Francis Almandárez’s exhibition “rhythm and (p)leisure,” on display as a part of Artpace’s International Artist-in-Residence program, explores the boundaries between media and diasporic identity. This Saturday, his artwork is set to push the boundaries of storytelling through visual art even further with a performance titled “recalibrate.”
In “rhythm and (p)leisure,” Almandárez brings together video, sound and text to tell a larger story documenting the immigrant and migrant experience. The exhibition explores the dichotomy of work and pleasure through videos of people sweeping floors and creating counterfeit goods, as well as physical examples of labor creation with piles of clothes dotting the exhibit.
On Saturday, “recalibrate” continues this work with a series of performances “that celebrate and commemorate diasporic identities and experiences — in particular the laboring im/migrant body.” The focus of “recalibrate” centers around those existing themes, asking the audience to collectively reconsider our definition of work and leisure.
The performances will include contributions by local artists such as poet, singer and rapper Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, cross-disciplinary artist Xavier Gilmore and singer-songwriter Nick Long, as well as Houston artist and musician (and Almandárez’s brother) Anthony Almandárez.
Free, 6 p.m. Saturday, August 17, Artpace, 445 N. Main Ave., (210) 212-4900, artpace.org
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This article appears in Aug 14-27, 2019.