, Inc., the City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Continental is the official airline of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

CAMH MISSION
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is an idea and a place shaped by the present moment. The Museum exemplifies the dynamic relationship between contemporary art and contemporary society through its exhibitions, public and educational programs, and publications. The CAMH provides the physical and intellectual framework essential to the presentation, interpretation, and advancement of contemporary art; it is a vibrant forum for artists and all audiences, and for critical, scholarly, and public discourse.
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GENERAL INFORMATION
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is located at 5216 Montrose Boulevard, at the corner of Montrose and Bissonnet, in the heart of Houston’s Museum District. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Thursdays to 9:00 PM, and Sundays noon to 5:00 PM. Admission is always free. For more information, visit www.camh.org  or call (713) 284-8250.

Pictured, above:  Nestor Topchy, detail Organ (computer rendering), 2009. Courtesy the artist.

Pictured (in Gallery Below):
1.  Nestor Topchy, Organ (computer rendering), 2009. Courtesy the artist.

2.  Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, Give and Take in Progress, 2009. Photo by Chuy Benitez.

3.  Dan Havel and Dean Ruck. Cottage St. House (exterior view), 2009. Courtesy the artists.

4.   Dan Havel, B.O.M. 2, 2009. Courtesy the artist.