Five Arty Things to Do This Weekend: Sept. 28-Oct. 1
The Austin Chronicle – proudly exacerbating your FOMO since 1981!
By Wayne Alan Brenner, 10:00AM, Thu. Sep. 28, 2017
That’s right, we’re starting the list with something on Thursday this time. Yes: Thurrrrrrrsday. And you, what, you have a problem with that? Like it’s just a little too early, weekend-wise, to start indulging in some life-enriching art?
Citizen, please.
1) This right here, this is why we’re nailing this to the door of Thursday night: The opening reception for Denise Prince’s "Object Lessons" show at Women & Their Work. Because that Prince is one royal pain in the humdrum, an artist who never settles for creative expression that might make a human yawn and check their watch. And when she’s got an exhibition like this, that uses photographs, paintings, and 16mm film to examine the tenuous and possibly moist membrane between fantasy and reality … well, we’re gonna be at it, where there’ll also be some sort of performative tableaux revealing itself among the objects and their attendant gazes at the reception.
2) Maybe you’ve long heard about Rhinoceros, that classic of absurdist stagework by Eugène Ionesco, and you’ve been intrigued by its central idea, by the potential for humor among its WTF premise, by the possibility of seeing the thing performed right before your (very) eyes. Well, here’s your chance to witness the spectacle in full – and we wouldn’t even recommend it, except that 1) the St. Ed’s crowd usually does an excellent job with their productions and 2) the two guest artists anchoring the horny madness? That’s Marc Pouhé and David Stahl: Two of the finest actors in this city – and not averse to lunacy.
3) Go ahead – head out toward the airport with a few friends, then take a left turn and get your gang to Live Oak Brewery, where you can grab a fine sampling of their well-crafted brews and then chill on the benches in the backyard beer garden that’s studded with towering oaks – because that’s already a fine use of a Friday night, isn’t it? And now, on Friday nights through October 13, ColdTowne Theater and En Route performers are gonna be right there among those trees with you, improvising up an hour of comedy called How’s Your Mom ’n’ Them?, inspired by awkward family reunions and backwoods encounters. Hell, maybe do it up right and arrange a small family reunion of your own in the same place at the same time: That would be some hilarious kind of meta shit going on, hey?
4) If you, as the saying goes, march to the beat of a different drummer, then the three virtuosi of line upon line percussion are probably just the guys you want to follow along the path of acoustic experimentation and compositional audacity. And their four-premiere Left concert begins soon after you arrive, and where you arrive is the Big Medium Gallery in Canopy, which no one needs their arm twisted to visit in the first place, so we’re glad there's three different nights to choose from – because we want to check this new stuff out. And of course, pro-tip here, we’ll be snagging a treat from that bastion of yum called Sa-Tén right before the show.
5) Oh, but you prefer rock & roll, you say? Or maybe jazz is more your thing? You’re into, ah, more established and thoroughly American forms of music? Then you’ll definitely dig Sunday’s Dance Africa Fest at Balance Dance Studios, showcasing the wealth of sounds and movements that are where all that beloved American music came from in the first place.
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March 15, 2024
March 15, 2024
Five Things To Do In Austin, Five Arty Things, Denise Prince, line upon line percussion, Big Medium Gallery, Ionesco's Rhinoceros, Marc Pouhé, David Stahl, Coldtowne Theater, En Route Productions, Live Oak Brewing Company, Dance Africa Fest