Active Voice

CAMH documents its little known past as a hub for live performance.

Joan Jonas_2_photo by David Crossley

To mark its 70th anniversary, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is presenting its most research-intensive show ever. Stage Environment: You Didn’t Have to Be There (Sept. 8-Oct. 23) transports visitors back to the museum’s earliest years as a pioneering presenter of live performance.


For decades CAMH has considered the art of performance equal to that of painting, sculpture and photography, and made every effort to document its history of “you had to be there” moments. Tasked with organizing all of that historical ephemera is the museum’s Patricia Restrepo. “It really is like investigative journalism,” says Restrepo, who dove deep into CAMH’s archives at Rice while reaching out to performing organizations, museums and historians for details and materials she could include.

The resulting multimedia exhibit — photos, video and live performance — crackles. “This is for those individuals who couldn’t see these performances in person,” says CAMH Director (and former punk rock musician) Bill Arning.

CAMH’s commitment to integrating live performance with visual art stretches back to 1949, when the show World of Illusion: Elements of Stage Design traveled from MoMA to Houston; CAMH partnered with several Houston theater companies to produce a series of experimental performances to coincide with the exhibit. In 1965, as part of a major show by Robert Rauschenberg, CAMH presented a performance by the legendary Merce Cunningham Dance Company, set to music by John Cage, in costumes designed by Rauschenberg himself. Cunningham and company appear in Stage Environment in the form of a video and audio installation.

“Breaking down the boundaries between what’s expected of certain institutions can be so radical,” says Restrepo. Stage Environment also gives Houstonians the opportunity to learn more about a museum they only thought they knew.

Art+Culture
The Latest in Anti-Aging Tech Now Available in River Oaks

Dr. Edward Lee and Nuveau

DR. EDWARD LEE believes in bringing the most advance treatment options to his patients at Nuveau. At the River Oaks practice, he performs the latest nonsurgical rejuvenation procedures, such as BOTOX and fillers, various laser treatments, and other nonsurgical treatmetns such as CoolSculpting and EmSculpt. He also does facelifts, upper and lower blepharoplasty, brow lift, and rhinoplasty for facial rejuvenation. Plus, he can achieve natural results with breast augmentation and breast lift surgery, as well as body contouring, such as liposuction, abdominoplasty, Brazilian butt lift and mommy makeovers.

Keep ReadingShow less

Nancy Gonzalez, Denise Reyes, Christina Jack, Destiny Fernandisse (photo by Emily Jaschke)

WHEN THE GRANDE dame of Houston philanthropy steps up to chair the annual gala for one of Houston’s most elite cultural institutions, expect high elegance to abound and big bucks to roll in.

Keep ReadingShow less

Nadia Hafeez, Shireen Hadi, Sara Perry (photo by Daniel Ortiz)

A ROSTER OF women you might usually see in scrubs and white coats flipped the script and went high-fashion for the Arts of Healing Foundation’s fourth annual Fashion Show at the Post Oak Hotel, celebrating Houston’s Women in Medicine.

Keep ReadingShow less