Ballroom Marfa, a leading institution of art and music, kicks off its 20th anniversary year beginning in September. Established in 2003 as a contemporary art space housed in a 1920’s era ballroom in Far West Texas, Ballroom Marfa has achieved international recognition for support of artists, musicians, and visionary thinkers through commissioning new site-specific and site-inspired projects. To commemorate its anniversary, Ballroom Marfa will host a wide range of ambitious exhibitions, performances, residencies, and new commissions throughout the year, a press release said.
Ballroom Marfa has scheduled an improvised performance of sonic meditations with Li(sa E.) Harris & jazz bassist Burniss Earl Travis II on Sept. 2. This program in conjunction with unlit: sof landin–Li(sa E.) Harris is organized by Ballroom Marfa music curator, Sarah Meléndez.
The Armory Show, scheduled Sept. 6–10, will launch the release of a limited edition print by Berlin-based artist Donna Huanca with Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. 100% of the proceeds will support both organizations. The work will be exhibited at Booth N8 at the Javits Center and on The Armory Show’s Online Viewing Room.
unFlagging: Futures, an outdoor exhibition opening Sept. 25, features a series of commissioned flags beginning with Kira Dominguez Hultgren and continuing with Adriana Corral. This year-long series includes four artists, all female, using innovative gestures that upend the form of the flag and challenge the enduring visual language of power and liberty. Organized by Ballroom Marfa curatorial assistant, Alexann Susholtz.
The weekend of October 6, will kick off the official celebration of Ballroom’s 20th Anniversary with the opening of Perhaps the Truth, a group exhibition organized by Ballroom Marfa’s co-founder Fairfax Dorn and Executive Director and Curator Daisy Nam, featuring works from Alejandro Piñeiro Bello, Jes Fan, Joel Gaitan, Florian Krewer, Rebecca Manson, Ruben Ulises Rodriguez Montoya, Robert Nava, Ilana Savdie, Kiki Smith, Astrid Terrazas, and Issy Wood. The weekend will be packed with special gatherings, conversations and a concert from Chicago-based alt-Latinx band, Dos Santos, organized by Sarah Meléndez. Check out the full weekend schedule here.
On Nov. 4, Guadalupe Maravilla: Mariposa Relámpago opens in Ballroom’s courtyard with a sound ceremony led by Maravilla, a 2021-2022 Ballroom Sessions–The Farther Place artist-in-residence. Maravilla’s monumental sculpture incorporates natural materials, handmade objects, and items collected by the artist while retracing his migratory route to become shrines and healing instruments. This exhibition is organized by Daisy Nam.
A special evening with Kenneth Tam is scheduled for Nov. 9 at Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in San Francisco. The program will be introduced by Veronica Roberts, John and Jill Freidenrich Director, Cantor Arts Center, followed by Tam’s film Silent Spikes, and a conversation with Tam, Daisy Nam, and Cantor Curator of Photography and New Media Maggie Dethloff.
There is more to come in the new year with artists-in-residence, including LA-based musical rebel San Cha, and sculptor Michelle Lopez through Ballroom Sessions–The Farther Place. Ballroom Marfa is also set to launch the publication Ballroom Marfa: The First Twenty Years, co-published with Monacelli | Phaidon.
