Contemporary Art Month hits the ground running with Kickoff and CAM Perennial debut March 1

March isn’t just the season of college basketball madness and the assassination of Roman emperors. In San Antonio, it’s time to celebrate contemporary art.

Contemporary Art Month (CAM), a 31-day celebration of those at the cutting edge of artistic expression in the Alamo City, gets rolling with a kickoff event at the Contemporary at Blue Star — on First Friday, no less.

The evening will feature screenings of student films selected for CAM’s 2024 student film festival, as well as the unveiling of a new exhibit at the Contemporary — Michael Guerra Foerster’s “Without a Trace,” which runs through June 9 and showcases the artist’s ceramic sculptures, called “floops.”

The Kickoff also will serve as the opening of the famed CAM Perennial exhibition, in which a guest curator from outside San Antonio selects powerful works from a slate of regional contemporary artists. This year’s curator is Christopher Blay, chief curator of the Houston Museum of African American Culture.

On view from March 1 through June 9, the Perennial — titled “Vernacular Systems” — features works from Houston- and San Antonio-based artists which come together to critique systems that perpetrate disconnection and highlight those that might unify us.

Beyond the Perennial and the Kickoff, CAM events will spark conversations throughout the month at locations around the city. A full calendar of events and exhibitions is available on the CAM website.

Free, 6-9 p.m. Friday, March 1, Contemporary at Blue Star, 116 Blue Star, (210) 227-6960, contemporaryartmonth.org.

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This article appears in Feb 21 – Mar 5, 2024.