After last year’s cancelation, Contemporary Art Month moves forward in safe environment

When COVID-19 hit the United States around this time last year, San Antonio’s Contemporary Art Month became one of the many events canceled in its wake.
This year, things are different.

CAM executive director Nina Hassele and the board were determined to get creative and hammer out a new way to carry on the celebration in a pandemic-safe way. As other event promoters have done over the past year, the organizers are giving artists and attendees a digital option. CAM will also hold in-person events for artists, performers and curators to exhibit their work in a socially distanced manner.

Although already in full swing, CAM still has plenty more lined up for the rest of March and beyond. If you’re just getting started, why not begin with the CAM Breakout series? Its schedule includes events featuring performance artists, video presentations and musicians at different locations around town.

Participants in the Breakout series include Hayfer Brea with a video projection called “Alone” and “Go Ahead,” a spoken-word performance by Anthony M. Flores. Also on the books are a performance of “The American” by David Alcantar and a show called “Doomsday Clock” curated by Martín C. Rodriguez and Verena Gaudy.

In addition to a multimedia exhibition “Can’t Let Go” in the main space of Clamp Light Artist Studios and Gallery — which features performance and video pieces played on a loop in the gallery’s window — Raul Rene Gonzalez has curated a group exhibition in Werk Space, his studio space at Clamp Light. Starting March 12 and running through April 3, “Drawing, Drawing, Drawn” will feature drawings by Auriel May Garza, James Huizar, Eric Mathis, Daniela Oliver de Portillo, Lizbeth Ortiz, Octavio Quintanilla and Isabel Servantez.

The free online event “Surviving: Visual Poetry Anthology” with author and artist Madison Cowles Serna will take place March 12. Serna will read from her book and share in conversation over Zoom at 6 p.m.

This year’s CAM Perennial pivoted to film so that the exhibition could be presented in socially distanced viewings. In addition to two outdoor screenings at Blue Star Contemporary on March 11 and 18, the exhibition “Here, the rivers run both ways” will also be projected without sound on the billboard atop High Wire Arts from 7:30-8:45 p.m. on March 14. Later in the month, on March 25, contemporary artist Van Hanos will participate in an online lecture discussing his artistic approach, which “juxtaposes 18th- and 19th-century academic styles with abstraction.”

For a complete listing of all CAM events, visit contemporaryartmonth.org.

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