FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Project Row Houses presents
Round 44 | Shattering the Concrete: Artists, Activists and Instigators
Opening + Market: March 26, 2016 | 4-7pm
On view: March 26 – June 19, 2016 | Wed-Sun Noon – 5pm
Artists’ Walkthrough: March 26, 2016 | 2:30 – 4pm
Houston, TX – February 9, 2016 – Can art change the world? This question is often asked in moments of frustration and despair for many artists. Yet, art has been at the center of political and social movements for decades. Throughout much of the strife in the 20th Century, artists used the tools of their times as a means of informing and instigating communities while calling attention to injustice. Over the past century, the form of artistic involvement has evolved from the practical to the conceptual, finding new ways to educate and activate the populace, shift the dominant paradigm and challenge existing policy
Project Row Houses (PRH) is excited to present Round 44, titled Shattering the Concrete: Artists, Activists and Instigators. This Round explores the role that art and artists play in challenging today’s sociopolitical paradigm in order to stimulate change.
Paper quilt made from pulped criminal records, polaroid portraits, and community reflections, 2015, People’s Paper Co-op, courtesy the artists
Curated by Raquel de Anda and co-organized by Public Art Director Ryan N. Dennis, Round 44 presents site-specific installations and programs by artists active in movements around language and identity, artistic equity, environmental justice, affordable housing, prison reform, and police brutality. “These movements, and the many artists who contribute to their richness,” says de Anda, “have brought renewed focus to the relationships between art and politics, between narrative-shifting and policy and between creating meaning and building power.” Many of the artists in Round 44 will collaborate with Houston-based groups, hoping to inspire conversations and action that extend beyond the Round and the PRH site.
KARANKAWA CARANCAHUA CARANCAGUA KARANKAWAY, 2016, Nuria Montiel and John Pluecker, courtesy the artists
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Raquel back to Houston to organize this important Round,” Dennis stated. “Given the current events that are taking place nationally, it would be remiss not to address them. Art and activism is alive and well, and I am happy that PRH is providing platform to host and engage with what the artists are bringing to the table.”
Participating artists include The Argus Project (Gan Golan, Ligaiya Romero and Julien Terrell), Charge (Jennie Ash and Carrie Schneider), Nuria Montiel & John Pluecker, The Natural History Museum (a project of Not An Alternative) in collaboration with T.E.J.A.S. (Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services), People’s Paper Co-op (Courtney Bowles and Mark Strandquist), Storyline Media (Rachel Falcone and Michael Premo), and Verbobala (Adam Cooper-Terán and Logan Phillips). In conjunction with the Round, a series of public programs will be presented to stimulate dialogue about art and activism as well as the individual movements connected to the installations and foster a connection between the work and the Houston community.
About Project Row Houses
Project Row Houses (PRH) is a community-based arts and culture non-profit organization in Houston’s northern Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African American neighborhoods. The mission of Project Row Houses is to be the catalyst for transforming community through the celebration of art and African-American history and culture. Learn more at ProjectRowHouses.org
Programming at Project Row Houses is generously supported by Mark Bradford; The Brown Foundation; Bruner Foundation Inc.; Chevron; The Nathan Cummings Foundation; William Stamps Farish Fund; Agnes Gund; William J. Hill Land & Cattle Co.; Houston Endowment Inc.; Joan Hohlt & Roger Wich Foundation; Kensinger Donnelly; Jeanne and Michael Klein; The Kresge Foundation; The Lewis Family Foundation; Marc Melcher; John P. McGovern Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network’s Visual Artists Network; Nightingale Code Foundation; Betty Pecore and Howard Hilliard; Picnic; Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; South Texas Charitable Foundation; Texas CapitalBank; Texas Commission on the Arts; Susan Vaughan Foundation; and a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance for the generous support of our programs.
Full Press Release (PDF)
